So I finished my first front end swap this morning, trucks been sitting is the shop for about two weeks while I got all the parts gathered. While I was at it, I replaced the battery and pos/neg cables. I fired it up to make sure I had good connections and the 400 kicked right off, didn't choke or pump the gas but once, I was impressed. In fact, it seemed like it wanted to start before I had the key turned all the way. It surprised me and since I was still climbing in the truck, turned the key back to off within a split second.

Well, I went to pull it out to test drive it and as soon as I put it in drive, it goes to sputtering and missing, sounding like only a few cylinders are hitting with my foot mashed down on the throttle, barely running. I thought maybe a buddy had been jacking with me, so I checked firing order, it's good. Wires are all on tight. I pulled cap and took some emory cloth to it and the rotor - time for a new one for sure, but I wouldn't think that's what is causing my problem. Check for loose wires, found nothing.

So I would start to think it's A. Ingnition module B. Voltage regulator C. Coil, or D. Bad fuel sending unit. (outside chance, didn't think to swap tanks)???

Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

 

I had a similair experience once with a bad coil; ran find until you put it in gear. Is the coil new?
Cheap replacement part. Inginition module bad it wouldn't even crank I beleive.

Mitch

 

I would try the ignition module first. Dont let the parts store "test" it for you though. Just buy a new one and hold on to your old one for a spare. I had that problem before and they "tested" mine and said it was good. After awhile i ended up just buying a new one anyway and that was the problem.

 

Don't know the age of the coil, I did notice it was pretty warm after only backing up and running for a few "missing" minutes. Might try that first. Thanks!

 

Did you have the control module off the fender for your swap? Make sure it has a good ground. A lot of Jeep guys fry the module when swaping the front clip from not grounding the module. Yea Jeep later CJs use the same one. My 86 CJ7 uses the duraspark dist and the same control module as my 77 F250 does.

 

Thanks Guys - I found the choke was stuck open. Last thing I would think to check. It was so hot here yesterday that I worked through the night and wrapped up at 5 this morning to get the front end finished. I was one tired *****. Thanks again.

 

its usually the simple crap that gets overlooked and trips you up......i was thinking the float was stuck open from the sound of it, guess i wasnt far off....where are you at in "okie"homa??

 

Always the simple stuff. I'm between Edmond and Guthrie, west of 35. Where are you?

 

im in sw okc....hope you didnt get hit bad by the flooding...looks like it was really nasty up near you, everyplace east of I-35 around lake arcadia got it pretty bad...the news said the lakes water level rose over 20 feet in under 12 hours...a foot of rainfall in half a day is no joke....i hope all is well for ya...