Hi,

I got my new oil cooler installed today (thanks again seadog). Started the car up with the vacuum leak fixed. I was able to get the idle down to 800 rpm this time. But anyway, I also did some wiring in the car. I've been having problems where there seems to be a lack of power from the battery. I was testing my head unit and sub out and when I applied any kind of normal power to the sub, it would cut the head unit out because of lack of power. The same thing happened when I put the breaks on. Now, this was with the car NOT RUNNING. Now that the car runs safely again, I'm having serious issues with the electrical. Its like there was NO extra power from the alternator while the car is running. The head unit wouldn't even work properly (couldn't turn up the sound at ALL), and when I put the breaks on, it did the same thing as before. Now, I know the alternator is putting out SOME sort of power because when I turn the e-fan on it bogs the engine a little.

Now, back to the miss in the engine at any RPM. I'm wondering if my miss is in some way related to this lack of power. I've tryed adjusting the mixture screw and that didn't change anything. I'm wondering if I fried my battery. I was really stupid when I did the wiring. I didn't unhook the battery and shorted it out a few times, blowing a few fuses and frying my ground wire for the cruise control unit in the storage bin (still don't know how that happened). So, I think I damaged my battery. I'm going to try another one tomorrow. But is it possible that these things are all related?

 

Ok, Ive gotten rid of the battery and alternator as the problem. I must have a problem with something else. But I forgot to mention that the "Brake Lamp" idiot light comes on when I hit the brakes and comes on very dimly when I turn on the running lights. I don't know if this means anything.

Oh yeah, my float levels on the carb are a little low. They are about a quarter way up the glass. But they were in this position when the car was running perfectly fine.

 

Somebody please help me!!!! I don't know what to do.

 

As I breifly mentioned in the other thread... I'd definitely check out your grounds, and watch the battery voltage (you'd probably want to hook up a voltmeter to the battery directly) when you lose power... If the battery voltage dips when you're losing power then there's a serious current draw problem-- If the battery voltage stays ok then you've probably got a problem with a main ground somewhere....
As for your miss- are the plugs firing? If not, I'd say it's related. If so, I'd say it's probably not related.

HTH :-)
~enigma32~

 

Whats your voltmeter reading with the car running? Your ignition problems could be related. Fix this first, then see.

 

Voltmeter reads 14 volts in the car with it running. I think I have a bad ground for the head unit though. I hooked a voltmeter directly to the battery, while the head unit and sub were on (without car running), and the voltage barely droped 0.1 volts. So, I'm going to try a different ground when I get home (at school right now).

As for the miss, I guess its possible that I fouled up a plug. But I don't know. I checked all the plug wires to make sure they are tight, so thats not the problem. But the missfire is irratic. Doesn't coincide with a bad plug wire or a fouled plug. But another thing I noticed is that it doesn't backfire at all. I know that rotaries are know for backfiring, so this concerns me that mabey its running lean, but the smell doesn't say its running lean. So, I'm just a little confused on the whole subject.

Oh yeah, the vacuum leak was from the ACV blockoff plate the last person put on. It was very thin. I replaced it with a thicker plate and a gasket. But there was this diaphram kinda looking thing in there. I left it in. I'm just wondering if this is one of my problems.

 

Well, I got it out on the road and took it around the block (would go further, but no plates). Gears and rear end are fine, and the clutch is fine. But whats weird is that the car doesn't miss on accelleration, but it does on decelleration and idle. I also don't know weather to call it a miss anymore. Sometimes it will go away, and sometimes the car will lope like a bridgeport. I still can't believe how good that car sounds. Its sooooooo deep sounding, even for a 3" exhaust (deeper than RB, I think). I can tell I'm going to love driving this car. But back to the miss, or whatever it is. It doesn't seem to have any loss of power. Accellerates nice and smooth. And after I parked it and let it idle after going around the block, it ran BETTER than my 88 buick with less mileage. So, I'm in the dark about it, and I'm not going to worry about it too much.

 

bad ground....... your spark plugs need a good ground and when compression is high (down shifting) then spark is harder to be created. try running a wire to the engine block and one to the body its self..

 

bad ground....... your spark plugs need a good ground and when compression is high (down shifting) then spark is harder to be created. try running a wire to the engine block and one to the body its self..

 

I think I'll try that. I heard a little bit of a snapping around the coil area. Might be the coils not being able to force enough of a spark through.

 

Turns out they were not related. For the "miss", the timing was just WAY off. Its almost surprising it ran, considering from the way it looked, it was retarded about 20 degrees or more. As for the electrical problems, it was just the chassis ground. Made a new one and problem solved. I think the trailing timing is a little off still though. I have to check it yet actually.

 

Good to hear

I really need to do my timing soon... :-/