Hi everyone,
I think my car might be posessed. Its the 72/1.7FI motor that I have been working on for 2 months.. I finally went through most of the FI and fixed a fuel problem and got everything working well..

It ran good for 1 week, and I installed a crane 700 optical ignition..

New problem: (could be related to new ignition or maybe not) I'd love your input..

Yesterday, started out with a weird idle. It had been rock steady in the past (new vacuum lines everywhere). I would pull up to a stop sign and it would idle down too far like 600rpm then catch itself and idle back up. Pull onto highway with motor warm, at above 4000rpms car starts pulling slowly... down on power.. then engine dies.. After coasting in gear for 2-3 blocks it comes back to life.. Seems to run normal if I don't rev it past 3000rpm.. As soon as it is reved back to 4000 or 4500 it again is down on power, and then dies again. Not bucking, but my guess is that there is no spark.

Once I looked in the mirror when it began running again and saw a big cloud of smoke, which I think was unburnt fuel. So my preliminary guess is that its got fuel, but spark is cutting out.
All fuel lines are new and fuel filter is new also. I can hear pump running. I could have a failed crane ignition, but I wouldn't think that would partially fail instead of good/bad.

Things that have been replaced in the past month include: plug wires, plugs, cap, rotor, fuel lines, vacuum lines, CHT..

how does a coil fail?

brant

I know those Crane units are pretty sensitive to heat, where is yours mounted? Another suggestion is to reinstall the stock setup (points,condenser) and see if that cures it. Then at least you'd know if it is the Crane unit acting up.

I had a similar situation when I put my optical ignition in. Check the rotor shutter thing inside the cap mine came loose after a week and had to get another one. Works fine since.

special K, I don't want to put the points back as I broke the stupid ground wire and would have to by a new distributor plate... Maybe I'll borrow one from somebody....

brians914, do you mean the black plastic disc with the slits in it? how did it come loose? would it just spin on the shaft? was yours a high rpm problem too? would yours come back and start running again..?

thanks everyone...
I'll pull the distributor and start diagnostic tonight..
do coils fail partially (high rpm) or just on/off?

brant

Yea the black plastic disk like striped off. Just check it and make sure its tight before you try anything else. Sounds like the same problem I had. I dont no why it striped like that, I probably put it on wrong or didnt push it on tight the first time. If I remember right it seemed tight but when I pulled it off it was striped. Any way I replaced it and all is well now.
Brian

Had a Crane XR700 go bad on me - same deal, it'd just quit providing spark. Changed back to points and fixed the problem. I can say that Crane tech and warrantee support is outstanding. They'll get you out a replacement quickly, but you do have to send yours in so there's some delay involved. I'd give them a call and see if there's something they can do to expedite this for you.

gary,

when your crane failed was it just dead or partial failure just at high rpm.. then working again at low rpm?

thanks
brant

When it quit, it was dead. It would do it intermittently, driving along and die, for anywhere between half a second and 10 minutes, and then fire right up. Till the next time. Finally bagged it, and eventually went to a Mallory Unilite - never looked back.

gklinger -
Do you run the Mallory with an FI motor and dizzy?I have been looking for a set-up compatable with my FI- Djet (1.7)... (love to ditch points & cond if reliable), but want to keep stock dizzy & FI equipment. <_<

Nope, the car is carbed. As far as I know it can't be done; the FI trigger points in the stock dizzy are required for the D-Jet. I'm using the Mallory to drive a Crane HI-6 CD ignition, and will eventually be replacing the Webers with a Megasquirt FI setup.

Can't wait, as I hate these carbs... cantankerous POS's