I'll give it to you form the top, finally had my car running good. Replaced the fuel pump and other gremlins. I went for a long ride lat week, running fine, no noises etc, get home and go to put it in the garage and it started ok but sounded rough. Did not get to it for a week and it sounded/ran the same way like it was missing, started with a click idled ok but misses through the RPMs with a a little shudder. Took the dist apart to see what was up and there was oil in the cap and on the rotor. I had a brand new Mallory dual point and new plug wires so I threw those on and same thing. It sounds like a diesel when idling, with some valve noise. I took it for more gas thinking that the gas I had was bad, but no change and when I stood on it it backfired. Plugs all look ok and timing is right on. Why would it run fine and then when it sat for about an hour, all of a sudden miss like hell? Checked it with a vacuum gauge and it moves within an inch or so like vibration of the neelde but nothing drastic. Oil looks clean, had some bubbles but no milky look to it. Help....
Also when revving it it smothes out some at about 3 grand but from idle to then is has a pffffftttt kinda sound from the exhaust, not the crisp note it had before...
Try pulling the valve covers and check valve springs. Also check that each rocker arm is moving through its arc. You may have a broken valve spring, bent push rod or cam gone flat. Good luck, The FOGGER
Too much Mechanical Advance? Intake Manifold might be loose. Coulda bent a push rod or other valvetrain device. Dunno, I aint Smokey Yunick.
I filled it up before my last cruise, and again from the same place today, it could be, but now I have a full tank of possibly bad gas... I thought of that...
It would be awesome if it was bad gas. Easy fix. Mechanical fuel pump or electric? Your new pump is an unknown.
New pump is electric. what has me puzzled is that there was oil in the dizzy and on the rotor, i had a iffy dist in there before. There was a noticible difference with the new dizzy until I topped of with gas...still missed but seemed not as bad.
Pushrods look alright. It appears that all valve are moving the same with the valve covers off. I was cranking it with the coil disconnected from the dizzy and the exhaust smelled like lighter fluid....
Oil in the distributor point rotor area says worn shaft to me,perhaps pcv is inop,pull the plugs to see how bad they are fouled
the oil can get in by way of the va***n advance can, or up thru the dist. shaft. the oil level isn't past the full mark is it?
Sounds like it ate a cam lobe, the last one I had do that would cough back through the carburetor under load running up through the gears. It sounded like a shrieking sound at first, later it was a distinct popping. It would also keep opening up the lash just enough to clack a lifter, the same lifter every time. The idle would get rough and uneven, too. I'd adjust it and a short while later I'd have to do it over again. By the time I figured it out, there was virtually no valve lift on one of, you guessed it, the exhaust valves. Of course, with no effective exhaust on that cylinder, the mixture was being coughed back out the intake. This happened a few years back before anybody started making a big deal about the oil companies reducing the zinc content to meet emission standards. Made damn sure I used GM EOS to break in the new cam and no problems so far, knock on wood or whatever.
did you have a recent oil change? oil since 2007 has no zinc,if you've got a flat tappet cam you might have wiped it out with the lifters..that would cause this issue also bad gas...E85?
Ya didn't fill it up with diesel?? Stranger things have happened. Hook the pump up to a gas can and start it and let it run for a few minutes to clear the poss. bad fuel out. How does it sound now. Take a compression test.
i use chevron Delo400LE in ALL my flat tappet cammed motors,available at wal-mart it's got enough ZDDP(ZincDialkylDithioPhosphate) 1500 PPM which is good,anything above 1300 PPM is ok.
I was using an old points dizzy that may have been suspect, and that is why I changed to the new one. Plugs looked grey/tan
what do the plugs smell like? kerosene?,dizzy shaft could have alot of play causing the shaft to rock in the cap and miss-fire i've seen it too..i would definately check what kind of oil you put in it,thats suspect also..unless you added ZDDP additive you might have a mess on your hands!
but you said in one of your posts that you changed the dizzy out and you still had the same prob,valvetrain noise, clatter sounded like your lifters bled down when it sat for a while the new oil is ****! made for factory roller lifter engines which is in about 90% of all new cars,unless you run an oil additive or use a couple of different brands that are adequate enough ZDDP levels,your gonna wipe out your cam and lifters period!seen it many times
OK, time to pull the rocker covers and run the valves. Sure sounds like a flat cam lobe, maybe an intake from what you describe. Maybe you'll get lucky, but not if things go for you like they do for the Birk St. boys around here.
do you have an H E I to put in, this may fix it ,, also if the cam gear got ate/worn it could couse this,, l had one the same way and that was the culprit, take and check both the gear on the dist and shine a light and see if the cam gear is ok
Run the basics before you start tearing things apart. Check point gap - I know, you've swapped distributors, but if you're a noob at points you may have done the same trick on both of them. Check compression. Go here and see which scenario your vacuum gauge readings compare to. http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm Edited to add vacuum gauge address....
I will check dwell. Dwell on the other dist was spot on, but I set new points on, I thought the other parts were ok (shaft breaker plate) etc but they may have been worn. This dist is brand new. I just re did the lash and again all valves apear to be moving. I can check compression later. I want to refire her to see what's up.
Are you running a fuel pressure regulator...? I had a self regulating electric pump that worked fine for awhile, then didn't self regulate like it was supposed to. It caused rich run / flooding condition and ran like ****. I thought all the same things and did all the same stuff you're doing... then threw on a $25 Purolator fuel pump just for grins and it was fine. JOE
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