84 grand wagoneer (wife's wagon)

I picked this wagon up about 2 weeks ago for the wife this winter. It was running poorly when I got it, and had a locked up caliper.
I got it in my shop right away and got the caliper switched out.

As for the rough running, I found a few unplugged vac lines and the distributor was in poor shape with a loose shaft and burnt pickup. P.o. had replaced the carb with a new original equipment unit. I fired it up and finally heard a lifter tick. So off with the intake and valve covers.

3 lifters were collapsed, 4 were stuck as solid lifters. 2 were cupped on the bottom indicating a worn cam. I decided I didnt want to get into a cam swap, so I'm going to throw lifters st it and let it ride.

And since everything was apart, I hit it with a little bit of black engine paint to bring it back to original appearance.


I'm still reassembling now. I found a few cracks in the air pipes, so they will be removed along with the pump. For the time being, I will keep the egr functional. Unless I find it to be faulty when test driving.
Items left before it's driveable:
-spark plugs & wires
-air line manifold plugs
-vac lines
-drivers side valve cover
-coolant flush
-oil & filter
-battery
-rad cap

 

Sweet! You're not messing around. Looks like you'll have this thing back on the road in no time.

 

Haha, well, when I had got it i told my wife it was a running and driving vehicle. She threatened to leave me if I brought another project home. Well, here we are... and she's still here. So I figure I ought to at least get it done quickly for her.

 

Haha well, good for you. I'm sure you aren't the first to hear those words and you certainly won't be the last!

 

The body looks like it's in good shape. Are you gonna spray the underside (and in the rockers, quarter panels, etc) with Fluid Film for winter rust prevention? I'd recommend it. You can probably find a place that will do it if you don't have the time but they might talk about drilling the doors instead of taking the door panels off to spray inside.

 

I will be using fluid film and washing at least weekly. She will only be driving this on the snow days. She has a nissan sentra for most days.

Daily progress pics while I'm eating lunch:

 

So then I suppose the obvious follow up question would be:
How often does it snow where you live?

 

North west ohio. Last year there were only 10 or so snow driving days. Were due for a good winter though.

 

well, I got everything together today only to have a no start situation. I'm not getting any spark. With a test light clamped to the battery + and probing the coil - terminal, the coil - terminal is not making my test light flash when I crank the engine over. But I installed a brand new distributor. I need to do a little diagnosis. If anyone has any insight on testing the 70s'-80's Motorcraft ignition control modules with the 4 wire plug and 2 wire plug, please chime in. I know that the 2 wire plug should get voltage on one terminal with key on, and voltage at the second terminal during cranking. I'm not sure how to test the 4 wire plug. the wiring harness in the engine bay gets a little warm with the key on, so that has me a little nervous too. I'm sure i got something switched around during reassembly, but i'm not sure what i did.

 

Never assume 'new' means 'it's good.' I've had brand new parts out of the box be bad. I may have some Jeep/Motorcraft info, but I wont be home until sometime tomorrow, so no promises.

 

No assumptions here. I'm going to start diagnosis at step one and not skip anything. It ran before, so I can't rule out anything

 

Technically, with Duraspark, no flashes can be either module or pickup coil. But one quick check is to disconnect the coil wire at the cap, plug in a used spark plug with the side electrode removed, and then set it on engine metal where you can see it. Then turn the key on for two seconds, then off, and look at the spark plug when you turn it off. If you see a spark, the pickup coil's bad, module's good. No spark, the other way around. This assumes you have power across the coil primary.

 

Oh, and everything's plugged in, correct?

 

No wonder, you didn't replace the cam. Once she leaves you, you could then replace it at your leisure and even be able to afford doing it

 

With key on engine off, I have 12.0v at the battery and at the Ignition control module red (ignition) wire. I have 6v at the ignition solenoid "i" terminal, and 6v at the coil + terminal. If i unplug the coil + & - wires, I get 12v to the solenoid "i" terminal. I get that same reading when i try another coil.
Both coils read 2.0 ohms across + & - terminals and O.L. frome each of the small terminals to the large coil wire terminal.
Does anyone know where I might be losing those 6 volts for the solenoid and coil?
Also, the engine spins pretty good with 12v, that should be plenty to fire up right? as opposed to 12.6v?
:confused: :confused: