What Next? 1973 Ford Contry Sedan

The '88 had the TFI, not Duraspark, and so the design is completely different; the DS II has a "baseplate" that is firmly attached to the body, and the magnetic pickup rides on. The dizzy shaft has an iron reluctor on it, and the wiring that connects to the amplifier box.

 

Oh,OK,that was nine years ago I had that system. Anyway,I got another new reman distributor,put it in,and the vacuum advance was so huge it hit the top of the water pump when going for 12B. I swapped that out,verified #1 Cyl. on comp stroke,rotor pointed to mark,.017 gap, and got timed & dwell at 25 this time. It ran OK. But this morning,it sputtered and popped and BANG! exploded another muffler. Also,when the engine stops,brake and steering become extremely minimal. So now I am saying how could this be the distributor? Or even the ignition system? There must be some internal mechanical timing business going on. It's been two years now,and I TOTALLY give up. Anybody wanna buy a nice car?

 

If you suspect a jumped timing chain, there's a procedure for that. Take the timing cover off. And even if it's not jumped, it could be worn (the factory cam gear was aluminum with nylon-covered teeth. My '74 Ranchero Squire, 351C-2V, jumped timing just because it wanted to. Stranded me during work hours; boss was nonplussed about it. Gave me a reason to do a day's worth of repairs and new parts, and it ran much better after all that.

 

But how could it run OK for awhile and then go buggity buggity choke POP ghasp wheeze klunk klunk BANG!!!?

 

I see the procedure for the timing chain here in the factory manual. I doubt I am going to do this. And what if it is some other weirder problem,like alien saucer hovering & zapping?

 

I had assumed that the chain and gears were all steel. Ugh.

 

When yours jumped time,did it go pop bang or what exactly? How did it behave? Or did it just quit?

 

It quit on deceleration. I found it had jumped three teeth, but jumping one tooth causes problems, two teeth kills it.

 

If you drove car for the miles stated above and as you said it was ok then look at other valvetrain possibilities like valve sticking or lifter . If it jumped timing before it didn't correct itself and jump again . The fiber gears definitely cause problems but you need to check and understand how it all works together . Compression test to start with . Hard to diagnose most things on the internet .

 

I did the compression test--normal variation between cylinders for this type engine. Also the vacuum test showed normal vacuum with a steady needle. Something here just doesn't make sense.

 

Right. If timing had jumped, it would be steady low. I know a voltage drop test on the points was one of the diagnostic procedures, but that's something I have not done. Fortunately, I have a Sears engine analyzer with instruction manual, and it has the procedure. I'll look it up and let you know what I find.

 

I just got back today and had a chance to look at the car. I replaced the coil. I replaced the distributor cap. I cleaned up the tip of the rotor. I was going to time it,but it was cold and rainy,and I couldn't get it to stay running,so I shelved the project 'til later.
The only unusual thing was that all eight of the contacts inside the distributor cap were burned. What could that mean? I don't know,but I replaced the coil in case it had caused that somehow. The gap was still at .017.

 

They're gonna burn no matter what, but seeing as the cap and rotor are recent, either the burn time is too long or firing KV is too high. Check the coil-to-cap wire with an ohmmeter; it shouldn't be more than a handful of ohms, if one.

 

I wonder--just how is the distributor driven? Is there an intermediate shaft from the camshaft? Unbelievably,there is no picture or mention of the distributor drive in the Ford shop manual. What if there were a problem and the timing didn't jump,but the drive to the distributor was off? THAT would be an unusual defect,but everything about this problem is unusual.

 

Oh,it must be just the gear on the camshaft. I don't know. I wonder if the gear can move on the camshaft. Tomorrow,weather permitting,I'll verify #1 cylinder on comp stroke,rotor pointing,etc.,AGAIN and see if I can get it to run.