click click click

[blackbird225]

Changed oil, adjusted valves, installed new(rebuilt) bosch distro, new points, new cap, rotor, plugs etc. Just put new Magencor's on today.

My car seems to pull strong, but it still idles like shyte. Number 6 cylinder shows very low vacuum on the sycro guage I have. 6 has always shown 2 points lower than all of the other cylinders.

Anyways... My car has made a click sound for a bout 3 months now. THought it was valves, adjusted twice, and still makes a pretty loud click out of number 6 area. Number 6 seemed like it wasn't getting good spark because every time I pulled the plugs, #6 had a little trace of gas on it. The PO said the engine was rebuilt, but I have no proof.

Any suggestions..

Like I said, the car pulls hard to where I can spin the tires, but could a poor carb balance cause the clicking?


One more thing, while adjusting timing the distro cap shocked the *^%#* out of me 3 times, not the wire, the cap....
Frustrated....

[john70t]

Sounds like a bad wire end or a bad plug if your getting shocked. The snap is the spark jumping to the plug/ground and might be easier to see at night.
The clicking could also be an exhaust leak as well(?)

[blackbird225]

You know, I think it could be an exhaust leak... Hard to say. You can hear a pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft sound from the exhaust when you are driving especially when you warm it up. I have heard that replacing the exhaust manifold is an expensive nightmare including tapping new manifold studs when the old ones break off.

Aye Aye Aye !!!

Any easy way to check for a leak like this?

[911ctS]

go out at night and lightly mist water over the dizzy. If theres any arcing goin on outside the cap you will see it. Also you could let it idle and wiggle the #6 plug wire off the cap with insulated pliers... if the idle is unchanged (still like shyte) then #6 is not contributing and is suspect.

[911ctS]

well if its pffft- pfft- pfft... then your right, id say exhaust leak

[blackbird225]

my new distro cap has a hairline crack in it. Could this cause trouble? I mean its just a visible line from top to bottom. Its at one of the conductor towers so the conductor can't shift. Just trying to understand

[Jon Hile]

caps (and for that matter rotors or plug wire ends and boots) should never have any visible cracks. Those kinds of parts can be tough if not downright impossible to exchange. Did you buy it through Pelican?

[blackbird225]

Yes, just bought thru PP 2 -3 weeks ago. Did not notice crack until today.

[Superman]

You'll have to be more specific about the ticking. When? When not? That sort of thing.

As far as getting shocked by putting your hand on the distributor of a running engine, I have a suggestion. do not handle the high-voltage portions of an ignition system while the engine is running. You are not the first to learn this lesson. And in case you are unlike myself and can actually learn from the mistakes of others, I will tell you to also avoid placing your face over the throat of carburetors while the engine is running. There's another way to learn that lesson too, but you'll pay with your eyebrows.

[blackbird225]

I agree, I don't like working on the engine when at idle at all. Seems like the only way to tweak the distro settings is to gently rotate it while the engine is running to get the perfect tdc setting. I have read other posts about ppl getting zinged by bad wires, but these wires are 2 days old. I have also heard about the throats backfiring into your face! I haven't made this mistake yet.

The sound is after the car warms up. It sounds more like a deisel benz engine. Sort of a rattly knock. Then when driving, you hear a light pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft out of the pipe (mostly under load). Seems like it might be every combustion stroke, but who can tell? At cruise, you can't really hear it. And it does definately affects performance. In 2nd gear, for instance, if you get the revs down to where is almost starts to bog-out, it studders alot like one cylinder isn't firing. This is why I think its the POS Zeniths that I just rebuilt. The Zenith's auxilliary enrichment circuit doesn't work. The solenoid doesn't actuate, so I just closed the other screws shut. Can this knock be from poor carburetion? I am just depressed about the whole thing. I was screwed from here to Sunday by the PO. I am just trying to lick the wounds of a great lie. =(

[cstreit]

When you adjyusted the valves, did the #6 valve require a lot more adjustment?

[blackbird225]

When you adjyusted the valves, did the #6 valve require a lot more adjustment?

No. None of the valves were loose. I adjusted them about 6 months ago. Thought I might have made sense, so decided to 2x check. There were 2 or three that might have been a .001 off, but nothing really bad.

I think #6 is bad because the enrichment solenoid ( from that aux circuit that weber doesn't have) is there. That is the only carb that is always way off of the others with a static (2-1\2 idle mix turns out and aux air all the way in) . Wish I could get a set of Webers for a reasonable $$. Don't really want to drop another $800+ into it. =(

[donk]

Originally posted by blackbird225
Any easy way to check for a leak like this?

I am interested in an answer to this question as well. I suspect I may have an exhaust leak (i hear the psst psst psst). Besides this symptom, is there a certain way to diagnose an exhaust leak?

Thanks

[cstreit]

A leak in the #6 intake would make this sound and result in a low vacuum reading... Clean your jets too...

[blackbird225]

That does it, I am gonna pull that crummy POS (*&$^@ Zenith out and get yet another look at 6 all the way round.

The fuel sys does have all new gaskets including intake manifold.

sigh.....

[cstreit]

Saw this same thing in a 2.2 with Zenith's...

Before you pull them, try and spray some carb-cleaner around the intake gasket areas... If the RPM's increase, then you have a vacuum leak.

Exhaust leaks sound more like a "Tick" than a "pffft"

Just guessing here...

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by blackbird225
you hear a light pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft out of the pipe ((

I think if it was elec or intake it would break up when you quickly hand slammed the accelerator to max when parked.. due to the seriousness of the prob.
If so then an experienced ear would be able to tell which one it is. But,

My wild guess is that the exhaust "pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft" is a damaged exhaust valve. So a compression test of #6 is a quickie.

[Hoffman912]

clicking could be bad valve guide

[911ctS]

I took off all that smog / fuel enrichment crap on my Zeniths. Just the bare essentials now!!! Also if you do this you may want to think about drilling your idle mixture ports a bit. Runs a hell of alot better now... one might think they were Webbers.

[blackbird225]

Originally posted by 911ctS
I took off all that smog / fuel enrichment crap on my Zeniths. Just the bare essentials now!!! Also if you do this you may want to think about drilling your idle mixture ports a bit. Runs a hell of alot better now... one might think they were Webbers.

How did you shut off that secondary circuit? Did you cap things off or super glue them shut? You would be the man X 10 for your info!
I know several other guys with t's( read Zeniths ) would love to know how to do it. I thought about it, but there are several places that the secondary enrichment taps into the bank. How could you do it and not create a total cluster-f**k?

Desperatley Seeking Smooth Idle