Abit of trouble

[Redemption]

ok, by no means am I a mechanic. So I turn to others for help. atthe moment, I need abit of it. I have a 72 amc javelin of cource, with a 401 6.6l in it. and its sputtering,misfiring, backfiring, etc. When I have the tranny serviced(I brought the car back to life from sitting 5 years) the tran-man said the mufflers were bad, as when he drove the car to make sure the car was shifting fine, he said he "blew one of the mufflers all to hell" so I figured maybe all that was caused by backflow from the clogged mufflers. had them replaced with two brand new flowmasters, and new 2 inch(factory size) pipes. still having the same problems. cleaned the carb, still the same problems. talked to one guy on the phone, about having the carb possibly rebuilt, he says it might not need it, asked me how it started in the morning. Well, it has abit of trouble in the morning, as it can take me up to 15 minutes to get it to idle at what sounds the right place. he said something or other aobut fluid bowl, something about a float, etc etc. He talked fast and had a thick accent that made him abit hard to comprehend. anyone have any clues as to whats going on with the car?

[RandyJ]

First I would check all the vacumn lines to make sure they are not split. A major vacumn leak would cause the start up symptoms and can cause back fires. Also, have someone check the EGR valve if you have one. If it is open you have a direct vacumn leak to the intake manifold from the exhaust.

Second, I would check the distributor cap for cracks (black lines on the inside between posts) and the plug wires. One easy check for arcing wires is to park in a dark area, pop open the hood and shut the lights off. Arcing wires should be glowing under the hood.

[jeepsr4ever]

I second whaty randy says and add this

1. Your distributor bushings may be out causing a constant off time (popping only comes from leaning or off time)
2. You may have jumped your timing chain once


Try hooking a timing light or bring it to a shop that can and if the timing is erratic your dizzy is shot.

[Redemption]

The wires and plugs are new, and are properly gapped(made sure) so I'm fairly sure they arent the bad guy here, Im going out in a minute to check the cap and rotor button underneath the be sure. Thanks for the help, I will keep you updated.

[jeepsr4ever]

yeah post updates!

You got me very curious on this one redemption

[Redemption]

I checked the cap and button, everything is fine there, and I think all the vacuum lines are fine, except i find something curious. What is the Pcv valve suposed to be running to? there is a line coming out of it, with one line running to something labeled "fuel tank", with a General Motors sign on it. but there is also a space for another line(or hose) to be attached to, but there is nothing there, just capped off, sort of, with what appears to be the tip of a.....pencil.(I didnt put it there!) I'll try and get a pic, any clue whats going on here?

[jeepsr4ever]

sounds like it was going to a charcoal canister but ..hmmmm :idea:

[Redemption]

Im starting to think it is infact the timing, as someone is telling me the car is running rich. I drove the javelin today, and it started smoking, with a heavy gas smell.

[Redemption]

my alternator light came on(been expecting this), so I had it checked at autozone. the guy there told me it was fine, so I replaced the voltage regulator(looked pretty beat up anyways). The alternator light is still on, and my headlights dim and flicker, along with other things such as my gauge lights. my gauges dont act properly at the moment either, so I assume I will have to replace the alternator. Maybe autozone should train their employees abit better. or just that one guy..

[Littlewolf]

Before you buy an alternater check all of you ground wires ,it sounds like you getting a power loss in the system somewhere, it could be the alternater but time spent on checking wires is a lot cheaper.

[Redemption]

ah, thanks for the info there, I'll be sure to do that before I go and spend money on something I might not need.

[jeepsr4ever]

Ahh now this sounds familiar.......a bad battery or possibly a broken fusable link

[Littlewolf]

Thats what i was thinking about it can make the ignition act up as well,wich was what started all this, if he was under the hood could of moved a wire causing the problem to get worse as he goes. need to back over all the wires he touched or replaced or just hooked up.

[Redemption]

went over all the lines and made sure they were all properly connected and working, so thats not the problem. I remember someone mentioning before that they heard my alternator making a noise, almost like a screech, so I am going to change that soon and see if it helps.

[Littlewolf]

Good luck finding the problem, are you sure none of the wires have a bare spot in them from rubbing anywhere. if they do that can cause a power loss. start car and warm it up then disconect one of the terminals at the battery and see if it stays running. if it dont alternater is shot or going out.

[mrtazwrench]

IF YOU HAVE A VOLT METER I ALWAYS CHECK BAT VOLTAGE WITH CAR OFF THEN CHECK IT AGAIN WITH IT RUNNING, IF IT'S LOWER VOLTAGE WITH THE MOTOR RUNNING CHARGING SYSTEM NEED REPAIR, WEATHER IT BE AN ALT, WIRES OR WHAT EVER, ALSO IF IT IS CHARGING OK EXPECT TO SEE ABOUT 14 VOLTS WITH ENGINE RUNNING. GOOD LUCK ON GETTING IT ALL SORTED!

[Redemption]

I got tired of guessing so I called an old friend that works as a mechanic and asked if he'd come over and help me out. well we tracked the problem down to either timing, or a bad distributor cap. well he looked at the cap and visually it lookedfine, but he was fairly sure that it has fouled out. He is coming back later today with something to check the timing(cant quite remember what he called it). gonna drop a new cap and rotor button in as well. oh, and as for what I thought was the alternator, was just an alternator belt that wasnt tensioned properly. glad I didnt drop a new alt in.

[Littlewolf]

You got to always check and recheck, glad you didnt buy the alternater. good luck on the distributor trouble. Happy new years

[Redemption]

Thanks for the NEw year wishes. I changed the cap and rotor button, got a new vacuum advance(other one was bad, explained abit about the timing advance) had the timing adjusted, and placed a new belt on. man does it run like a totally different car, much meaner on the streets. (ask the celica that is still probably trying to catch up with me)

[Littlewolf]

Glad you got her going rite,good to hear it enjoy.

[Lifted79CJ7]

So what is the best way to check to see if your vacuum advance is bad or not? This is one thing that I have never really messed with and probably why all of my CJs have run a little on the rough side instead of purring like a wild cat.
Jack

[mrtazwrench]

I ALWAYS TRY TO SEE THAT THE MECHANICAL PART MOVES, YOU COULD ALSO CHECK THE MECHANICAL ADVANCE WHILE YOU'RE THERE, AND MAKE SURE THE VAC PART HOLDS VACUME. ALSO IF YOU HAVE A TIMING LIGHT YOU CAN APPLY VAC AND CHECK FOE TIMING CHANGE, DISCONNECT VAC REV MOTOR TO CHECK MECH ADVANCE. AS FAR AS THE MECANICAL CHECKS AN AMC I'M A LITTLE FUZZY BUT I WAS ALWAYS PLAYING WITH BASE TIMING AND BOTH ADVANCES WHEN I HAD S.B. CHEV FOR DAILY DRIVERS, THE ONE HAD STICKING MECH ADVANCE, AND SWAPPED OUT DIST, COULDN'T BELEVE THE DIFFERENCE, SEEMED LIKE A DIFFERENT MOTOR. HOPE THIS HELPS.