stranded in a weird way...

[pookie]

Let me begin by I drove the car to church let it sit and drove it home with no problems. I changed clothes and drove to the gym, still everything worked good. Got the the gym and forgot that it doesn't open til later on Sunday's so I get back in to drive home, car cranks fine and runs fine, I got to turn out of the parking lot and the car jut dies. I pull off and try and crank it nothing. I get out and look and see that my coil is not on its mount on the fan. It is sitting on top of the distributor cap. I put the could back in its mount and try to tighten it down. Try and start the car again, I can hear the fuel pump kick on, I can hear the injectors start to squirt, checked injectors by lifting up on the sensor plate. I try and start it and it turns over but idles really really low. So low that the alternator light never goes off. Kind of a lub, lub, lub and not a nice purr. So I cut it back off, call my better half and head to the house. I did a search but all I could find was stuff on the car not starting at all and what to check with that. It starts it just doesn't have any power or really run. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am going to head back up and check for spark, I was also going to take my timing light and check things out.
Thanks in advance
Ryan

[sammyg2]

My guess is that it got flooded and some of the spark plugs are too wet to fire correctly.

[pookie]

Well I went and checked things out, the fuel pump works and the injectors are squirting but it sounds like it is only running on one cylinder. Is it possible that when the coil fell off it touched metal and shorted out? Could that be my problem? I haven't pulled any plugs yet I was just curious.

Ryan

[sammyg2]

If it fires on one cylinder it should fire on all six unless the coil is so weak it can't recharge fast enough (I don't think that's possible) or if the plugs are fouled, wet, or gapped too big for a weak spark to jump.
Check the wiring to the coil to make sure there isn't a loose crimp or solder joint on a wire also. You could have fried your ignition module but usually they either work or don't, not inbetween.

Pull the plugs and replace them or try this:

start the engine and give it just a little gas in neutral. try to get the rpm to climb if possible. Don't give it too much throttle or it will prolly stall. Keep feeding in throttle and see how high you can get it to run, don't go past around 5 grand if you can get there. You might get lucky enough for it to clean up and run right. I'd still check and/or change the plugs tho.

[Jim Sims]

Likely when the coil fell it loosened or broke something. Go through and check the seating of the high tension wires (wire from the coil to center of distributor and wires from distributor to spark plugs). Check distributor cap and rotor for damage and looseness and check timing and dwell. Jim

[Early_S_Man]

Ryan,

Just how securely did you tighten the coil, wiring harness braid, and Brown ground wire to one side of the primary? The coil, braid, and wire must be as secure as it was when it left the factory ... if you expect a good 46 kV spark!

[47silver]

when my points were malfunctioning the same thing happened...i flooded the car and had to change the plugs before it would run.

gary

[Jorgeman]

I'm betting on the wet plugs theory! Pull one or two and check them out.

Jorgeman

[pookie]

Here are some pics of my plugs, laid out as the are in the engine if you are standing at the back of the car. All of them exept the number one cylinder smell really strongly of gas. So is the consensus still that my plugs are fouled? Thanks
Ryan

[RickM]

Maybe it's the angle but those gaps look awfully big. What are they gapped at?

[sammyg2]

Might be an optical conclusion (I crack me up) but that gap looks huge!
Is it just an illusion? My memory sucks but .032" comes to mind as what they should be. I'm sure someone will jump in with the right number.

Based on what I can see they are wet, partially fouled, maybe gapped too big, any idea how many miles on them?
Normally they would look nice and light tan, not dark brown or grey. Either they are old or you're running too rich. it doesn't really look oily to me but it's hard to tell, I'm leaning towards sooty from rich.

As long as you have them out replace them. New plugs are cheap and you already have half the work done.

[sammyg2]

LOL, Rick you beat me to it.

[47silver]

they look fouled...get some new ones, regap them and put them in..i think it will run.

gary

[ischmitz]

Did you check you distributor cap? And yes these gaps "look" really wide in your pictures.

[Rot 911]

Holy crap those plugs look like they are gapped at least .060! There is no way those plugs are gapped at .032. Not to mention completely fouled. Get some new plugs ad gap them at .028

[vash]

on my car the wires going to the coil are pretty damn old. i bet they couldnt take a beating while the coil was moving around. the nut and stud that attaches the coil also has a brown ground wire that looks mighty important. did you have the 13 mm (?) out to tighten it down good? you plugs do look kinda wide.

[pookie]

I had already planned on replacing them. I think they are gapped at .040, but I am running an MSD 6AL and that is what I found someone running them at in a search. Should they be smaller??? I too think I am running to rich and will adjust the mixutre as soon as I can. I think they plugs have about 4500 miles on them.
Thanks for the input
Ryan

[vash]

MSD? that changes everything. wide is good, no?

[47silver]

yes with msd you can run a wider gap.....hmm i dont know what mine is ill try to check my notes somewhere..

gary

[47silver]

ryab this thread may help with the gap .
Plug Gap With MSD