1980.keeps fowling first 4 spark plugs.
 

My car will be running and then it will die on you and you'll crank it and It'll fire a little bit and just stop. Everytime I pull the first two spark plugs on each side they are covered in a black, gassy smelling stuff. So I clean them off and then it still does not start. It seems like they aren't sparking to me. I've got it running again somehow before but after a couple days it dies again. Has new gas in it. It shoots out some nasty smoke when you try and start it and it doesn't start. Not sure what Exactly it could be. I was going to replace all the ignition wires and distributor and rotor.

Black gassy stuff? How about some pics of this? Is it oily or hard? Hard would mean your getting spark and burning rich. Oily would be valve seals. Is your oil new? How much has this car been ran in the past few months?

It's an oily black. I will upload pictures later. It has only been ran a little bit in the driveway and around the block. Not on many actual drives.

The oil is new, yes. Not even 10 miles on the new oil.

Is all the cooling parts working, cause sometimes you just need to run these cars and get them up to temp to get those old seals to soften up and seal again. Run it and run it long.

I can't get it running at the moment. I've left it running for about an hour at most before. Do you think the valve seals are bad? That sounds like an exspensive repair that I really do not want right now. I believe all the cooling parts work, it stays steady at the third line when it does run. I will attempt to get it running again. Is runs pretty damn good when it does run.

Cleaned up the distributor and wires and now it fires right up but it's idling at only 400 RPMs! What the hell!

If it's not burning right the RPM will be lower. I would certainly make sure you are getting good spark. My car is not an 80 but you need to determine how good a spark you are getting and also the timing is correct. I wonder, is blue smoke coming out the exhaust? How many miles on the motor? You could have a oil problem as mentioned earlier. There is a way to determine if seals or rings but I forgot how to do the test. Check the easy things out first.

Blue smoke? No. Miles =73665.

Before it was running around 1200 RPMs and after I cleaned all distributor wires it starts right away and runs at about 400. You can give it gas and it revs smoothly, properly. The timing should be correct.

How do I determine spark

have you replaced the green wire?
is it green or brown?
how do the green wire connector ends look?

How fresh is the fuel in the tank?

Is this a k-jet car? If so, injectors, fuel distributor.....I am still toying with a miss, but I had a near identical issue...changed my injectors, then kept toying with the CIS....ain't quite right yet, but way more better....once all the components are solid, then you can mess with he idle control....I am guessing maybe a plugged injector or two....

The green wire has not yet been replaced. I tried to clean the ends with electric contact cleaner. The wire is the original though. I suppose the ends could be in better condition, and the wire itself. The fuel is brand new. 6 days. It's an L jet car though. It's got a good new fuel computer and relays.

please replace the green wire before further testing is done
Also if the ignition wires are old replace these as well.

While your waiting for your new green wire,
remove the fuses and clean them with a pink eraser,
do all of the relays as well.
Clean the battery terminals and the ground strap connections

All fuses and entire circuit board was cleaned. All car grounds have been cleaned too.

OK then

please replace the green wire before further testing is done
Also if the ignition wires are old replace these as well.

Green wire and ignition wires in the mail. What to do until then?

Check timing belt? (ie timing may be a tad off)

Put new green wire in and new distributor and rotor and now it won't fire at all.

Pictures. What was source of green wire?
Can you show picture of distributor, with cap off, at TDC position on crank.