Mazdax605

iTrader: (5)

Hey Guys,

Well we figured out why I was melting small ground wires in my harness of my 79 GS today.It turned out the ground cables from the batt-to-engine-to-chassis had formed a layer of corrosion,and was not grounding so well.We replaced the wires,and the engine turns over really strong now,and we don't have any more melting of wires.

my problem is now the car doesn't want to start.I have new plugs in it,and the coils I am using are from my 83(Did I mention I am using the 83 electronic ignition),and they worked fine when they were in the 83.I am using old wires,cap,and button,but they all worked fine in my 83 when I last drove it a few weeks ago.I plan on getting new wires,cap,and button soon.The timing seems to be spot on,but we are not getting a strong spark.It will cough,and sputter here,and there,but not for long,and not all that often.We wired the ignition through a relay directly off the battery,and triggered by the wires that used to be on the ballast resistors,so we think the coils are getting strong voltage.Any help with this would be appreciated.Thanks in advance.

Chris
79 SA22C GS Spark Yellow
83 LE parts car now
74 RE/PU
92 Cummins diesel(for sale)
03 Ram 1500 quad cab Hemi

Kentetsu

Bump....

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

have you checked the ignitors? they can form a layer of corrosion behind them and that causes heat to build up and ultimatly with this condition, the ignitors crack and they will fail. check them out and check to see if you didnt overload one or both of the coils. if you did they will not work or they will leak. you can pull a plug and ground it to the strut tower (with the plug wire connected) and crank the engine over and see if you have a nice blue spark. see what you come up with.

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

There is a difference between cranking and starting. If starting issue, check the spark plug. If it is wet, then its a flooded engine.

Mazdax605

iTrader: (5)

It is cranking fine,but not starting.If it sits for a few minutes it will fire for a second or so,and run a little.I have pulled the plugs,and cranked it over to unflood it if it were flooded,and I have 2 sets of new plugs,so I have been swapping between the two sets.One set of plugs are NGK BR8EQ's,and the other set are Denso's.I am going to get new wires,cap,and button,and I will test the ignitors as well.When we were cranking it with a plug grounded to the strut tower my friend noticed the first few sparks were good,and blue,and each subsequent one after the first few were yellowish,and not as strong.Does this help at all?Maybe its the coils?They are old.If I get new couls would I be best to get them from mazdatrix,or get some MSD blaster coils from Summit or another vendor?

Thanks again.

Chris
79 GS
83 LE
74 RE/PU
92 Cummins diesel(for sale)
03 Ram 1500 quad cab Hemi

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

Pour a cap full of regular oil in each secondary barrels (for nikki), handcrank for about a minute or so, let it sit for at least 10 minutes, install new or clean/dry plugs, then start. you will have a cloud of smoke for a few minutes but it will go away.

Mazdax605

iTrader: (5)

Wacky,are you suggesting I may be having a compression issue by advising this method?This car has been sitting for 5 years,but it was well preserved,and cared for when it was stored.

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

thats prob what he is suggesting. i would give it a try just to eliminate possibilities.

Kentetsu

Well, the oil down the carb can also be used for de-flooding...

If you need to upgrade your ignition system (coils) I would recommend upgrading to the 2nd gen direct fire ignition (see faq section). Later you can add the "Transistor Trick" unit for even better performance.

Mazdax605

iTrader: (5)

I have thought about the 2nd gen coil idea,and I have one that I can wire in,but this car is so original I don't want to get too out of control with the mods.I have removed the emissions,stock carb,ignition,factory externally regulated alternator,and the exhaust,and I think Ihave gone too far with those mods.I may go back to more stock stuff just because I loved this car the way it was when I bought it,which was basically bone stock.If I could figure out how to resize pics I could atach some to a post so you guys could see the awesome score I got with this car.Thanks again.

Chris
5/78 Spark yellow GS
83 LE parts car now
74 RE/PU
92 Cummins diesel(for sale)
03 Ram quad cab 1500 Hemi

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

paint shop pro works well for me. or email the pics to me and i'll compress them for you and email them back to you.

Kentetsu

The 2nd gen ignition mod isn't something that tears up the car. It is easilly reversed if you ever want to return to stock down the road. But in the mean time, it will give you much better performance, reliability, driveability, and economy.

Sounds like you've got a nice ride, and as long as you keep all of the stuff that came off it you shouldn't have a problem with resale if that's what you're thinking.

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

As Ken stated, oil (not that ATF ****) will unflood it. Also, it is protects the internals particularly motors (piston also) that have been sitting for weeks. I own 6 cars so I go thru the same procedure when I it comes to using any of my 3 running RX (2 FB's and a RX-3).

Well, I dont believe a spark is an issue at this time. Get it running first, then do the ignition upgrade.

Mazdax605

iTrader: (5)

OK guys I got it runnin.It turned out my battery was very weak even after a charging over the last 2 days.I used another battery,and it was way better.Also I found that I had a pretty significant vaccuum leak from the carb not being tightened down totally(bone head mistake),and the rats nest removal instructions I got in the archive for the 79 seemed to be right,but I had a large vaccuum leak from it as well.I think maybe the PCV valve I used was plumbed in the wrong direction,but I did have it plumbed the way the thread said to.It still seems to be running a bit rich,but atleast it is running now.We poured some 2 cycle oil down the throat of the carb before we did all of this,and it seemed to help.Now I need to figure out a few things.That I will post in another thread.Thanks again for all the help.

Chris