Okay, as you all know, Christine...aka Resses Cup, friend of Buttercup, left my ass stranded in Tennessee tonight in the middle of no where and all I could hear was banjo Music! I was heading back to Memphis from Nashvile, had just run the hell out of some sweet twisties, I pull into the gas station to wash my windshied. I shut her off, did the windows, get in, fire her up, and before I can put her in gear she quits! Fuel pump is working, motor spins good but no starting, Mess with it awhile, checking things over and soon I have it where the fuel pump no longer kicks in. I relax, listen to the banjo music, and finally get the pump working again. I get in, hit the key, she fires right up. Unfortunately I hear a strange noise so I shut her off. Check a few things, hit the key, fires right up again. Sadly I hear the noise again and shut her off. Do some more checking, look underneath, find nothing so I try to start her up again. FP works, bitch no starts. Repeat all the crap from the first go around with same results so I say screw it and pack up all my stuff. Hit the key and she fires right up again! I hop in, take off down the road and get less than a mile before the slut quits again in the middle of pitch darness on the side of a hill. As I am working on her in the middle of the highway, one of the "banjo" people show up, he has apparently followed me. Very strange fellow, but that is another whole story in it self. Car runs smooth for a moment, the starts lurching and bucking and cutting out as it did before it quit. I limp it back to a station, call my friend to come get me before the Deliverance boys find me again. I leave car idling for awhile, still not running right. While I am waiting on my friend to show up, banjo boy comes back again (thought I had lost him) but fortunately he doesn't get out of his truck, and finally drives off. Friend shows up, we decide to try and limp it 12 miles back to his house. On the way back she did the same lurching and bucking as before but seemed to get better and better the farther we went. Actually was running pretty decent by the time we got back with the exception of take off and a cut out once in awhile. Thought about heading back again but decided against it. In the morning I am going to swap coil, points, and fuel filter and hope for the best. Seems electrical to me and not fuel, but going to change filter to be sure. Any other ideas, comments or suggestion?


Shoe


p.s. Stock '73 2.0L with D-jet.

i have read about this same issue caused by the condenser on the dizzy. im not speaking from experience but something to bring with you if you have a spare, good luck DAve

P.S. do you got a real purty mouth?

Go through Brad Anders list before you start swaping stuff.

You don't say wether you had spark or not.

She currently cranks right up, just very rough idle and sluggish off line.

30 years ago my teener did that and it ended up being the retainer for the distributor breaker plate, of all things. The ball and arm/socket assembly was just about to snap off but was causing erratic timing changes in the interim. I had people tell me it needed everything from a new F.I. brain to new injectors but they had no idea.

Then I met Mike Dalton, who quickly diagnosed it and became my mechanic for many years. Now he is on to bigger and better things. (ISI Shootists)

CHT sender?

Yea...could be a lot of things. Could be the ground on the retainer plate or a MPS going back....sounds like what my car did....but...if it were the MPS it would usually act like it is flooded. So without methodically checking it out...it is hard to say.

almost sounds like water and crap in the fuel.... perhaps the twisties unsettled stuff from the sump of the tank. Water going through the pump will make is sound different(actually hear it).
Water and crud will make it run rough and buck and now even if that crap has settled back down, you may still have the injectors clogged.
It would be easy to pull a fuel line and stick it in a jar, turn on the key and see what you're pumping. This ethanol is crap, it can hold moisture in suspension until it's supper saturated and then you've got troubles.

Yep...could be the CHT as well......bypass to ground to see if it is running.. or check the ohms with your handy dandy Multi-meter. Sounds a little like deliverance to me

Pull the plug wires, one at a time, while the engine is idling. That will tell you if you have a dead hole; pulling that plug wire won't change the way the engine runs.

Slap a timing light on and see if the timing jumps all over. That indicates a problem in the distributor.

Check the fuel as was suggested.

Try checking the delivery of the fuel; you can put them in jars and watch while someone cranks the starter. You want a cone-shaped spray, not dribbles and not a stream.

Check all the electrical connections in the engine bay.

These are all cheap/free things to check. Make sure you figure out where the problem is before you start throwing parts at it.

--DD

Quit calling that girl names!

That was my first thought as well.

Yea, I would say something in fuel or clogging. Funny story though, be there in the same situation, lost a girlfriend because of it too.

