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87 XT idle issues. Dies when in gear.


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12 hours ago, SiriusBlack said:

We are now looking at replacing the disty. There is a new one on rock auto, but it lacks both the vac advance, and the 5 connectors under the cap that mine has. Is anyone able to tell me if it'll work anyway?

NO-wrong type all together.

Check your distributor for sideplay of the shaft.Any significant movement is too much.

Too much sideplay means the bushings are worn allowing the shaft to bounce around creating extra sparks and a wobbly tach.

Your local machine shop should be able to help at less cost than a new disty.

The bushings used to be available at NAPA

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The shaft has no play at all. We are looking at replacing all the electrical bits in the top half now. If anyone can get a new one of the right type it's like 600, so we are going to try to fix the faulty parts in the original. We think it is the electrical parts that are causing the faulty tach readings.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, finally some progress. We redid and checked the ignition timing like 4 times. This final time we timed it with the green jump connector hooked up and thus the ECU in test mode. The timing was probably 20 degrees off, so we fixed it and it runs great now. The tach and fuel gauge (Digi dash) still aren't accurate, but otherwise it works. We'll see how it goes from here.

Thanks to all of you for your help and suggestions thus far.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In summary, it was 20 or more degrees off in its ignition timing. Due to the fact that I was timing it with the ECU in normal operation mode, and it thus trying to adjust the timing while I was trying to adjust it. If you connect the green jump connector and put the ECU in test mode, it isn't trying to adjust the timing at the same time you are and you can time it properly.

Edited by SiriusBlack
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Now even with it running WAAAAY better, it still has a couple small issues. The idle is a little rough when the engine is cold, smooths out alot once it is warmed up. It also stumbles when sitting idling with it in gear, almost like it is misfiring on one or 2 cylinders.

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