I have a lectric replacement for the points. It's so quirky Bob. Very early this am I drove it 45 minutes to get my rebuilt hood hinges. Included highway and secondary roads, ran fine the whole way. Came home around 9:30 am after it was heating up outside (very hot day). Got off the highway after say 15 miles. It idled fine at the first light. Hit 5 or 6 lights on a busy secondary road. Not city driving but a busy secondary road with traffic. Light by light it ran worse. I had to left brake and add some idle at the last light. Just after, I turned off into a parking lot and I could hear it wanting to stall...sort of gasping. It literally stalled. It restarted but I could not get to drive, when it hit reverse ( any load) it would stall. (I have had this happen before it could take 12 starts to get it to move in a parking lot). So I just turned it off for maybe a minute or so. It started and ran ok, like nothing was wrong, I went on my way home, another 15 minutes of secondary roads but fewer lights. I slowed down to get in my garage space at home and it stalled rolling in. FYI coil is a couple years old.
How old is your fuel pump? Next time it acts up, take the air cleaner off and work the throttle, see if there is a strong stream of gas from the accelerator pump.
I have a Lectric Limited setup in my new build and to be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% sold on it. Timing is spot on; fuel pump is a year old; QJ recently rebuilt (and runs flawlessly) but if I drive for any period of time - short or long - after the QJ is warmed up and gone through it's "steps", it hard starts whether I wait 10 minutes or 2 hours. Once turned over, the idle is super low and I have to briefly feather the gas to keep it running. This happens more than I'd like, considering everything is new/rebuilt. I guess my point is, have you considered trying another distributor and ruling that out? I'm off next week and have an old Stinger S-4 set up that I may swap in to see if the hard start goes away.
I wonder if there is a bad connection to the points conversion. Are you running the stock externally regulated alt? Im wondering if there is resistance in the wiring to the conversion kit, then coupled with the lower idle output of the alt causing a weak spark? Also have you confirmed it's heat soak/vapor lock? Next time it fails quickly yank the air cleaner and see if the accelerator pump squirts. If you get 2 good streams then I'd say your barking up the wrong tree.
While this is a good idea and it certainly can’t hurt to rule as many things as possible, if the fuel pump was faulty and caused a “stall”, I would suspect it would take an awful lot of cranking to get it going again, and not “start right back up” like the OP stated.
I agree Bob. Just kind of struck me how he says it runs fine for 45 minutes, then all of a sudden, it acts up. Thought maybe the fuel level in the bowl goes low like an intermittently failing pump. Had that happen to me a few times back in the day.
“Usually” a failing mechanical fuel pump does one of 2 things: one, it stops pumping completely and the engine empties the bowl until it quits. Two, it pumps insufficiently, and this usually has a corresponding smooth drop off in power under load.
I agree, but mine was intermittent. Not sure why, but it would be fine for days, and then all of a sudden, rough running and stalling. My symptoms disappeared when I changed the pump. Coincidence? Maybe. Just made me think of BostonCat68's symptoms.
The more we talk the less I think it is pure heat soak...might not help but the fact that it started the other day after only a minute or so...that suggests there is fuel there. I'm going to pursue the lean condition it feels like its fuel/air related but i think I need to look harder at ignition overall. That might explain the quirkiness. I am still using stock alternator and regulator. Anyone know the expected amps going to the disti?
I'd put a buck on it your idle voltage is inadequate for the points conversion. Did you eliminate the resistor wire? When it's hot measure your battery voltage and then do a drop test to the coil. A weak spark that's not burning all the fuel off, essentially it's "loading up" in the cylinders while idling?
No extra carb, did not remove resistor wire as not required for lectric conversion. I would think if I was getting fuel load up I would have evidence on the plugs?? No? They are clean but I'm not discounting your idea.
You'd have to pull them when it's running poorly to gauge them. Plus with them hot any wet fuel look will evaporate in the open air before you get to see it. It will be tough to surmise anything from it. I would definitly measure the voltage then. The resistor wire could be shot. Get the car good and hot and check your voltage at the battery and then the coil both while idling. In the directions for the points conversion there has to be a minimum voltage listed, compare what you have vs whats required.
OK so thanks to all the fantastic advice here on the board, I started looking at this issue differently. @436'd Skylark got me thinking about ignition a bit more so I called the guys at lectric (FYI - they have a really great FAQ on their webpage) to get their take on the potential for voltage drop on my point replacement and how to best measure all the parameters. First off, the guy was incredibly helpful with voltage info, etc. (expected about 8 volts but will work down to 6) and he had two interesting suggestions. 1) He suggested I check the ground wire on the disti base plate as they say that these are often in tough shape -- which is no biggie for points but will cause intermittent issues with their units as they use that plate as a ground (think about that @Brett Slater ). More disconcerting was his belief that my newer coil was the culprit. He said that the newer "cheap Chinese coils" use ceramics instead of oil to cool the coil. They see tons of issues with newer coils getting touchy as they heat up, very inconsistent spark etc. Since I still had my old coil, he felt strongly I should swap it back. So tonight I pulled the disti cap and the Lectric unit. I cleaned the terminals on the base plate ground wire and reinstalled my old Delco Remy coil (this is why my basement is full of car crap...I never throw stuff away...). I went out for a quick ride, let it sit at idle and tried to mimic the stuff that has been creating issues. It was cooler tonight but so far... no stalling. I'll be giving it a proper run tomorrow in mid-day warmth and more traffic...
You can also power the coil temporarily from the battery directly to eliminate a whole lot of possibilities.
I was just looking at the LL FAQ and saw this: "COIL: - NOTHING can (or should be) attached to the positive (+) side of the coil except the ballast resistor or resistance wire. (For example, do not attach an electric choke, alarm system power supply, etc. to the + side of the coil. You will be drawing current through the ballast resistor or resistance wire which will effect the supply of current to the Breakerless-SE module). - NOTHING can (or should be) attached to the negative (-) side of the coil except the body ground. (For example, do not attach a tachometer directly to the coil. It will interfere with the operation of the Breakerless-SE module)." My question is: where do you hook up the factory tach wire, then?
