Help!! Engine Miss

[Ben Kallies]

Jim, Herbie,

Thanks for the input. I don't have a main shut off switch, but my battery cables will definitely be an area of interest, along with all of the grounds.

Bill,

Your issue is very interesting, Thank you for sharing.

-Ben

[MAURICE BLENDHEIM]

Ben... Any compression or leak down test results yet?

[Jack McCarthy]

ben... what type of lifters > solid or hyd > hyd shubeck/limited or reg hyd ???
i had an issue years ago when over winter a lifter went south, would occasionnally try to pump up and cause the miss... at idle & low rpm was good enough to run...b4shubecks

jack

or you could trade it in on a cj or dragpak... dealers love trade ins

[Ben Kallies]

Maurice,

Compression test and leakdown test are on the list once it warms up a bit.

Jack,

I'm running Smith limited travel Hydraulic lifters, with about .002" lash.

-Ben

[kirk]

Ben,

When you get it running have someone shoot the headers with a temp gun to see if one cylinder is hotter or colder then the others. start checking right away at start up

also check your wire size on the new switches, perhaps they are incorrect size or wired in a way that they steal voltage via a shorted wire.

one thing you can try, see if the car has a electrical draw...........shut off all the accessories..........does the battery spark when you hook the cables up? if so pull fuses one at a time until you find the circuit that is causing the draw.
next check the draw with your new switches turned on one at a time. see if any spark more than others? actually wiring an old door buzzer up with clips on it does wonders for performing these tests, and safer too.....
Did you install any relays with the new switches?

[Ben Kallies]

Kirk,

No new relays installed with the new switches, only what was already there for the fuel pump, electric fan, and water pump. I've never heard of your method for checking for a draw. Thanks for sharing.

-Ben

[junior barns]

Hey Ben, ever get your miss figured out?

[Ben Kallies]

Junior,

I just finally fired up the car last weekend after making a number of positive changes to the ground circuits including isolating and adding grounds along the way. I also replaced the negative battery cable, just to be sure, as well as the water pump and electric fan relays, just because. I also performed a lot of continuity and resistance checks along the way, as well as checking voltage to all areas. I've been reevaluating and checking every aspect of the vehicles wiring, and I haven't found any smoking gun. Everything checks out ok. Needless to say, problem persists.

I plan on performing a leakdown test next weekend (after I buy a leakdown tester). If that checks out OK, I'm not sure what my next move will be. My dad and I have been tossing around the idea of installing another engine that he's got, to know for certain if it's the car or not. Of course, that's a big task, and free time's been hard to come by lately.

As always, I'm open to thoughts and suggestions. Thanks for checking in.

-Ben

[FED 387]

had a gremlin we chased for 1/2 a season--we solved ours this way-----look into the distributor itself any wires in there??? we insulated/shielded them by wrapping them with alum foil--- it worked in our situation --not saying it will in yours but it seems we were picking up signals?? or interference?? of some sort when we got to higher RPMs from electrical wiring passing in the area of the distributor--look into it might just be it---Comp

[Joe Martens]

Ben, check the gear on the distributor. Had a situation where the edges of the gear were worn almost razor sharp which was causing a miss. Replaced the gear and problem solved. Hope you find the problem.