My first tune-up...
 

Hey ya'll!

First of all, I want to thank everyone for making this forum so great. I'm so hooked on it!
Anyway, I have recently acquired the 'do-it-yourself' mentality, since I used to be a bit intimidated by the virtual complexity of these machines. I figured I'd take baby steps and start from the basics, so this weekend I did a tune-up on my new 84 SE.
I spent about $100: plugs, wires, dist. cap & rotor, fuel filter, K&N air filter cleaning supplies (the car already had the filter), and a pair of ramps.
Did the fuel filter first, then drove around for a day, then did all the ignition stuff. The car started right up and idled smoothly. I ran it for about 10 minutes and I turned it off (phone call). About 10 minutes later I started it again with no problems at all, same deal. I drove it for about 15 minutes and then let it sit for 4 to 5 hours.
After all that time, I go to start the car again and it just cranked, but it wouldnt start. It was certainly turning, and I tried about 6 times, for about 7 seconds each. Then it finally started, after a ~10 sec. crank, and then it ran smoothly again.
Was this normal, or could I have done something wrong? I have never had problems starting the car before, so this obviously can't be just a coincidence.
Well I don't want to make this post any longer. i'm going to bed!

just checking but did u put the right plug and wires in the right hole?

if it's idling fine then he most likely did. i had this problem a long time ago and it was when my carb started to ......... need a rebuild! AHHHHHHHH!!!! heres something to check. crank it, drive around and get it good and warmed up. come home and shut it off and immediately look down your carb. if you see gas still kinda flowing in there then that's your prob. also though, what kind of spark plugs, wires, cap did you get? if you got that borg warner stuff then you might have a problem there in itself :D

isnt it a common problem to be hard to start sometimes after being started up, warmed up, turned off and left for 20 mins or so, i know mine is, but not THAT hard

Mr. Big G: Yes, I made sure I had the right wires going from the cap to the plugs (T1,L1,T2,L2), as well as from the coils to the cap... no doubt there.

FBII: My car is an 84 SI which means it's EFI, no carb. Any analogous advice for that matter? As far as parts, I got stock parts from Advance Auto Parts..... Autolite plugs, Xact wires, Sorensen cap & rotor, and Purolator fuel filter.

jimmyrose: i thought that as long as you bring it up to normal operating temperature, then you're ok to turn it off.

One thing I did notice, when I pulled the old wires out the coils, it was noticeable that the leads in the coils were pretty corroded. My pockets tell me i'm gonna have to wait until next month to replace those.... but can I clean them up with something in the meantime?

Thanks for the inputs, please let me know if you can think of anything else.

You can remove the "cups" that the terminal "plugs" into on the coils. There is a phillips head screw that holds em in. Be carefull not to strip the head! Mine were so bad I had to pick out the corrosion in the heads of the screws. I pulled mine out and used rolled up sand paper to clean the inside of the cup. Of course this can be done with the cups in the coils. But I found that the contact between the cup and coil was coroded on mine as well...

After you clean the cups, your wires might fit a little loose. You can spead the metal terminal on the wire out a little bit to get a tight fit.

Hope this helps,
Ben

are the thread pitches on the autolite pos plugs reverse, I can't seem to break the ones that came on my car to break loose, and I don't want to ruin my rotor housings by accidentally overtightening them, righty tighty lefty loosey am I right big M*&&*r F*&(*^g bump

please guys, I really need to know tyhis

No, they're the same. Leftie loosey and you'll be fine. Just dont break them.

thanks, I just got 4 new ngks so that should be good for peace of mind

Did you keep your old ignition system stuff? If so, you can drop each part back in until you don't have the problem anymore, and then you'll know what's causing it through process of elimination.

From your description, it's hard to tell what may be causing your starting issue.

Let us know if you have any other insights that may be helpful. Doesn't sound like fuel related, since you did the fuel filter previously and drove on it for a period of time without issues before starting the other stuff. Reply back and we'll see what we can do,

dude I dont mean to be rude and I dont know if he's still having that problem, but just to be sure, I dug up a really old post, like last year old :peace:

Yeah that is old... in fact, that was one of my first threads in this forum!

Seems to me SEs sometimes have a warmstart problem and flood. Is my recollection correct, oh ye SE owners out there?

Now I'm really interested since I added an SE to my stable.

B

Oh yeah, when you put in new plugs put a little 'anti-sieze' goo on the threads (my local Kragens has it in little plastic packets like Ketchup).

If plugs are REALLY hard to get out, before you force them and maybe cause a big problem, try a little impact tool. A small one. I have a DeWalt DW052 12volt impact driver for setting deck screws, and it's just right for balky auto nuts and bolts (when that won't do I haul out the DW059 which is 3 times the torque and can twist your arm off!).

I also have a thread chaser but haven't had to use it in years, probably 'cause I use anti-sieze.

B

ya with my 1985 gsl if i have it running for 10 minutes and shut it off before the choke has time to kick out sometimes it will crank and just wont start... Finally i get it started by pullstarting behind another vehicle... What a joke, always make sure to warm it up good

uhhhhh well now for problem #2 does anyone know how to remove a plug that has been rounded out, the nut part, not totally round, but you get the idea

Same as any other rounded-off nut, except probably more difficult to get to. Try to get ahold of the rounded-off section with a vise-grip and turn it.