Re: Sketchy Idle/acceleration

[Jim Altemose <jaltemoose@xxxxxxxxx>]

Zachary,

Can you describe the symptoms in more detail?  "Sketchy" isn't enough
to get intelligent responses.  Does it 'bog' when you hit the gas?  Is
it rough in general like it's missing a cylinder?  Is it rough both at
idle and at cruising speed?  If it's rough in general and you feel
like you're missing a cylinder, and easy thing to try is to figure out
which cylinder.  With the engine running, pop off each plug wire one
at time.  If you have a missing cylinder, removing the wire for that
cylinder will make no difference.  All the others will make it
noticeably rougher.

I'd recommend trying to diagnose the problem as much as you can before
randomly changing everything and hoping for the best.  Sometimes you
can mask the symptom by changing things but not fix the fundamental
problem.

Have you looked inside the distributor cap?  Does the rotor look clean
and nice?  Have you checked the timing?  Have you adjusted the carb?

If you are changing the plugs, be sure to label which plugs came from
which cylinders and look closely at them.  Compare them and see if any
are drastically different than the others.  You can tell a lot about
what's going on from the condition of the plugs.  Check for detonation
of the tip of the plug (plug tip is destroyed), corrosion(white chalky
residue), and foulage (if the plug is wet, and it smells like gas,
that means that there is fuel getting to the plug, but the plug is not
igniting it. If the residue is oily, then there is oil seeping in
through to the combustion chamber. If it is not oily or wet, but is
black, that means that the plug is carbon fouled, either from too much
fuel (a rich fuel mixture), or that the spark plugs have not been
cleaned/ replaced in a long time.

- Jim
Jim Altemose, Long Island, NY
'63 Polara 500 (Max Wedge)
'63 Polara 500 (383)
'65 Belvedere I (Street Wedge)
'71 Bronco

On Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 2:20 PM, Zachary Ross <zachross07@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Right on... I want to change the spark plugs and wires...the last owner put
> them in and it looks like mess!  What should I buy?  What would be like top
> quality, I know nothing about spark plugs... At least brand wise I mean...
> Thanks!
> Zach
> 64 Dodge 880 Custom 4DHT
> 361 Push Button Auto
> On Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 11:16 AM, <Dodger7998@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> I would guess that all the direct connect wires are in place, so would
>> start checking things that are not permanent  or loose fitting, such as
>> sparkplug wires, and especially vacume hoses,,,,,,,,
>>
>> In a message dated 11/14/2011 12:56:16 P.M. Central Standard Time,
>> zachross07@xxxxxxxxx writes:
>>
>> acceleration isn't as smooth
>>
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Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person. That is, send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic.  Thanks!

1962 to 1965 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html and http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/general_disclaimer.html.
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