LUVTruck.com

No idea why this started, I was just driving home and it started cutting out real bad. I couldn't make it up the driveway so I parked at the bottom and pulled the plugs and put some old ones in. It would start, it would rev, but it would randomly cut out for periods of times.

I got new plugs and wires thinking they were pretty old, but it didn't change anything. It will constantly stop firing overall randomly. When it does that when I am driving and I keep me foot on the gas while it stops firing, it will backfire once it starts firing again, so I know it's getting gas. What could be causing this problem?

_________________
Shawn
'76 Luv Isuzu
'74 Luv 350

I'd say it is points or the condensor. I usually replace both together anyway. If its not there, I would be thinking fuel delivery problems next. Might be the filter got a lot of crud all at once and clogged, or the pump is going.

Actually, it also sounds pretty much exactly like the symptoms my 77 gave when my wife got it gassed up over in the wetlands of Tillamook from a gas station with water in their tanks. Might try a hit of some fuel drier additive. I've also had good luck in the past with high % (99% is good, less just means more water in it) rubbing alcohol. A lot of that gas drier stuff is mostly Isopropyl alcohol anyway and it seems to work just as well at 1/4 the cost.

Actually I just put a remanned distributer in it last month. I popped the cap and took off the rotor and checked it out, it looks pretty good in there.

Water in the gas tank was actually a theory I thought of earlier. Strange that it would all of a sudden have problems with it, but I did have it in quite a huge puddle last week. I've filled my tank since then though.

Could the coil be bad? How would I know?

_________________
Shawn
'76 Luv Isuzu
'74 Luv 350

Just a random thought. Pull the spark advance vacuum hose off the carb base and suck on it. If you can draw air thru the hose, then diaphram in the spark advance on the distributor has a hole in it.

Disty is good.

So I played with it some more, finally put some additive in my gas tank to absorb any water and ran it a little. No difference. I'm clueless. Time to call a mechanic.

_________________
Shawn
'76 Luv Isuzu
'74 Luv 350

check out your coil. I had one go out on my and it just randomly cut out and stuff.

_________________
1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

sound like a bad coil or it could be a short in the wire.....

_________________
1-2 it's not new, 3-4 shave the door, 5-6 learn some trix, 7-8 make it scrape!, 9-10 show your friend!

my guess would be coil if its not the condenser or points, i highly doubt it would be something to do with the fuel

_________________
I said no to drugs....But they just wouldn't listen!

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her crap!

I doubt the fuel too. It feels so ignition-like.

So I bought a new coil today, put it in, luckily it was DARK out, so I could see my problem. When I turn it over and run it the sparks jump from both sides of the coil into the middle coil wire. And so I put silicone over the metal, then the coil wire had sparks jumping to the carb, then to the frame. Anywhere the sparks could ground, then it wouldn't spark at the plug. I keep moving the wires around, but it keeps arcing wherever it can. And this is with brand new wires.

_________________
Shawn
'76 Luv Isuzu
'74 Luv 350

cracked dist. cap?

Man I put new internals in a distributor once. I had driven it for several days and it started doing what you are saying. I was clueless and asked a friend about it. I replaced the condensor and it fixed it.
they are fairly inexpensive and might fix your problem.

_________________
03Cobra

Sparks to the carb is scary. KABOOM! Be careful. Are the cap and rotor new like your distributor? Sparks jumping around mean the current is taking the path of least resistance in the high tension circuit. Check the ground strap between the engine block and frame. It shouldn't be corroded or frayed.

is it sparking at the cap or coil? if its the coil, it could have a crack in it. a cracked coil will let the spark arc to the nearest ground.

_________________
1980 chevy luv 4x4 1.8 liter
1979 luv long bed parts truck
1984 2wd isuzu pup parts truck

"A man who says it can't be done shouldn't interrupt a man doing it."

Cap is new, along with the Condensor and points and rotor on the new distributor.

The sparks are coming from the positive and negative sides of the coil, and arcing onto the middle where the coil wire is. A little silicone fixed that though. It's a brand new coil that I bought hoping it would fix the problem, but didn't change a thing.

I need to check that ground strap from the block to frame, that could very well be it.

_________________
Shawn
'76 Luv Isuzu
'74 Luv 350

if its arcing from the + and - of the coil, ya condenser is not doing its job when the points open, if the condenser is new, take it back and get an exchange

_________________
I said no to drugs....But they just wouldn't listen!

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her crap!

probably won't be able to exchange the condenser. I know the parts places here usually have a sign hanging up saying " If you bought an electrical part and it didn't fix the problem, you now have a spare!" BASTARDS. but I guess it makes sense. Good thing is a condenser is usually fairly cheap!! Good luck