fired
been a long time since i updated raimi's blog, but that's because i've left her rather neglected lately :( poor girl. but hell, now that i don't have a real girlfriend, my raimi's back on the top of my list.
so about a week and a half ago i ran'er outa' gas again...and she started behaving oddly...losing power and such. then came a week of heavy, heavy rain and she was REALLY angry then. my idle dropped about 100 rpm at startup (returned to normal once she heated up) and she was hard to start. often two tries. stalling often when i wouldn't give'er enough gas shifting (which used to be enough gas)...and for the first time in my year and a half with her, smoke out the exhaust. light, but black. fearing the head gaskets...aaand i finally got some time to take a look this week.
checked the timing and she was off the timing plate to i'm guessing about 14-16 BTDC...last time i set'er i think i had put it at 10 degrees. curious...decided to try following the chilton's recommendation of 6 degrees...which i thought was too tame but tried it. idled MUCH better, MUCH smoother, started up better and that startup drop of the idle rpm improved (but still not correct). smoke got a little better but now (so my mom says) there's white AND black smoke. could be too advanced. of course, lost most acceleration around 3-3.5k rpm. bottom end was weak as well (weaker than before retiming). all in all, weaker but sounding happier. decided the plugs might be fucked up...could explain the extra retarding (slow spark) as well as the smoke. hadn't touched the idle mixture yet but smelled STRONG gasoline fumes during driving...could be explained by incomplete combustion.
so i just changed the spark plugs (needed a cold car) and as it's 11pm i don't think my neighbor's would appreciate me tuning the beast right now...but i did take her for a spin. at 6 degrees BTDC i wasn't expecting much...but on startup, she idled higher than previous...no real power until around 1.5-2k rpm....and disappears around 3-3.5k still...BUT, much smoother, and little or no smell of gasoline (but still something odd burning, hoping timing/mixture tuning will do the trick).
little note, the old plugs were in decent shape. no severe detonations or shorts and they weren't too worn. a few had some cakey porous looking stuff deposited on the porcelain right below the electrode...most had flakey white stuff (which i think is a lean condition, i have to look it up again), and 3 had oil one threads...but no oil and minimal black soot on the electrode/ground post. still pretty sharp edges (not too worn) and held their gap correctly. besides the oily treads and that weird cakey stuff (hoping it's not radiator fluid residue)...they looked okay. head gasket might by leaky, but it's not BLOWN...oh and i did check the oil under the valve covers and there wasn't any milk (no water in the oil).
i have a good feeling about it...but getting up early tomorrow morning to tune'er up and see what's up. next is the distributor, spark wires, and coil. i REALLY don't wanna do the heads.
back soon
so about a week and a half ago i ran'er outa' gas again...and she started behaving oddly...losing power and such. then came a week of heavy, heavy rain and she was REALLY angry then. my idle dropped about 100 rpm at startup (returned to normal once she heated up) and she was hard to start. often two tries. stalling often when i wouldn't give'er enough gas shifting (which used to be enough gas)...and for the first time in my year and a half with her, smoke out the exhaust. light, but black. fearing the head gaskets...aaand i finally got some time to take a look this week.
checked the timing and she was off the timing plate to i'm guessing about 14-16 BTDC...last time i set'er i think i had put it at 10 degrees. curious...decided to try following the chilton's recommendation of 6 degrees...which i thought was too tame but tried it. idled MUCH better, MUCH smoother, started up better and that startup drop of the idle rpm improved (but still not correct). smoke got a little better but now (so my mom says) there's white AND black smoke. could be too advanced. of course, lost most acceleration around 3-3.5k rpm. bottom end was weak as well (weaker than before retiming). all in all, weaker but sounding happier. decided the plugs might be fucked up...could explain the extra retarding (slow spark) as well as the smoke. hadn't touched the idle mixture yet but smelled STRONG gasoline fumes during driving...could be explained by incomplete combustion.
so i just changed the spark plugs (needed a cold car) and as it's 11pm i don't think my neighbor's would appreciate me tuning the beast right now...but i did take her for a spin. at 6 degrees BTDC i wasn't expecting much...but on startup, she idled higher than previous...no real power until around 1.5-2k rpm....and disappears around 3-3.5k still...BUT, much smoother, and little or no smell of gasoline (but still something odd burning, hoping timing/mixture tuning will do the trick).
little note, the old plugs were in decent shape. no severe detonations or shorts and they weren't too worn. a few had some cakey porous looking stuff deposited on the porcelain right below the electrode...most had flakey white stuff (which i think is a lean condition, i have to look it up again), and 3 had oil one threads...but no oil and minimal black soot on the electrode/ground post. still pretty sharp edges (not too worn) and held their gap correctly. besides the oily treads and that weird cakey stuff (hoping it's not radiator fluid residue)...they looked okay. head gasket might by leaky, but it's not BLOWN...oh and i did check the oil under the valve covers and there wasn't any milk (no water in the oil).
i have a good feeling about it...but getting up early tomorrow morning to tune'er up and see what's up. next is the distributor, spark wires, and coil. i REALLY don't wanna do the heads.
back soon
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