Check the FI trigger points

Potato or banjo plunker's mystery of being seen too often crammed in the exhaust.
Need a hand getting back home? All I have is my94 Corolla but I can pick you up and take you wherever for parts, home, etc. Not feasible for towing but can try if it gets around to that. Call me. Jackson area code plus 42592zero1
MikeCool

Thanks Mike, I currently haven't found out what is wrong, but she is back to running and purring like a kitten. I will save your number in my phone just in case. If she makes Jackson okay maybe you'd like to meet for coffee or something. I checked fuel filter and it was clean as a whistle. Checked points only to find out I didn't have any. Hopefully she will continue to run smooth enough to get me home. I will definitely call on you if I don't make it and get close to you.


Shoe

You took her picture off your Avatar and she's looking for revenge! Kiss her, stroke her, fondle her, but not in front of a banjo picker in Tennessee - and she'll probably come around your way again.

Hoping the babe is running like it should but here if you need me.
Exit 83 turn on North Campbell st exit. Exxon Station there and good BBQ. Call me and I'll be there in 5 to 10 minutes and buy you a BBQ. state champion Cajun Cooker served there.

Looking in my what's left old pile of 914 and took this pix. All used but welcome to any or ALL of it. It was left over from my 1.8 and 1.7 days. Did have a new set of points but didn't find them.

Click to view attachment

Mike

EDIT: Will escort behind you to Memphis if that will ease the mind.
914 teener in Tennessee remembering I had 914 help when I need it.

Beep Beep

That station puts water in the gas and then waits for your car to stall before banjo-boy makes off with you into the woods for some sweet, sweet mouth lovin

Check your fuel.

You're not running an AA 3 port fuel pump are you? Mine would cut out intermittently from the time I installed until I removed it two years later. Left me stranded many times.

P..S As long as you can hear the banjo you're OK. It's when the music stops that you need to worry.

After a great bbq and yakking with old Cool, Shoe hits a Home Run. He made it.
Great to meet ya Shoe.

MikeCool

i second the condensor

Thanks Mike, the bar b que was awesome and meeting you was even better. Thanks for driving her while I pushed you around the parking lot to get her started. Barely made it in but at least I made it. I have covered her and she will sit alone for a few weeks for punishment. I will eventually get her going again some day.

Thanks to all who offered, and provided support and information. I will let you know how it turns out when I get around to fixing her. You ALL rock!

Hey Don,
I am suprised as hell that you did not call my brother William or me.
William had the day off.
I am also suprised that you did not call us that you were here!
Well anyway, you got home.
Take care, John

90% of fuel related issues are electrical. Get it running and start wiggling everything.

I wanted to get in touch with you guys and come by your place but I don't have your number nor your address. I may have been real close to where you live. I was just out side of Springhill. Would love to see you guys on my next trip down, maybe on the way back from Hershey.


Shoe

Did the banjo player look anything like this kid in the link, but all grown up now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tqxzWdKKu8...1B434B48061EE19

Sorry I still don't know how to do the youtube linking into the post like the others do.

Cool

Man, we need someone to make shirts with that tag line.

Like this:




FAQ: Embedding YouTube videos


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tqxzWdKKu8

so can I try more than once?different pickers too.

tried many combos (14 or 15 ) and get a youtube screen but time is always showing only zero's.

the video number is 8jSFPyg14jg if someone can type each character in the whole line and post to me by pm , maybe I'll see what I am not doing correct. Thanks I do appreciate being part of the whole bells and whistles on the 914world.

Mike
video is: the toy dolls - dueling banjos

When I see others do these video embedding, I have to confess, I better give it up for Lent.

8jSFPyg14jg is not a valid youtube video tag ...

Fount it, you spelled the tag wrong. 1 instead of l ...

This is what you need to type in your post:



Which will result in this display:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jSFPygl4jg

Thank you SirAndy.
I thought I was doing exactly as you instructed earlier and now is obvious I didn't. Cool saying about himself....duh!

but you are telling me I actually did the html language right:
except I used a 1(one) instead of an l (el) in the embedded code.

I am going to try it and embed this forever into my old brain.

Thanks again Andy.
beep beep
Mike

now I do the corrected code here and see toy dolls dueling banjo.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jSFPygl4jg




It's working.

Try and grab that condenser and wiggle it. If it's loose or it doesn't shine (or the strap) it probably isn't grounded properly. I had this problem about 30miles from my house on the maiden voyage of my 914.