Ever feel like you want to push your car off a cliff?

[Cuda Cody]

Notice I said push?  That's the only way I can get my challenger to move.... push it.      Of coarse I'm kidding. 

Anyway, I'm still having trouble with getting this car to run right.  Any help would be very much appreciated!

Here is the story..... The car ran right when I bought it....  backed it off the trailer back in spring of this year.  I drove it about 10 miles (on the way I put some gas in it.... super unleaded).  I don't think the gas could have caused this, but I just do not know at this point.

The car started to run really rich and continued to run worse the more I drove it.  It got so bad that it would barely stay running.

Not that it effected the car, but the blinkers were shorting out and that caused the dash to start smoking.  Then the carb finally caught fire from a backfire and that was when I said ENOUGH!

I re-wired everything in the car from front to back including the dash.  I started the car with new wiring and the old carb and intake.... still ran like $hit, but all the wiring worked great.

As for the carb, it was a carter 600 that the previous owner put on and the car was using a Edelbrock Torker intake.  I took the advice of many on here and went to a Holley 750 double pumper.  The car started right up, but didn't run any better.  I replaced the intake with a stock mopar intake and noticed that the valley pan did not have a gasket.  I called Neil and he suggested the Fel Pro 1214 valley pan and gasket.

When I took the old valley pan off I could see what looked like oil leaking in to the intake!  I thought this has to be why the car is running like $hit.  See the pictures below.  There was also oil all over the bottom of the intake.  I cleaned everything up and re-installed the new valley pan with gaskets on both sides of it.  I even put a very light coat of RTV silicone on both side of the gaskets to make sure there wasn't any leaks.

I started the car up and I think it ran better, but it was hard to tell.  I started to try and adjust the timing, but the car was getting worse as is heated up.  It finally just died and would not start.  That was last night and I just didn't know what to think!  I put it away and cried myself to sleep.....    j/k!

This morning I went to see if it would start and it fired right up!  As it warmed up it starts running worst no matter what the timing is set at with or without the vacuum advance hose on it.  It died again and will not start or even fire up.  I even tried starting fluid!

I'm going to start at square one tonight and check compression, then test the ohms on the spark plug wires.  If everything checks good, I might just replace the distributor with with a new one.  It has an electronic distributor on it now.

Any ideas?  *** H E L P ***

[JCWCuda]

I wonder if the Dist pick up is heating up and then shorting out. I know in the past when i've had them go the car would miss an spit and buck and snort . I also had a 87 Dakota that would the exact same thing and it turned out that reluctor plate broke lose .
 

[bigblock4speedman]

Take the vally pan off, clean everything up, get all the silacone off, that could be a problem, when it heats up and mixes with fuel it breaks down.  Use coppercoat in place of silacone, coat all sides real good, let it set a while before tightening down the intake. That should make a good seal and maybe fix the problem.  Silacone can be used on the ends of the vally pan to prevent oil leaks.  Good luck!

[Chryco Psycho]

I wonder if the Dist pick up is heating up and then shorting out. I know in the past when i've had them go the car would miss an spit and buck and snort . I also had a 87 Dakota that would the exact same thing and it turned out that reluctor plate broke lose .
 

 I agree
 I doubt the intake is a problem now , I`m sure it was not sealing perfectly before the way it looks

[EVIL72]

 Yea it sounds like an electrical/heat problem to me too.
 Is your coil mounted on the motor by chance? Once I had a Mustang that ran and started fine until it warmed up then it would start cutting out and then just die and wouldn't start up until it cooled down. It ended up being a bad coil that was mounted on the intake manifold.
 Good luck with it.

[Bullitt-]

Codman, don't forget the ballast resistor when trouble shooting ignition/heat issues. If you have electronic ignition it could also be the BOX.

