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.

The green wire came from pelican parts. I actually got it running. I adjusted the whole distributor assembly. It's idling about 1000 now. I think the distributor assembly is a little out of time.

You should be able to get close to perfect by hand adjustment.

There was a batch of bad green wires, wired wrong, a few years ago. Just checking to be sure you didn't grab them from a backwater parts place.

The oxygen sensor needs to be hooked up and working on the Ljet cars, at least in my experience.

It's always the way over at the moment. I think I need to pull the cap off and adjust it a little more and then put it back on so I can hand adjust it more. The wire looks pretty new. Where is the oxygen sensor?

All the way over **

O2 Sensor should connect pre-Cat somewhere, the wire is then fed on the side of the tunnel and comes up to left of your CE Panel.

The car keeps saying something about OXS when you start it but then goes away when you rev it.

try resetting the box on the passenger side of the seat or near the CE panel find a white box with a black button on it press the button this resets it

here is a link with a picture of the box its on the passenger side of the car either by the CE panel or under the cover next to the seat.

see the 3rd and 4th pictures

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&v ed=0CE0QrAIwAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.vwvortex.co m%2Fshowthread.php%3F5065839-TimboTip-of-the-Day-10-24-OXS-Light&ei=9YYhUqiYIMOKrgHF7IGYBA&usg=AFQjCNFehPPM1c OCUzU_u2dVZWcq6a3UZg&bvm=bv.51495398,d.aWM

Distributor shouldn't be hitting against a motion stop.

How would removing cap help?

Have you checked the timing mark alignments?
Set crank at TDC mark; cam gear marks will show (notches are on back, not front, of cam gears)
(if they don't, rotate crank again one rev, then the marks should show)

So, with crank at TDC mark, cam gear notches should align with alignment marks on the rear cam gear covers. Rotor on distrib should align with notch on distrib housing.

Trying to determine if your cam timing is way off (timing belt misalignment or broken cam snout)
Or if distributor is installed at right place.

I was going to suggest this earlier. It's basic timing. Sounds like your off a gear on the Disty.

Which notch on the distributor housing are you referring to? Which end of the rotor?

when you remove the cap there is a small cut line on the distributor body,where the cap seats
the leading edge of the rotor should line up with this cut line when the engine is at TDC
This is to verify TDC for the distributor or the rotor pointing at #1 plug wire

You mean that little notch were the small black lid sits? So to get it back in time I have to take off the timing belt covers and make sure it is in top dead center? Or is there an easier way todo it?

Best to take off the covers.
Fairly easy to do.

put the crank at TDC and remove the passenger cam tower cover,
line the rear of the cam with the pointer,
loosen the DS cam cover and see that the rear of the cam is also lined up,
then remove the cap and verify the leading edge of the rotor is lined up with the hash mark on the distributor housing

I put the crank at TDC, (the first hash mark on the crank, there seems to be 4 or so different fractions, I put it on the first one). The cam shaft marks do not line up, i went around several times stopping on the first mark and they still do not line up. If you line up one cam marking the other cam lines up with it but the crankshaft does not line up with the marking. Seems to be off by quite a bit. How should i go about adjusting it?

this is where TDC is for your engine if the cams dont line up then turn the crank one revolution and check the cams again.
If the numbers on your crank dont look the same as this,
then the damper is installed backwards
What this picture is showing is ( 0IT ) is TDC


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378073486.jpg

First picture is top dead center mark on crank, (my markings are facing towards the radiator instead of in towards the engine like yours.) The second picture is the passenger side cam marking, in the third if you look hard enough you can see the mark on the cam. Timing on the cam appears to be advanced about 3 inches( as close as I could get it, I went around about 4 or 5 times)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378075746.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378075821.jpghttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378075837.jpg

Warning your crank damper is installed backwards,

the best you can do now is get one cam lined up then the crank will be at TDC,

but it wont be indicated see the picture i posted.

NOTE your numbers are upside down,

thus so is the damper.
To fix it remove the damper and flip it over after lining up the cams,

the OIT should be pointing to the timing cover pointer once the damper is flipped over