Ok, so I previously thought my coil was bad because it was getting hot....well.....tonight I popped the hood without any lights on or around me and there was a light show going on. I could see sparking around the plugs, over by the distributor every now and then, the motor block...etc. Is this most likey just bad plug wires? Sounds like the most likely culprit, but I'm looking for other ideas too. Thanks guys...you all are so great help!!!
The guy I bought the car from had replaced the plug wires, distributor cap, rotor, points and plugs around 3 months before I bought it from him. The plug wires are cheap $15 Autozone specials, but again they are less than a year old. I really hope that it's as simple as just being the plug wires causing my acceleration problems. It gets much worse when accelerating but isn't bad when just cruising.
Yeah, I know. It sucks that I'm on such a tight budget that I can't just go buy everything I need to fix the car right and prevent future problems....but....I'm not that lucky. Maybe I can go pick up some more cheap wires to see if that fixes things and then down the road when I can get a few things, pick up a nicer set. Also....if it was a bad ground wire, could this be the problem? What's the best place to start looking?
Ground wire is not a problem, it is actually working very well, hence the light show. Replace the plug wires. And, pull all the plugs out, inspect them for wear and gap.
Dont buy another set of cheap plug wires (you'll be in the same place shortly) Save some cash and get good ones. Good luck!!!
talk about a light show...do like i did.. take a spray bottle of water and mist the motor while it's running at night... I could hear spark arcing but couldn't see it...by doing this it looked like Christmas lights twinkling... ......
Ok, so I replaced the plug wires and the car seems to run a little better, but I'm still getting some sputtering/hesitation when I accelerate. I checked under the hood again tonight and you can just barely see sparks traveling across the wires and arching to the block and anything else metal. It's not nearly as bad as it was last night with the old plug wires. The arking I'm seeing isn't enough to feel at all and it's barely noticeable to see but still there. Does this bring me to something inside the distributor (points or condensor or rotor) or the distributor itself? All of those things are new. The only thing old (and still original) is the coil. I don't know that this would explain the very light arching from the wires, but it could explain the problems with hesitation, right?
Not the cheapest, but maybe lower/middle quality. I know, I know...I should have probably went with something better, but my funds are very limited and it's the best I could do with just trying to diagnos the problem. Researching more on my problems, I've seen a fair amount on plug gap (mine were set to 0.035) and distributor cap problems (my cap is less than 2 months old). I'm not sure where to start looking at this point.
If you are still seeing sparks jumping off the plug wires...They are leaking. check the cap for cracks too...If its a cheapie Autozone one...Its probably leaking as well. Tell me you didnt use a conductive grease on the plug wire ends/boots...
The plug wires came with a conductive grease already added to help the boots slide over the plug. When I pull the plugs to check them tomorrow, I'll be sure to wipe them down. Didn't even think about that grease. Speaking of grease...the inside of my distributor, around the breaker points plate, is really dirty and almost greasy looking. Could I be getting some arching inside there leading to the problems I've got?
The grease in the boots is Di-electric grease...Leave it alone its supposed to be there. There should be a light film of di-electric grease on the cam that opens/closes the points. Are your points gapped properly??? should be 17 thousanths (.017) Improper gap will cause running issues...Di-electric grease is not conductive just conducive to a good weather seal to prevent corrosion.
I've got my points set at 0.016, but I can bump it to 0.017 to see what happens. Yes, you're right about the grease on the boots. I don't know why I was thinking it was conductive grease. No sleep is killing me. Anyway....I'm going to do a few things tomorrow to see what happens. I hope I figure it out soon because my wife is ready to blow the Mav up at this point. Haha!
does the motor have a ...block to frame/firewall grounding strap... mine has one from each head to firewall and one from a starter bolt to frame... ......