[Grancoupe]

Are you running some kind of crank case ventilation. You shouldn't be pushing oil past the gaskets like that. I wonder if that is causing an issue? Have you done a cylinder leakdown test on each cylinder. You might want to check if the bottom end of the motor is tight. Also take a look at the cam the next time you have the valley pan off. Make sure none of the lobes are rounded. A wasted cam could cause a similar issue. I had that happen to me when I bought my car. It acted differently as the temp changed. The lifters were pumped up due to high oil pressure but as the heat increased and the ol thinned out the motor started to act irradically. Just a thought...

[ShelbyDogg]

As soon as it's running again, look into the carb to see if the carb is dripping fuel into the bores. I think that there is dirt in your lines and the carb is flooding out the engine. The needle and seats might be stuck open so check your sight plugs when it dies or while it's idling.  I always use many different fuel filters on old cars till the lines and tank clean up.  Temporarily put a clear filter in right by the bowls so you can see if any dirt is coming from the lines or tank.

Rob

P.S; did you put electronic ignition in yet and get rid of the stock points?

[moparnut]

I re-wired everything in the car from front to back including the dash.  I started the car with new wiring and the old carb and intake.... still ran like $hit, but all the wiring worked great.

Cody,sorry to hijack but did you use painless wiring?Do you think it would be better for me to install a new wiring kit while restoring my GC or if everything works just use the stock stuff?

[Hopalong]

You could have a warped intake manifold as well, it will get worse as it warms up.  If decide to change out the distributor, get a MSD set up.  The factory stuff is good, but you will see a night and day difference with the MSD. 

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Cody,
  An alarm went off in my head when you said you used RTV on the valley pan gasket. That should only be used on the back and front of it, where the bars with the 3 srews hold it down. On the sides where the gasket meets the heads and intake, there should be a film of Gaskasinch, or some equivalent on both sides. As was mentioned... is your crankcase ventilated? Meaning, is there a PCV valve on one valve cover, and a breather on the other?


  Mike

[Cuda Cody]

I do not use Painless wiring.  I used the M&H wires that Year One sells (just like stock).  I can't say enough good things about them.  They were super easy to install and I will never do it any other way.

Cody,sorry to hijack but did you use painless wiring?Do you think it would be better for me to install a new wiring kit while restoring my GC or if everything works just use the stock stuff?

[Cuda Cody]

2 different intakes, 2 different carbs, on my 2 second coil and I think I just ruined it .... so make that 3 coils tomorrow.  Right now it won't even start at all!

I have checked the compression and the motor is good.  All the wires are good and been checked with the Ohlm meter.  The coil wire is new and been checked too.

I will be putting in a new distributor in... as soon as I can find one.  I went to the parts depot today and they gave me the wrong one.  Maybe I didn't tell them the right info.  I asked for a 74 distributor for a Chrylser 400 or 440.  But the distributor was to long and did not fit in the motor.  I have an electronic distributor now and want to stay with the electronic ones.  They didn't make an electric distributor for the 383, so what's the part number or year and model car that will work?

What's the best distributor and where a good place to get them?  My parts houses seem to be less than helpfull.

[Cuda Cody]

Crankcase is vented. 

I really think this is one of 4 things.....

~Distributor
~ECU
~Coil
~Or I'm an idiot and I should ask my wife to check the oil for me from now on.

Cody,
  An alarm went off in my head when you said you used RTV on the valley pan gasket. That should only be used on the back and front of it, where the bars with the 3 srews hold it down. On the sides where the gasket meets the heads and intake, there should be a film of Gaskasinch, or some equivalent on both sides. As was mentioned... is your crankcase ventilated? Meaning, is there a PCV valve on one valve cover, and a breather on the other?


  Mike

[ShelbyDogg]

The parts house gave you one for the RB engine 413,426,440.  If you said 383 or 400, they would have given you the shorter one.  When you said 400 or 440, you made him make a choice for you

Are you sure that you are even losing spark?
Ignition and fuel problems are so easy for me that I never get stuck for very long. I wish I could help you get it going because it sounds like an easy fix.

Rob