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RE: Re: What went wrong?

To: alpines@autox.team.net, brian@uunet.ca, carlmcle@saturnnet.com,
Subject: RE: Re: What went wrong?
From: Rick.Yocum@mail.sprint.com
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2000 16:22:23 -0500
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Hey, as long as we're on this topic (and I think this is going as a 
non-posted note to you), any odea why my Suburban (96 with carb) will 
run strong for about 80 miles, then start acting like it'sa starved for 
fuel?  This weekend it drove me nuts.  Would run for 80 miles or so, 
then almost refuse to climb a hill.  My gas pedal range was about 
1/4-inch.  And more and it would bog down, any less and it would slow.  
If it downshifted I could get no RPMs out of it.  Like it was 
fuel-starved.  And often times, after stopping for gas, it would give 
me 40-60 miles of care-free driving before launching into its maddening 
behavior again.  And to make it even more complicated, it occasionally 
would begin running fine after a period of missing/stalling.  This is 
not the first time for this.  Changed fuel filter, fuel pump and, a 
month ago, the catalytic converter.  It's driving me right out of my 
mind.  I am thinking of dropping the gas tank and checking for debris, 
but that doesn't explain the carfree driving when cold.

Any ideas?

Rick Yocum
Chevy II TransAm

-----Original Message-----
From: brian [mailto:brian@uunet.ca]
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2000 2:57 PM
To: carlmcle; vintage-race; alpines
Cc: brian
Subject: Re: What went wrong?


Probably coil shorted intermittently - this is classic bad coil 
symptom.  I 
once had a coil that would fail after 5 minutes running - took forever 
to 
diagnose since it looked so much like a fuel problem.

Cheers, Brian

At 02:45 PM 11/6/00 -0500, Carl McLelland wrote:
>For you technical buffs out there, this one is a stumper for me.
>
>At Sears Point, October 28-29, I had an ignition problem that I'm at a 
loss
>to resolve. The car is a series 1 Alpine with a series 5 (1725cc) 
engine, 12
>volt with the polarity reversed to negative ground. The engine is 
basically
>stock, with Zenith carbs and a Mallory dual point distributor. I'm also
>using a Mallory ballast resistor.
>
>On Saturday, in the rain, temperature around 65 degrees, the car ran
>fantastic, easily attaining 6500rpm in 4'th gear. We finished 2'nd 
overall.
>On Sunday, on a dry track with the temperature again around 65 
degrees, the
>performance was the same until the start of the 3'rd lap. At this 
point, as
>I was entering turn 1, the engine stopped running..... just as if I had
>turned the ignition off. All attempts at a restart failed.
>
>After the end of the race when the tow truck arrived to tow me in, 
just for
>kicks, I hit the starter and she came to life as though nothing had 
ever
>gone wrong. I drove it around to the pits and up onto the trailer.
>
>The next morning I fired it up and drove it off the trailer and into 
the
>shop. It started right up but the ignition cut out if I tried to take 
it
>over 2000rpm. The next day I started it and it ran through the entire 
rpm
>range without hesitation.
>
>The fuel system works fine; no problem here.
>
>The timing was correct.
>
>The ballast resister showed 1 ohm of resistance. The specs for the 
resistor
>are 0.75 - 1.5 ohms, so no problem here.
>
>I pulled the distributor and removed the points. One set of points 
showed
>correct point gap and normal pitting for the amount of use. The other 
set of
>points looked like they had been a plate for arc welding, with the 
entire
>surface of the points badly pitted and rough. The gap appeared to be
>correct; given the amount of pitting.
>
>I replaced the points, condensor, ballast resistor, timed it and it 
runs
>perfectly. Further inspection revealed one wire lead from the ballast
>resistor to the coil that "wasn't as tight as I would like (but not 
falling
>off, either)", which I tightened. Further, I inspected every wire and
>connection between the engine and ground or back through the circuit 
to the
>ignition/starting switches and no other problems.
>
>Has anybody out there experienced similar problems? What was your cure?
>
>Anybody have any idea what may have gone wrong? I'd sure hate to be at 
the
>front of the pack again this weekend at Thunder Hill and have a similar
>thing happen.
>
>Thanks in advance!
>     Carl McLelland
>     email: carlmcle@saturnnet.com
>     web:   http://carlynneracing.homestead.com/home.html

Brian Evans
Director, Strategic Accounts
UUNET, A WorldCom Company


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