Not sure if you all remember my issue. I had massive power loss after a mechanic replaced my distributor.
After a long time messing around with the timing, the timing light, and timing markings the car is running nice and strong again.
So timing your car properly is important. The loss of power was drastic!!
Thanks to all that helped me out with this. .
I forgot to mention I shocked the heck out of myself moving the distrbutor around with my bare hands. I mean the a real shock, the hairs on the back of my neck were tingiling for several minutes.
Just a word of warning to anyone trying this for the first time! Careful where you touch and what you touch it with, apparently there is a lot of current running through the distrbutor!
I know most of you probably know that information, but the hell if I knew it beofre I lit myself up. :)
"Brandon Scarbrough" wrote
I had not really thought about getting a serious shock via touching the distributor in the wrong way, but it makes sense that it could.
Sorry for the mishap.
Good observation for the archives.
if you're getting electrical leakage, you have a problem that needs fixing! suggest replacing the distributor cap and/or leads. leakage will become a significant problem when you get into winter rain.
I'll second that - you shouldn't get a shock grabbing the distributor or spark leads if everything is operating properly. Before replacing, try running the car in a dark garage (I mean, COMPLETELY dark) and look for spark travelling either along a spark lead, or from one of the cap towers down to the distributor body - that'll give you an indication of what's leaking. If you see nothing, try spraying the cap VERY lightly with some water in a spray bottle... it should run without dropouts or spark leakage with light moisture.
BTW, there's not a lot of CURRENT in the spark system... there ARE several thousand volts.
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Your distributor should now be sitting approximately where it was before the fiasco (usually near center). If it's way over to one side, your timing belt is 'out of time' and you've adjusted the _distributor_ timing to correct for it. The _cam_ timing may still be WRONG. It can lead to poor performance and engine damage in the long run.
'Curly'
'
Brandon, glad you got it running well again.
Dave
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