73 CJ5 with 232ci has a miss

I have been trying to find a miss with my 232ci and can not fiqure it out. I have rebuilt the Weber 32, changed plugs, plug wires, coil, rotor, installed pertronix ignitor, checked for vacuum leaks and tried ethanol free gas. Nothing helped. Please help.

 

First of all do you have any spark? If no problem is there , is yes, are you sure you have gas going to the carb and getting into the intake? If yes you may have a timing issue.

 

I have spark and gas. the motor runs but has a miss.

 

Get a timing light. Connect it to each plug wire in succession with the motor running. If the timing light flashes at each wire, then you are getting good spark up to the plugs. Of light doesn't flash at one wire, that's your problem one, and the problem is in the wire or distributor cap. Slight chance the plug could be bad.
You should find which cylinder is missing by sequentially removing one plug wire at a time until you find the one that doesn't make it run worse. You can do it with the engine running, but I would advise against it. Then you can diagnose that cylinder. Have you done a compression check? One last thing is are you sure its a miss and not an exhaust leak?

Bill

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I did check each wire with a timing light and all show spark. I also did a smoke check, several times, on the exhaust and did not find any leaks. I have not done a compression check or the spark plug wire removal check. I will try the spark plug wire removal check today. I need to buy a compression test kit. Thanks for the help.

 

I did the check by removing each plug wire at a time and they all acted the same.

 

Check to be sure your plug wires are in the right order.

 

I did make sure they were correct today when I did the plug wire removal test. I also had the old plug wires and tried them, no change. Could it be running too lean? Thanks for the help.

 

It's not a miss then. If you had a miss in one cylinder and you pulled the wire off a firing cylinder, then you're running on 4 cylinders. It should make a very noticeable difference.

Maybe a noisy lifter? A compression test should help a lot, see if you can "rent" one from autozone or NAPA.

Bill

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Not that I'm questioning your mechanical aptitude, but I have little checklists in my head that I use to troubleshoot problems but without being there I kind of have to ask what probably seems like stupid questions. What is it doing that makes you say it has a miss? Less powerful? Rougher idle? Rough running, even off idle? A sound?

Bill

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It runs rough but not constant. The motor actually shakes when it happens. I see the timing change a little when it happens. You can also hear a noise too, hard to describe. I am going to do a compression test hopefully tomorrow. By the way, I am not an auto mech but can tell when its not running correctly. Thanks for the help.

 

Exactly, you know that its not running correctly. But our terminology could be different. To me a miss is typically constant. A cylinder that is missing is missing every time its supposed to fire. And I'm not a mechanic either, but I did stay at a holiday inn express last night.

Your timing will be affected by changes in engine speed unless you disable the mechanical and vacuum advances. Now if you disable both of them and you still see the timing change when it starts to run rough, your problem is most likely in the distributor. Another thought is to check the primary wires to the coil and from coil to disteibutor. If you can score another coil for testing its worth a ****. Coils usually either work or they don't, but sometimes...

Bill


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I guess the saying not constant is incorrect. There is a rhythm to it, just not every second so I guess that would mean maybe one cylinder out of the 6.

I thought the vacuum and mechanical only operated during higher rpm's. I also did change the coil, and coil wire, with no difference.

I removed the Pertronix Ignitor and put the mechanical points back in I it seems to have improved a little but still there. I checked the dwell and it is running at 30. I also notice if I increase the timing, like to 10 or so, the problem gets worse. Not sure what that means.

62willy, please continue staying in the Holiday Inn Express so you can help me fix this. Thanks

 

Are you sure you didn't inverse wire on the spark plug? happen to me, my engine (v8 amc) was running good but was always having a miss and it happen that i inverse two wire on the spark plug....

My 2 cents

 

I did check the firing order and spark plug wire order last night and they are correct per the manual. Thanks

 

Is this miss sort of like a small backfire? Could be a wore out dizzy. Bearings on the shaft can get sloppy and cause problems. Had same type of problem on my 75, 232. Of course mine had a prestocrap ign. that turned out to be junk. H.E.I. fixed it. Just a thought.

 

I will have tp take the dizzy out and check it, thanks.

 

Haven't heard back from you on finding anything wrong with the distributor. The vacuum and mechanical advances work at different rpm ranges. As long as the springs are in good shape the mechanical advance shouldn't affect timing at idle or slightly above. But the vacuum advance (or retard in some cases) will affect timing at idle and above. Have you checked for vacuum leaks? Use a spray bottle with water and spray it heavily around carb and base, and around all vacuum hoses and connections. Also check all along the intake manifold.

Bill

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The dizzy checks good. I believe I have it set too lean. I showed a picture of a plug to a friend and he believes it is too lean. I did the carb spray everywhere and no vacuum leaks. Will lean cause it?

 

At thus point, its worth a shot.

Bill

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