a week before the Falcon nats, it starts acting up–UGH!

LaGrasta

LaGrasta

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First my A/C stoped blowing cold. It worked fine one day, then not the next.

Then the engine seems to be using water... and I see no leaks. I know, I know, bad sign.

Now going home from work yesterday, it started missing. I think it's missing, and not just a poor idle. At any rate, I opened the cap for the first time in years, looked clean, but with some wear. I sanded the rotor a bit and put it back on with no change in performance. Should I swap the plugs, wires, rotor, and cap and see if it helps? They have about 20,000 on them.
 
LaGastra, How old is the water pump?? If the seal is going bad, water could be leaking out of the weep hole of the pump while you are driving,; but not leaking when engine turned off. If it is leaking bad enough, and water getting on electrical components (plugs, wires, distributor, etc.) this could cause engine to run rough. Probably not your problem, but worth looking at. I hope it is not anything too serious (head gasket, etc.). Good Luck! Jim
 
I don't know how old the pump is, however I inspected it a number of times and cannot see any leaking at all. I'm really starting to think it's a weaping head gasket.

As for the Pertronix, I can't say if it's going bad. Do they go bad? Pertronix I, not II, is always held in high regard. I wouldn't think it's this. I still claim this $100 upgrade to be the best one of any I've done. What a difference it made from points.

So what about the 20,000 mile tune-up? Is that too early for another set of electrics? In my experience, I'm amazed at what a difference just a spark plug change makes. I recently posted a loss of top speed from 100mph to 90mph. A simple tune-up might explain this as well. I suppose all I have to lose is about $60.
 
My thoughts exactly, Bort. I'll give it a test this weekend. I have an old compression tester, the kind you "push" into the hole, not screw. What's the proper way to test it?

If it's down and I have to replace the gasket, is there anything else I should do while in there? At the very least, I would scrub the valves and piston tops.
 
I dunno about a push in style comp tester, but you can get a cheapo screw in one from summit for 5 bucks.

If the head hasnt been recently rebuilt, I would replace the guide seals when it's off and maybe lap the valves.
 
And the throttle plate is supposed to be open so there is no restriction on the intake when it gulps air.
 
None of that shit really matters however if you are trying to find a blown headgasket.

you will see something like 120-115-125-35-130-120

spark plugs in, throttle closed or however you end up doing it.
 
There's another thing you can do to kinda narrow it down. Drive it around for a while then let it sit overnight.

Yank the plugs in the morning - and see if any of them have water on them.

If one does - 90% chance of a blown headgasket in that hole.

Of course, no water doesn't mean anything.
 
I would say 20,000 miles on the cap and rotor and plugs is pretty good. Mine do not last that long, but I am running an MSD which may be shortening the life of the cap and rotor. But even when I did not run the MSD box, I have had some cars that ran better with new caps and rotors in about 10K miles.
I'm with Ian, your symptons don't bode well.
Doug
 
Bort62":3fa201dn said:
None of that camel excrement really matters however if you are trying to find a blown headgasket.

you will see something like 120-115-125-35-130-120

spark plugs in, throttle closed or however you end up doing it.
Click to expand...

not always, could be blown inbetween 2 cyls, so it could be like 130 130 115 115 125 125, seem ok, but not really.
 
Blown between two holes != using water.

Also, blown between two holes will still give you low compression on those two holes.

Think about it.
 
I've got a normal screw-in style compression tester if you want to borrow it... those push in ones are not too accurate..

Check for bubbles in the radiator while running to help indicate a blown head gasket into the coolant jacket as well.. ( of course it could be blown between cylinders,etc which would not show in the coolant, but the compression test will help either way..)
 
thanks everyone, that's a lot of different things to try. I'll check it all out this weekend.

OzHemi, thanks for the offer, I'll give mine a shot and if it doesn't work, I'll pick up another locally.
 
Bort62":q9vw5x6z said:
Blown between two holes != using water.

Also, blown between two holes will still give you low compression on those two holes.

Think about it.
Click to expand...
that's what I said, well. I didn't bold out the 115,115
but yea. if all others were 125 or 130, those 2 were evenly low, around 115 or so, it would be blown between them. not always gonna use water that way tho. but if it didn't it would have a major stumble.
 
It would be lower than that if it were blown between two cyl's.

Think about it - when one cyl is on it's compression - the cyl it is blown into is on some other part of the stroke, so pressure will be leaking out of the cyl on it's compression through the other cyl which has a valve open.

Ask me how I know, haha.
 
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