Es3L

My car is suffering from a string of electrical problems.

1. When driving on the highway in 4th gear, when the car is accelerating through 2000-3000 rpm's, the car will jerk/shudder and all of the guages will go crazy. Is this the result of a Faulty ground and How should it be repaired?

2. (when at idle) If i push in the clutch peddle to put it into first, the tach guage will climb to the top with no Real rpm change. Can this be related to the #1 problem.

3. (starting) About 90% of the time when i get in my car to start it, i will have to turn the key back and forth to get it to start. Everytime i put it to start position, i will just get one click, then have to rock the key. (car does show signs of being broken in to or an attempt to steal it(broken glass in drivers door, non factory key when i got it, stripped top gears on window regulator) Any ideas?

4.Some times the starter will click once, but will never start when i rock the key back and forth. WHen we attempt to push the car 3 feet and pop the clutch the car will jerk, then with one keyturn the car will start perfectly. Related to question 1.?

5. Battery is almost new and has been tested twice saying that it was good.

Also the car has had a top end rebuild/valvejob/beltchange within the last 3K miles. There is very little smoke at high rpms (5k and up), but there is some smoke. When we have the engine ready for the motormount change, should we pull the pistons from underneath and change the rings? (if possible)

Thank you for the help in advance. Any questions (or just wanna talk), Instant message me at XxGummExX on aol instant messanger, or email me at es3l@aol.com.

Thank you,
Matt from Vegas

Martin

when your car had the top end rebuild the mechanic has left the rear lifting bracket loose, usually this would just cause an oil leak, but on the early cars (and only the early cars) this is the main grounding pioint for the engine. Tighten the three 6mm bolts and all will be well until it comes loose next time. For a permanant cure add a ground strap to the block as they did on the later models. This is a common fault.

Es3L

thank you, im going to go out there right now and try to find the strap.
any visual hints on to which strap it is since my father isnt home yet.

Martin

look at the back of the engine, on the cam housing (top of the engine) is a lifting bracket for attching a chain when removing the engine, your ground strap is bolted to this and to the firewall directly behind it towards the centre of the car.
the strap will no be loose (unlikely) but the three little bolts that hold the lifting bracket on will be.
Don't over tighten them as they strip out the aluminium easily. Buy and install an extra ground strap to the block when you can, all the early cars should have an extra strap installed.

Es3L

tightened them and the car started right up with no clicks, well thank you so much for that. and sunday i plan on installing a new groundstrap. thanks again.

Es3L

well the car still does the click, but no more jerking/sputtering at any rpm so i eliminated one headache. Anyone know where the click could be from? sounds like the click is coming from the starter. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance. Matt

IceShark

Let's see you have an early 80s. You must have gone through one starter by now and the second must be up. Likely the solenoid and pinion gear getting stuck and not engaging. Easy fix if you take the starter to a rebuilding shop. Like $60 for rebuild.

You can test the starter on the bench and watch how poorly the pinion gear goes forward.

And put in that backup ground strap. #4 arc welding cable works just fine. Put it from the front of the engine block to the frame rail down under the headlight buckets. You will see several brown wires terminated there. And I would replace the original strap as well.

Finally, your positive feed to the starter may be corroded also. That is another easy fix as long as you are replacing grounds.

Es3L

alright sunday we will test the starter, install the grounds, and fix motormounts. Ill try and take pictures.

Martin

put in your extra ground strap, all your problems will probably dissappear, does your temp gauge change its reading with the motor running when you turn the headlights on?

Es3L

yes the temp guage changes.

Martin

That means you still have a faulty ground circuit. Add the extra strap and that should go away too, make sure the connections are clean and tight.