Into the shop runnin' good, out not so much!

[Mercury Mike]

Dropped my car off at my friend's shop, and it was running greaaaaat. Like... PERFECT. I needed to get my converter changed and I always get my work for parts only prices there when I can't do the work myself, and I buy 'em lunch or whatever. Anyways, got the converter changed and all of that fixed, and that was the ONLY thing that was changed, and now the car runs like crap! I pulled all the plugs and #2 was covered in oil, and everything else was perfect. Timing is still a perfect 12*. Once I cleaned the oil off the plug and richened it up a little, it got a lot better, driveable now. How could oil cover the plugs in the last 3 days it was at my buddy's shop after it'd been running SO WELL the past few months? (Since my DSII upgrade?) Why is it still missing and such even after I cleaned the plug off? I'm gonna pull the dizzy and re-TDC it, and re-stab it. Then I'm gonna tune the carb perfectly and hopefully clear it up. I'll post compression test numbers this weekend. What gives?

 

[Ronbo]

A stab in the dark....if the car just "sat" there and usually you drive it every day, bleed down through some bad vlave seals. Yeah, yeah I'm reaching but I like the simple solutions!

Ron

 

[Mercury Mike]

I've got another head that's just about ready for a 2 bbl conversion so I might just deal with it for now until I get that setup ready and then swap it up. I think I have a ticking lifter too. Might be time to dig a little after I put a couple thousand miles on it as is and get some other stuff in line. =P I was thinking something of that relation too. Thanks.

 

[fordconvert]

What did you richen up? Idle? Float level? Choke?

Take a look at the dist cap and see if you see any differences in the terminals especially on that one. If they will reach maybe swap plug wires with something the same length like 2 perhaps? If there is nothing wrong with the electrical side of things and you want to limp it along try one step hotter plug in that hole or one of those anti foul extenders they sell at the parts stores. I had a ford tractor that would only run about 2 hours without one of those but with one about 20 so they do work.

 

[Fred]

One of the concerns with modern plugs is that they seem to foul out much easier than old plugs. I am told this is because new plugs don't have the porcelain sealed like the old plugs. All this is due to the fact that it is very hard to flood an EFI engine so plug manufacturers stopped worrying. You might still have a plug that is shorting out internally if the oil seeped into the pores of the porcelain insulator. Swap plugs from one cylinder to another and see if you miss moves with the plug. If so, you need a new plug.

 

[Mercury Mike]

Awesome thanks for the advice gents.