so i finally got the right alternator for my car, was out driving it all last night, ran beautifully, this morning at 10, i woke up, went to drive to my dads, and my 7 was running like ****

like small backfires constantly, we opened the hood, straightened out the distributor cap, then drove it to my dads, but still, it was like it had no power what so ever, i was on the freeway flooring it, going 60-70, which thinking back, was probably a bad idea, although it didnt sound like the rpm's were gettin very high, so im not worried about blowin the engine(dont have a working tach)

i dont get how something could go out over night, me, my brother, and my dad came to the conclusion that its probably the distributor, or the points, or the distributor cap, but something in that region, are we on the right track? anyone else have a problem like this?

oh yeh, i forgot to add, from 0 throttle to about 1/3 throttle, the car drives like normal as long as the rpm's are up, but soon as i go past 1/3 throttle, it bogs like hell

how could something go bad overnight like that?

 

what year is the car?

 

79 with no options

 

It sounds alot like your gas might have ice in it, or rust. My gas tank is completely worthless due to rusting inside, and I even repaired it 3 times. Sorry to tell you. Oh yea mine is a 79 also.

 

ice isnt very likely, it probably only got down to about 30 degrees here last night, at most

but rust is a possibility, my first thought was that it was dirty gas because my brother has had the problem years ago, and it was my first time getting low on fuel, but the way the throttle is working, im not sure =/

 

Small backfires constantly points at a direction different than fuel delivery. It could be:

1) Your leading ignition is out. Either ignitor or coil or both. Check them. Also check the engine fuse.

2) A vacuum leak. Check for it. Does the car idle properly?

3) Timing somehow got screwed. Check timing.

 

it could very possibly be a vacuum leak, i had forgotten to mention, i found two vacuum hoses, one with a crack in it, one with a split, but they were both behind the opening on the attatchment, so i didnt think theyd have that serious of a reaction on them =/ i had planned to replace them, but didnt think they were that bad, ill have to do that tomorrow and see what happens if all else fails, im gunna get a diagnostics run on it, cuz all of the suggestions ive gotten so far were completely different things, and i dont have the kind of money to fix each one till i find the problem

 

although it would be nice to do that, best way to fix up the engine

 

So does your car idle properly at 750 rpm or so?

 

it idles a bit low, but im not sure of the rpm because my tach is broken, i bought the car a few weeks back, and have had no time to touch it really =/ it took me two weeks to get and install a new alternator in it, i had the alt in my house jus sittin for like 3 days =/

 

Check the fuel filter.

 

if it idles and is not lumpy or hunting or irregular then it shoudn't be a vacuum leak. But go ahead and handle any known leaky hoses. Backfires points to ignition, not insuficient fuel delivery. Why is your tach not working? in the 79, the tach runs off the leading ignition, IIRC. If there is a date coincidence between tach not working and the symptoms, there's your problem.

 

we used t ojump the leading and trailing power side together so both coild fire all the time on them.

 

Stupid *** voltage regulator. I never got my tach and volt meter working together, just the tack. I have a brand new 79 alt that i took off because i coulnd not find a voltage regulator that worked. So I just upgraded the alt to an 83 alt. You also want to upgrade your distributor with an electric pickup one.

 

sounds like blown igniters and you're only running on trailing coils. get a timing light and check

 

He doesnt have ignitors, hes running a points system. You need to make sure the points aren't pitted and are gapped correctly. .020 i believe

 

yeh, i was thinking they might be burnt out =/ but ive never had to deal with a car that had points, so im just gunna convert it to electric, solve that problem right there, and for the future

sor far my list of new parts=

points to electric converter
distributer cap
spark plug wires(possibly, i want them even if they arent bad)
and some vacuum hose