Long ride home, Engine kept cutting out Options

[dralf]

Yesterday I went from Dayton to Columbus Ohio to visit an old friend. I was excited for this was the first big trip for my Teener. What a day, the sun was out, my top was off, the radio was playing some great oldies, all the stoplights to the interstate were green, and I even had an attractive woman smile at me as I passed her car on I 70. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/cool.gif)
This is the good part of my story. Now when I come home this morning the car does not want to run right. The first few miles it was merely a hesitation at about 3000 RPM. I had checked my timing and idle before the trip for I was always suspicious of my throttle position sensor, and or CHT may be off. I have a CHT on order to change out since it is only a few bucks. Well as my 80 mile trip continues the follow symptoms start to surface. There is a noise coming from the engine compartment. I is not a grinding sound, nor is it a squeak. It sounds more like a “squall” like dogs sound off in the distance when they are upset. I have heard sounds like that from my woman’s German Shepards on occasions, I have not hear that sound from her pussy – her cat only moans (sorry, I had to add a bit of levity to this story so that I do not stress about the car). Ok, sounds seems to be coming from the passenger side, and I do not want to bet my lunch money on it but the source appears to be near the distributor (which from now one in the story will be referred to as the “dizzy”). The sound is not truly in sync with the engine RPMs and at low RPMs is almost non-existent. As for the engine, it runs and cuts out, runs and cuts out. When I say cut out I mean drops to idle and if you do not hit the accelerator hard it will actually stop. By now you are wondering how did I drive it home? Well, I would get up to about 75 mph, it would cut out and I would coast and at about 50 MPH the engine would catch and I could accelerate back to about 70 only to repeat the process. I think the constant jerking has loosened all my fillings and my hands are cramped from gripping the steering wheel as I tried to avoid getting killed on the highway. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/blink.gif)

OK, in-between thoughts of death, tow-trucks, and wishing I could have sex one more time, I was mentally diagnosing what the problem was and how to find and fix it. My Teener is a 1975, FI 2.0. The dizzy has new points, cap and rotor and the spark plug wires
appear to be new. The engine was rebuilt by the PO about 6,000 miles ago. I had cleaned most of the FI connectors before the trip, and they all appear to be OK now. I first was thinking FI trigger points are bad, however, I do not think that would cause what I was seeing as I drove into town on city streets. I had black smoke billowing out the back when the engine cut out, and my gas mileage for the trip was terrible! I would think that means I have a sparking problem for if the injectors were not firing I would not be using or loosing gas. How would I test that or check the dizzy? (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/idea.gif)

I now plan on making a stiff drink, and looking for any thing loose and wait for some help from you experts who perhaps have been down this road before (no pun intended).

Signed,
ALL SHOOK UP
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wacko.gif)
PS, I have got to say the Teener did not leave me stranded or hanging which is not always the case with my woman. It did get me home.

[dralf]

Latest up date on my autopsy:

I took the distributor out and cleaned it. No play to say of in the lateral direction. It does move up and down a bit, but I see there is a spring at the bottom of the engine hole and I reinserted it snug. Before reinstalling I checked the trigger points and cleaned them and lubed the shaft. All look OK in that department including the points (not pitted/clearance OK).

The question regarding when the engine cuts out, no the TACH does not go to zero it seems to keep reflecting what the engine RPM are.

I took a Head Temp Sensor reading with my meter, 550 Ohms (engine warm) ; I replaced it with a 475 Ohms resister fresh from Radio Shack. The engine starts but runs rough and the RPMs must be kept up, forget about idle, it goes into death throws after a few seconds. I need to time it but will need a partner to keep the Revs up and bring more beer.

I have yet to take the TPS out and look at it. I did take a hose and test the MPS. I sucked on it until my tongue got a hicky! Granted I am not a hooker that can suck chrome off a trailer hitch but in my humble opinion, the diaphragm is good. The was not the case with my Ex wife and the conception of my second son. Still trying to make joke so as not to sound too desperate on this board, but there is a bit of panic in me for I do hope to take this baby to the Michigan Mid West Classic this August.

OK, back to what else I saw, I took the #3 plug out and it was a stick of charcoal! Boy am I running rich, looks like I am burning coal, not gas.

One more bit on news, since I may have more than one problem. The howling or noise I hear is not from the distributor, but more to the back at the passenger side and under the car. When I first heard it driving or being at a stop light, I played with my clutch thinking it may be the throw-out bearing, but I recall, they only make sounds when the clutch is depressed right? Or am I wrong? I do think it does not fully release the clutch for that Reverse /neutral/ reverse test often make my gears grind….I may jack up the car tomorrow and listen closer.

OK guys…I am done for the night, I thank all of you in advance for any insight and support I get resolving this issue. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/beerchug.gif)