While giving the TR the once-over prior to my first-ever since buying it
trip over 100 miles, I noticed a pretty bad miss at idle. I hadn't really
seen this before, because usually just start it up and drive to work (5
miles) and never really let it sit and idle.
Checked dwell and timing (this check was why I warmed the car up and had it
idling), both of which were right on. Replaced condenser, no change.
Pulled the plugs, all of which looked pretty good (no oil fouling, tan in
color) except #2 which had a nearly stark white insulator tip (what does
that mean?).
Replaced air cleaners, checked carb synchronization while the cleaners were
off. Was on the verge of messing with idle, mixture, etc. and pondering
the dictum "carburettor is French for don't mess with it."
Aha! didn't check the plug wires (newish, green wires). Both #1 and #4
were dead, the rest registered 10kOhm. Coincidently (or not) the 2 dead
wires are the ones that ran closes to the coil. 2 spare wires, no more
miss. I figure that at speed the voltage was enought to bridge the defect
in the bad wires.
Lesson learned: don't neglect to check the obvious, even when you "know"
the part is too new to have failed.
---
Ted Stevens stevens@erols.com
74 TR6 Gaithersburg, MD
|