I was looking at the timing on my SE today and noticed something that may have to do with it "freakiness." I put the light on both the leading and trailing, and they are dead on. Then I noticed that the timing light stopped flashing. So I attached the light to the trailing side, and sure enough, it works. I can clearly see the red mark. I switch it back over to the leading side, and the mark is there, and then it's gone. Sometimes it comes back, and sometimes it don't. Do you think it's the coil or ignitor, or the dizzy itself? I know I'll have to troubleshoot it according to the FSM, but I just wanted to get your opinion.

Thanks,

Mike

 

I forgot to mention that I have the 2Gen coil for the leading. I didn't wire it exactly the way some people have, but I think it's correct.

 

A fouled plug can cause this. Make sure the pickup is not near any other wires except the L1 wire when checking leading.

 

What kind of wires are you using? Usually this is caused by using big wires. These engines run great off stock wires. I used to have a set of MSD super wires and I always had a miss at high RPM. What was happening was instead of the path of least resistance being to the plug it was to the next wire over. If I turned off the lights and started the car at night it was AMAZING what I saw.

Go buy yourself a set of the NGK wires from Autozone or like.

Usually if you have an ignitor thats bad its out 100%. They don't work...not work...work...not work...exc. Coils are the same way.h

 

I'm using the NGK power cables. These first gen wires were not a perfect fit with the 2gen coil, but it seems to be ok. What did you see in the dark?

 

Thanks, moving the pickup away from other wires seemed to solve that problem. I just had it out for a ride, and the throttle response seems to be good. Overall acceleration is fair, but it seems to have a hard time getting past 5,000 rpm. When I am off the throttle, it will backfire. Also, the car idles fairly well from a cold start to fully warm. But the longer I let the car idle, the more it seems to run rougher and drop in rpm's. Eventually it will stall.


BTW---I like your signature.

Mike

 

These systems are known for bleeding over. Go outside at night...start the car without any lights on and rev the engine. Look to make sure your not getting any arcing between the plug wires. My guess is at high RPM's you are getting some arcing/misfiring.

With that being said - You are also descrbing a dirty carb - Because allot of people don't want to mess with these carbs - Go buy yourself some sea-foam and poor the entire bottle in your tank with a full take of gas. Run it through. If you dont see a difference you might consider rebuilding your carb.

 

I'll check the wires tomorrow. BTW--it's FI, not carb :-)

 

Which 2nd gen coil did you use? Did you use a trailing coil hooked on leading running through the distributor cap?

Or did you go for the real direct fire upgrade? If so, sometimes the timing light shows L1's timing and sometimes it shows L2's because they both spark at the same time every 180°. In other words your timing light is flashing the whole time but only showing the mark about 50% of the time, which is normal.

 

Hey Jeff,

I did the 2GCDFIS. The 2Gen coil is getting its power source from the + side of the stock trailing coil. What I'm really concerned about is the backfiring on deceleration.