Idle Trouble

[Anonymous]

Hey All,

My 66 Falcon with a I6-200, a C4, an Autolite 1100 carb as I remember, MSD Blaster II coil, load-o-matic distributor, and Pertronix Ignitor II ignition module has trouble idling. The trouble is intermittent which is the most aggravating part. It runs fine on the freeway and about a month ago when I tried to tune the carb it ran fine at idle, but the next day it had trouble again.

The engine was rebuilt and machined and it has about 40 k miles on it since then. As I remember I have always had trouble at idle. The car runs fine except at idle, two weeks ago I drove about 10 hours each way to Louisiana to visit my grandfather, but after getting off the freeway it idled poorly again.

Any Ideas? I have tried tuning the car with my timing light multiple times to no avail and this problem is really frustrating me. The only way I can get a smooth idle is to put my foot on the gas a little and my other foot on the brake. But then of course sometimes the idle is fine. I tried 89 octane gas accidentally in Louisiana and I actually seemed to get better mileage and it smoothed out the idle. Not sure if the better mileage was due to lower speeds, I might try some 89 again on my trip to Chicago in a couple of days just to see what happens.

Any help is much appreciated.

-Dan in Atlanta

 

[JackFish]

Cleaned or rebuilt the carb recently?

 

[wsa111]

Dan, SOS I bet your problem started with the pertronix II.

Take this unit out & either install the pertronix I or get a ford duraspark setup.

The pertronix II is bad news, as I have stated before in many posts, this unit is going to get someone killed, do I need to say anymore? William

I believe one difference is if you leave the ignition with the II it will not fry.
I had a II in my mustang & the engine would die at idle or erratically idle rough. I removed the II & reinstalled the I. Have had no problems since.
Go with the pertronix I. William

 

[Anonymous]

I haven't touched the carb recently except to turn one of the three adjustment screws (idle mixture, idle speed, cold idle speed).

I am almost tempted to try running points again. I never really had any trouble with them. Maybe next week when I have some time I will try them out. I would eventually like to do a DSII conversion and add a 2 barrel carb but I will have to have a little more money in the bank and a second car before I try such a big project on my daily driver.

-Dan in Atlanta

 

[cfmustang]

I hate to admit it (since I am having other problems as well, so I can't say for sure that it is the case), but I installed an Ignitor II for exactly one week. Once I put it in, it ran like a dream on the freeway but terrible around town. Every red light, I had to put it in neutral to prevent it from stalling. Trying to back up without flooring it was nearly impossible too.

I put the points back in and the problem went right away...

 

[wsa111]

I hate to admit it (since I am having other problems as well, so I can't say for sure that it is the case), but I installed an Ignitor II for exactly one week. Once I put it in, it ran like a dream on the freeway but terrible around town. Every red light, I had to put it in neutral to prevent it from stalling. Trying to back up without flooring it was nearly impossible too.

I put the points back in and the problem went right away...


_________________
-Chris

Chris, I,m so glad you got some of your problems fixed.
This is the same problem I had over a year ago with the pertronix II. William

 

[cfmustang]

Well, they are not necessarily fixed... I just got it back to it pre-Ignitor II state which is at least driveable...

I will admit that putting on the that Pertronix was a bad idea. Especially in the midde of trying to troubleshoot other carb/timing issues.

I'm just going to go with a Duraspark II when I get the rest of the issues sorted out.

 

[Anonymous]

why would ya'll spend the money on petronix anyway? why not just go DSII?

 

[cfmustang]

I bought mine well oover a year ago when I had the engine rebuilt. I just installed it when I was bored thinking a stronger spark may fix some of my woes.

 

[I66coupe]

Installing a Pertronix won't give you any stronger spark. Its the coil that does that for you. I am getting ready to install a DII distributor and a TFI coil for a much stronger spark.

The old cannister style coils give about 25K volts and the TFI does about 40K. This allows a wider gap in the sparkplug and better flame propagation. I converted my '83 Jeep J20 with the AMC 360 with the DII box (yes, they used the Ford ignition) to a TFI coil and wider gap and found an immediate and easily noticeable improvement.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I just tried to start up my car after being out of town for 2 weeks and it wouldn't make a sound, not even start to turn over. 3V between terminals. Tried to jump it unsuccessfully, bought a new red top and it started, reluctantly at first. I was kinda hoping secretly that putting in the new red top would fix my idling problems but it didnt.

Gotta leave for Chicago tomorrow for a friend's wedding and a lot of work around here still to be done. Goin to change my oil. If I have time I might put the dang points back in.

-Dan in Atlanta

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I changed the oil and greased the front end joints and after that the car ran great up to get dinner. The idle wasn't as regular as I would like, but not bad and I certainly didn't have to have my foot on the gas the whole time.

On the way back I caught a light and the car kicked and died as it idled. It was doin pretty good too. Oh well, back to points until I get a DSII setup I guess. Maybe I'll put on my points in Chicago.

-Dan in Atlanta

 

[Anonymous]

Well, dang. I drove from Atlanta to Chicago on the electronic ignition and like usual, especially lately, it ran great on the highway and terribly every time I got off and got caught at a light or stop sign. It died all the time and starting the engine made kind of a ruckus too.

So after I got to Chicago I was pretty tired of the whole won't idle thing and I put the points back in and the car immediately idled better, before I even timed it when it was firing quite a bit after TDC. Then I timed it and adjusted the carb and it was idling and driving surface streets like a champ. No more two-footing it at stop lights.

Then this morning I got on the highway to return to Atlanta and at around 70 mph the engine developed a miss that did disappear below about 50 mph. I played with the gap between the points and got the car running pretty well until it started missing again a little southeast of indianapolis. So again I pulled over and replaced some wires and gapped the points and they ran good until middle of nowhere, Kentucky, where I again gapped em but it didn't take cause right when I got on the freeway the miss was still there. At the next stop was an older guy I had passed a while ago and he helped me clean the distributor cap real well and I replaced the new points I had installed with the old points I ran before I went electronic and somewhere in there I did something right and I got home without having to stop for that again.

I think the key was that one of the screws which held the points in place was loosening cause I didn't have the right type of lock washer for it and so at high speeds the points banged around too much and the base would slip around, removing any real gap from between the points.

Anyways, the car seems to be running GREAT now, the best it has run in recent memory and it's on points, not than dang electronic ignition. I didn't really notice a mileage difference between points and electronic ignition so I currently see no redeeming value to that electronic ignition that I had in there. I wish I had listened sooner. I kinda wanna call pertronix just to see what their take on it is but I think I have called them before and they didn't have anything to say.

BTW, all the wires I replaced were not present when the electronic ignition was being used, they were being stored in the trunk with the old points and condensor "just in case".

-Dan in Atlanta

 

[cfmustang]

Hmmm. That is exactly what I experienced (without having to regap the points). Methinks William was right on the money about the Ignitor II!