I have this 82 with 54K on the motor.
It sat for years in the prior owners yard...like eight.
I've had it for about two or three without running, so it really fits the "sat for a while" time criteria!

I plan to use this buket o' bolts with a low mileage engine as a test car for Carls and my modded carb ideas.

I recently dropped in a rebuilt carb and got it running for a good stretch today. (about 20 minutes before the ground caught fire, and started the engine on fire!)

It has no emissions crap, no vacuum leaks, no distributer advance vacuum lines going to the pots, and good (fair) plugs.

I do question the condition of the cap and rotor. BUT- I have swapped with the one in my DD, known to be good, and no difference.

PROBLEM...

The engine shakes like an epileptic junkie.
Sounds likes it's running on one rotor most of the time, with an occassional "pop-pop" in succession that almost makes it sound normal for that fraction of a second.
The engine sounds pretty rythmic otherwise, but it's difficult to tell for certain because I have basically no exhaust!
Oil is being burned like crazy, as I've kept it oiled thru the seasons.
During starting attempts, I've had to remove the trailing plugs and crank it to blow the excess fuel out. The "wooshes" are very audiable and consistant.
I've had a test light clipped on every wire. They're all getting spark of some magnitude.


So there you have it. My question really is, does it sound to any of you (that have experience with this) like the dizzy may have been yanked and put back in incorrectly? The spirits only know what may have happened to this poor specimin before I got it!

(A search yieled little for me.)

Things I have yet to try-

New cap and rotor;
Swapping ignitors out;
Swapping coils out.
It is getting spark to all plugs, though.


Thanks, guys!

 

Geeez man..... doa search will ya.....

Everyone knows that in situations like this you DUMP ATF DOWN THE CARB

 

Well, umm, it sounds like youre off to a good start, the only thing I might suggest is maybe checking the timing. I mean, I know it sounds simple, but you didnt mention that you had done it.

Other than that, I cant really think of much right now. Hows the gas youre using? Is it buring easily? Meaning, is it fresh and not going to be hard to ignite? Hows the shutter valve operating? Maybe its restricting fuel to the rear rotor causing it to run funny? Maybe some of that will get your gears up stairs going again .

~T.J.

 

I had a dizzy out by a tooth - it ran ok, just had little to no torque (ie not enough to get it back up my drive way...). Pull the dizzy and check - turn the engine on the front pulley clockwise until the timing marks line up, take the top off the dizzy and note the dizzy rotors' position, undo the little nut and pull straight up. On the base of the dizzy is a little lump and on the cog a little hole - these should be lined up. If not, do it, reinsert making sure it doesn't turn the dizzy while it goes in. Plug it all back to gether and play.

While burning out oil expect it to foul regularly - I'd be using up more old rx plug collection before the good 'uns go in. Yes, check the fuel is ok (recent stuff, it ain't like scotch whiskey) and no vacuum leaks.

Sounds mostly like poor ignition.

 

Ya know, I almost thought of not posting this one, since it's so simple/stupid that I wouldn't think Sterling would need it... But ya never know, I've seen some ppl who know their cars fooled by it:

Check that your plug wires go to the proper plugs from the distributor cap! YES, it does sound stupid... but double and triple check it. Ya never know.. :P No offence intended, it happens to the best of us.

Jon

 

Just a little note:

Why does everyone take out the spark plugs to unflood the engine? On a GSL-SE, you can unclip one of the small wires going to a ignition coil, crank the engine for 5-10sec, plug the little wire back in, and you're done, engine is de-flooded. For a 12a(works for -SE too) you can just take out the fuse for the fuel pump. It's the 20a fuse(see pic, it's red), crank engine for 5-10 sec, plug fuse back in, and it's de-flooded.



I just don't get why people go through taking out spark plugs and things just to get the engine de-flooded.

 

mine wont do that.... I tried...


so I just yank the plugs... or push start it... or both...


LAters

 

What about a compression test?

It doesnt sound too much like a comrpession symptom, but once I had a rex that had an apex seal that was lodged into place and wasnt extending with the wear of motor.
and since it was only one it gave a sparetic idle , much like the one you mention.

It wasnt obvious that is was only one apex seal until the compression check, I atf'ed the engine and it dislodged the seal and soon had close to the same numbers on all 6 seals. took care of the problem, mostly anyway, there is another half to it.

and back to iginition we go. The other half. It turns out you cant mount msd blaster 2 coils side ways. which means you cant mount them in the stock locations.
So after thinking iginition "much like you" I checked and cleaned the coil terminals, then decided to remove them to clean them better.

When removed I noticed the outside of the coils casings looked melted on the bottom "well side actually but it was the bottom in the way they were sitting". So i replaced them with stock coils and took care of the problem 100%. starts easier too.

 

Thats not where my fuel pump fuse is in my car...

~T.J.

 

Thanks guys.

Vipernicius-
certainly no offence taken. I do alot of "D'oh!"s all the time- especially in the heat of frustration and beer!

Cody-
the idea is to pull the plugs to more easily air out the chambers. After a good starting trial, the starter motor usually needs as much of a rest as it can get anyway.
Yanking the plugs also allows inspection to see if it really is flooded, and wiping/brushing them REALLY helps!

V8kilr-
Though I have'nt done an actual test, as I described above, the engine "sounds" great when it's trying to start. I have the exhaust disconnected, and can hear very distict "thunk-thunk-thunk...". The compression is causing the starter to have a hard time (I'm expecting to cook it before long!). My assumption is that with loss of compression severe enough to inhibit combustion, the start attempts would audiably demonstrate that as it cranks.
Besides, the thing sat for years bathed continously in MMO.

buzz-
That was just the info I was looking for. I will try that when I return from vacation.

 

my guess is crappy gas. replace fuel filter, fill with premium Chevron gas... clean out what's left of that MMO. You're the carb guy, but... you think you got everything hooked up right on it?

Also, I've found that after a few MMO treatments, the plugs just don't work quite right, even if you clean them. Just personal experience.

Another thing I try is use a timing light... time it first!! (and re-connect the vacuum advance) put the sensor on all the wires. make sure that they are all firing.


Even the best mechanics run into problems and need help. That's what this forum is all about. Good luck Sterling!!

 

I think the symptom to go after is that it seems to catch occasionally and run right. If the spark is good and consistant, then fuel supply is the likely problem. You just did the carb but what kind of gas did it get for it's first drink? The bad shakes have almost aways been carb / fuel related for me (assuming good motor). It may very well be running on 1 rotor while the carb is either dumping too much gas in or starving it from 1 side.
Good luck and please let us know what you find. I hate not knowing what the outcome is,,,,you don't learn anything new!

 

Man I tried the simple approach to ignition timing and i still don't know if I got it right. To line up the rotor is one thing, but the split for the trailing? I even had a timing light on which didn't help any; I could never get a consistent reading.

Sterling why don't you write a how-to on ignition timing? It seem the next logical step

 

I time successfully with an ordinary $40 timing light from Kragens. However, I had to add paint dabs to the timing notches on the eshaft pulley for legibility.

TRaditionally, mechanics said most problems were ignition, but with improved electronics, etc., I think most bad running probs are fuel now.

B

 

Things to try to isolate fuel vs. ignition:

-squirt fuel or starter fluid in intake.

- shoot propane from your little solder torch at the vac tubes

see if it improves or changes in any way.

B