MichelleJD

Would a misgapped sensor cause the car to run rough and backfire? My car is running like crap since the clutch job and that's the only thing on the engine I touched. I gapped it before I put the BH back on (I cut out the BH so I wouldn't have to remove them next time), but I might have moved them when tightening them down? I dunno, just trying to figure this out. I have new cap, rotor and wires arriving today, but that wasn't the problem before the clutch job. So waddaya think?

Ski

If you have the housing locked in (not the most fun job) but it may be worth pulling one at a time to make sure they aren't damaged on the end - being a prox switch basically, if the end was damaged and part of the inner coil winding was dragging on the starter ring gear or flywheel, yes, you could be getting some false signals.

Gotta good check on TDC - flywheel notch seen through bell housing and cam gear mark?

MichelleJD

I never touched the timing - just removed the sensors. The flywheel was not removed either.

mtnman82

I notched the BH too, and then set the gap prior to installing the BH, then in my haste left the sensors in while I assembled everything. For some reason I decided to take the sensors out again before I started it up, and found that I had banged up one of the sensors (which I replaced) ... just FYI - I think you have a lot more experience wrenching on these things than I do ...

MichelleJD

Not so sure I have a lot more experience! I am certainly good at f$%#ing things up!

I just replaced the rotor, cap, and wires and there's not much change. Guess I have to pull'em and regap them and see what happens.

Bri Bro

Yes, and it will be more pronounced at low RPMs. As the RPMs increase, the voltage levels from the sensors also increase. Most of the time, missgapping causes the car not to start.

MichelleJD

That's what I assumed. I thought it was an all-or-nothing kind of thing.

MichelleJD

It didn't work. The car still runs like crap.

ehall

Are you certain that the timing didn't get out of whack by a tooth or two?

Did you pull the sensors and inspect them?

Tom M'Guinn

So in what way is the motor running bad?

blodstrupmoen

How is that possible when doing a clutch job? Even if you remove FW it is tapped so it cold ony be mounted in one way , or? ( maybe some aftermarked FW is missing this!!? )

Van

I think we need more description on what "running like crap" means...

eniac

While moving things around, is it possible you might have bumped a vacuum line off? It's easy to do especially with the original lines. Check the lines going into the firewall for the HVAC. If that's not it then check that the sensors are plugged in the correct spot and not swapped(although I don't think it's possible to mix them up).

Are all your rear grounds to the block/bellhousing back in place, and the correct spot? It's easy to miss one.

I doubt it's the sensor gap.

Ski

So you had some problem Before the clutch job?

MichelleJD

No problem before the clutch job. It ran a little rough, but I had not dialed in the new chip yet, nor drained the bad gas. Now it backfires and won't even idle evenly and dies when you try to rev it (I can build revs if I "feather" the accelerator, but it increases the backfiring). I've drained the bad gas from the tank and will be putting 10 gallons of premium in today.