I'll try to keep this brief folks. I did a valve adjustment on my 82 SC, all went well. Now it's just horrible, popping idle. How the frick did this go south on me? I checked all cables and hoses and everything looks fine. Wires are correct and seated on all plugs. At first I thought it was old bad fuel, but I put fresh stuff in with stabilizer and EFI cleaner...no better after a long while letting it run through. For a brief moment after I started it it ran fine, then I did the timing adjustment and all hell broke loose. Before I go out in search of a fuel pressure gauge tomorrow, what else might I look at? I hear the pump run when I push up on the air box thingy, I have new plugs, wires are pretty new. I do notice the exhause smells funny, either too rich or lean, not sure (smells like a bus I'd say). Popping, hollow sounding idle. Seems worse after my timing adjustment, go figure. For timing I disconnected distributor hoses, set idle speed at recommended level, did timing, put hoses back on, reset idle to 950, and runs like doggy doo. Any help is greatly appreciated, at least before I search for a fuel gauge tomorrow. Thanks.

 

Could you have one or more valves that are adjusted too tight and staying open and made worse when the engine warms up?

 

Gosh it's idling so crappy I can't imagine that even tight valves on multiple cylinders would make it do this.

 

timing adjustment? seems everything went south for you from that point. I'd go back to pre adjustment settings if you can and make sure all hoses good and properly routed/connected. there is a technique of spraying carb cleaner and listening for idle change maybe you have a vacuum leak now after all that.

 

I'm not sure where to spray the carb cleaner. I can't find any lose hoses or bad ones. Also, did I do the timing correctly? I did it at the idle with hoses OFF the distributor, then reattached and reset idle speed. Seems something as simple as this should be readily found, but I keep finding all differing methods. Thank you.

 

Bactrack to what you started with. By your own admission, it started to go bad when you played with the timing.

 

okay one question .. how do you know your wires are on correctly ? remember the rotor on an SC spins counterclockwise. If your using a Bentely it is very likely you could have one of the ones with a misprint.

other than that you have a vacuum hose off somewhere i would imagine ... even a badly adjusted valve wont do that .. you have a global issue that is effecting all cylinders.

 

oh good call ed i misse the bit where he played with the timing ,,

 

Well the saga continues. I let her warm up for a LONG time, and now running smoother. I'm talking about 25-30 minutes of idle. I re-checked timing and reset it at 950RPM with vacuum hoses off distributor to 5 BTDC. Put hoses on and now not idling so smoothly (or as smoothly as with hoses off) and set idle speed back up to 950 or thereabouts. Timing with hoses on now looks not at TDC. Wondering if I have a well described "cold start problem?" She is tough to start, taking 2 or 3 tries, but does start up. Any other help is appreciated.

 

I bought the car with a new set of stainless steel, labeled ignition/plug cables and I took them off/on one at a time so as not to mix them up. I must have checked them 4,000 times so I'm sure that's not the issue. I even went so far as to photograph them before I took the cap off. Like I said before exhaust smells odd, I think there's also a mixture issue. I guess I'll start with a fuel pressure gauge next, need to piece together a fused jumper cable first. Pending that test I'll tear the air flow sensor/box...etc apart and look there for leaks. Right now letting it cool down to late tonight or tomorrow and restart it to see if it does the same. There was a decent bit of moisture coming from the exhaust as well, is that normal?

 

So was it running perfectly fine before you messed with it? And then when you adjusted the timing it went bad? I'll third what Ed said, I think I'd put it back to where it was before you messed with it and leave it there. Did you get the timing light on the #1 lead?

Brett

 

if it was running perfectly fine before cant you just slowly turn the distributor till you feel it smooth out ? My dad use to do that years ago and it wold certainly tell you where your issue is.
You bring up a good point about cold start .. that is NOT your issue as it is warmed up in a minute .. not 25 .. but base CO is something that must be done afer a valve adjustment anyway. so a good start.

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean by putting it back where it was before. I want to clear something up that I may not have made clear. The car has been sitting and I started it before the valve job and it was running fine and smooth, although I ran it only briefly, I did not drive it. So while the car was up for the valve job I did a ton of stuff so it has not really been driven for a while and it's entirely possible old fuel is in there. I did replace plugs, cap/rotor/oil/filter...etc). Nothing else I touched could have affected idle (bleed brakes, hood shocks, new battery, detailing...etc). But I've put new fuel, cleaner/ethanol treatment and that problem should be minimized, but I've been burned so many times by gummed up fuel and crud I wouldn't eliminate it. So it started/ran well before the valve job, then idled OK after the valve job. Once I did the timing it got better, then wham, it went south quick a few days later when I started it. Made NO sense to me. That makes me think something is off/missing/was jarred? I just have to get the time to get the fuel pressure gauge on it and that hopefully will shed light on it.

 

You need to explain things better the first time around, if you want help here. Your new story presents a different picture. It seems you omitted the part about it being fine until a few days later Tough to stay interested now....

Check all your hoses and vacuum lines, plug wires still on, etc. You are the one that needs to look for the low hanging fruit. We can't. That is what I'd look for, something that came loose after your work.

 

does it run OK.... I know it idles crappy but, hows the power when you drive?