Distributor Questions

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Jun 19, 2003 | 09:49 AM

hollibau

Thread Starter

Junior User

Joined: Mar 2000

Posts: 89

Likes: 0

Distributor Questions

I can't seem to get my son's '63 Uni to fire on cylinders 3 and 4. The fella that had it before us put in new wires, cap, rotor, points, and condensor. I put in a new coil. I reset the point gap to .015 on his 292 and spun it around several times and checked the gap on several high points. I have a dwell reading of 15 degrees, which I am certain is well below normal. How is this possible, if the point gap is reading okay. The idle is at 650-700, which is a little high I know, but with it only hitting on 6 cylinders it starts to struggle at the recommended 600. I did grab the rotor and there seems to be considerable play back and forth on the rotation. Can anyone provide any troubleshooting techniques to help me decide if I need a new distributor. If I order it by noon today, I can have it by Saturday. The truck had been sitting for 15 years without being fired up. We cleaned everything up and it now starts up with a twist of the key each time.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

Jun 19, 2003 | 02:55 PM

walkhaulsey

Junior User

Joined: Dec 2002

Posts: 84

Likes: 0

From: South Haven, Mi.

Distributor Questions

Did you double check your spark plugs??? New ones can be junk tooooo.

Jun 19, 2003 | 03:23 PM

bluestang65

Tuned

Joined: Jan 2002

Posts: 421

Likes: 0

Distributor Questions

do they have compression? Head gaskets love to blow between cylinders and yeild no compression in either one. Run a test on them with a checker, keeping in mind that you need at least 100 psi to run. If they have compression, try taking your distributor out and moving it over a few cam teeth so that you can move all your wires over one spot on the cap. I would suggest setting the motor ready to fire the number one plug before removing the distributor. then when you put it back, move the rotor a little bit and drop it back in. Put the number one plug wire even with the rotor and move all the other wires the same number of spaces over on the cap until the firing order is set correctly and all of the wires have moved. If your dead cylinders move to another location in the block, you need a distributor.