"Trailer-hitching" bucking problem, Rapid detrioration from running perfectly Options

[boxster914]

Hi everyone

My perfectly running 71 914 1.7 D-jet has deteriorated rapidly this past week.

Early in the week I noticed what felt like a power drop out during a drive. It was very slight and only happened once and I wasn't sure I didn't cause it by unconciously lifting off the gas.

The next drive it happened a few times and was more pronounced. It was then that I knew this wasn't an imagined problem.

On the third drive it was like a bucking bronco, surging and stopping and the engine cut out a few times. It was undriveable.

Today it will start but won't run. The engine cuts out when I try to rev it and the red light comes on.

I've done some searching here but haven't been able to draw any conclusions or come up with an actionable strategy to diagnose the problem. I'm seeing people trace it to spark plug wires, air fuel ratios and bad distributors.

Is there a step-by-step process that you can recommend for me to get to the cause of this? (I'm a newb so I probably will need help with abbreviations like AFR, TPS, etc.)

Here is a video of it's rough idle yesterday when it was still running.

https://youtu.be/n61CP6O8UgM

[mgphoto]

Clean and check the FI points in the base of the distributor.

[mgphoto]

Clean and check the FI points in the base of the distributor.

This takes 5 minutes to check, you will need to retime the distributor.
Those points are low power, oil and dirt will not burn off like regular ignition points.

[Lockwodo]

Clean and check the FI points in the base of the distributor.

This takes 5 minutes to check, you will need to retime the distributor.
Those points are low power, oil and dirt will not burn off like regular ignition points.

Right you are, mgphoto. My intermittent "bucking" problem was due to the distributor trigger points. Why do I always find what I'm looking for in the last place I look? I pulled the points and they were oily and cruddy which was causing intermittent problems. Cleaned up the points and re-installed and now it starts up, idles and revs up great. I have a distributor rebuild or 123 Ignition in my future, but for now, (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)