Autolite plugs FTW!

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of them. They were in it because I needed spark plugs that day, and didn't have the money for them in the first place. AKA Champions. I normally get Autolites. (This is the first time there's been anything but in it.)

Either way.... I swapped the plug out, and it didn't fix the problem. I don't know what to do next.

 

I prefer a dependable mower......

Mowing is enough to get me in a bad mood. Mower problems accelerate the process million%

MOPAR = My Old Plymouth Ain't Running. So they're obvious choices for champion plugs.....

 

LOL. That made me laugh. Maybe champion plugs are Jewish? Because that one got circumcised.

 

Any ideas? I still can't figure out whats causing my vacuum needle to dance around.

 

did you ever change the gasket? could be it's seperating and closing/opening a leak at random.

 

Yes, I put a new gasket on this weekend. It brought my vacuum signal up some, but not a lot (from around 15 to 16 1/2). I sprayed carb cleaner around it and it didn't rev like before, so I know it sealed it up.

Still have my odd dancing vac needle though. You'd think the broken spark plug would have been it.

I swear sometimes, I could find a cut fuel line on this engine, repair it, and my gas mileage wouldn't improve.

 

do you have a vaccum advance dist? if so, could be bad. what ever it is, is sealing itself, and will be just like looking for a electrical problem. Time consuming, then, whack on the head, and man, I shoulda seen that one.

 

I'll try looking into that and disconnect the vac advance and see if it goes away.

You're pretty sure it's not a valve that's binding up or something?



This weekend, I pulled all my spark plugs (who knows, I may have broken the one right then), replaced the one that broke, pulled my distributor and disassembled it to check for moisture, and cleaned up any corrosion on the terminals in the cap.

 

Get yourself a handful of vacuum caps, and unhook every vac line for carb/intake, cap. See if the needle still dances. If so, use the carb cleaner around all carb and intake related gaskets.
Still no luck? Check for a spitting exhaust leak somewhere along the system.
If you still can't find anything, wait till dark:30 and fire it up with no lights around, and see if you have spark jumping around the coil/dist/plug wires.

If non of that yields a cause, then you may have a valve sticking occasionally.

 

Just to satisfy my own curiosity, did you try another PCV valve?

 

I'm sure it's not a valve. If it were, it would not heal itself, and then flutter again. Likewise, I think you have the valve train correct now. You have a vaccum issue, and you just have to keep on plugging away at it. I myself do the same nervous walk everytime I pull apart and put back together a motor. It's like watching your kid take it's 1st step. you want it all to go perfect, but you anticipate the fall. manytimes the fall just never comes, and everything works out. You need to relax a bit, enjoy the new motor, then start the troubleshooting over, after you have relaxed. It's not going to just stop running, so your worrying yourself to death here.

 

I went through and disconnected everything, such as the vacuum advance, etc. There's not a lot of vacuum lines on the engine, so the possibilities are few. It didn't result in anything.

Also, I removed the spark plugs, distributor, cap, rotor, wires, etc. and installed the entire set from my good running 300. The only thing I didn't change out was the wiring harness, coil, and ignition module. It ran exactly the same, vacuum needle still danced around, etc.


I haven't replaced it, but I did remove it, cleaned it, and tested it, and it didn't change anything.

I know what you mean about relaxing and enjoying the motor. The problem is is that it's just not running well enough to do so. It sputters, runs a little rough, will stall and die if I try throttle under 1500 RPMs, etc. Not to mention my vacuum needle fluttering all around and a low vacuum signal. Something definitely isn't right.

Not only that, but it's gotten worse. Instead of the small amount of fluctuation from before, it's dancing a whole lot more (and doesn't stop and settle like it did before):

YouTube - MOV041

I did try something last night that brought up something worth noting. I wanted to see if it was a valve, so while it was running, I went down each cylinder and pulled the spark plug wire. Cylinders 1 through 4 had a noticeable bog to the engine. RPMs dropped, etc.
However, cylinders 5 and 6 had almost NO change on the way the engine ran. I couldn't even tell when I pulled the wire, and it didn't smooth out when I put it back on. In fact, I pulled both 5 and 6 at the same time and I couldn't even tell a difference. I didn't go for a drive, but I did rev it a few times, and it seemed to rev pretty much the same as it has the last while.

(On that note, pulling spark plug wires never changed the bouncing needle.)

This is when I thought maybe I had two dead cylinders, so I got a new set of spark plugs, and swapped over the ignition from my other 300. Pulling the wires still had very little affect on the engine.

Do I have two weak cylinders? If so...why?



On another odd note... I drove to work this morning and the needle was ROCK STEADY the whole drive. It's like the symptom never existed. What is going on?

 

interesting that you pulled the wires, and put them back on, and it heals itself. I wonder if the plug boot was not allowing the wire to fully connect. Are you using dielectric grease on the wires? interesting.I hope it continues to run correct for you. I have my fingers crossed.

 

Maybe I didn't word that correctly.

The needle's been fluttering for days non-stop, so last night I pulled the all the wires one by one and the problem never went away. I spent two hours on it last night and the needle fluttered the entire time. That's also when I found out that pulling the wires on cylinders 5 and 6 had much less affect on the engine than pulling wires 1 - 4. I even pulled both off at the same time and didn't notice a change. Needle still fluttered.
I thought maybe I had dead ignition on two cylinders, so I changed out the distributor, plugs, wires, etc. etc. and the problem persisted throughout all of it. I finally gave up, and put it away for the night.


When I drove to work this morning, I expected more of the same, but the needle was solid (first time in a while) and I have no idea why. I expected it to start up at some point, but it didn't. I imagine I'll get back in it later this afternoon and it'll be all over the place again.