Hey,

I was driving my Duster with no problems, when all of a sudden it stalled on the middle of the road while in motion at around 30 mph. It did not start back again, I had to tow it home... There is spark and gas... just replaced lots of stuff to see if it helps with the problem, but nothing happend; just replaced with new stuff the ignition coil, ignition box, ballast resistor, spark plugs & cables and the dist. cap and rotor. A couple of weeks ago I also changed the oil and replaced the air and gas filters. The carb was just cleaned and the gas squirt is there, it injects; the pump works ok keeping the filter full all the time... I don't know what's wrong, but it just doesn't start, it cranks great, but that's it.

What can I do?

Thanks,


Ed

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My other car is... another DUSTER!!! .·.

If you have fuel and spark, it sounds like you might have a problem with timing -- either the ignition timing or the camshaft timing. Perhaps your distributor drive pinion has broken, or the timing chain has slipped. Remove the distributor cap and crank the engine. Does the distributor rotor turn? Now line up the timing mark with "0" on the timing indicator. Does the distributor point to 4:00 or 10:00?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Hey Dan, what I do know is that the rotor turns when I crank the engine, but I am at work now, so I have to wait until tonight to check where the dist points to. I will post the info as soon as I check it; thanks a lot for your help.

Ed.

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My other car is... another DUSTER!!! .·.

also what color is your spark you could be getting spark but not enough. It should be blue so if it is orange you need a new module (I know this applies to the HEI upgrade might apply to factory module I had the same problem when I upgraded to HEI, My first module was bad off the shelf)

Someone told me about the spark, I actually saw it yellowish or orange... so I decided to get a new ignition coil and a new ignition module. My car had the original module still in there (34 years old). The new one I found for the right application is a Bosch ignition box (can't remember the model number, but is the right one). I will check the spark tonight too.
Just being curious... is it possible for the spark to be orange with the new coil and the new module?, and if so what can be done?, I ask this, because I think that I checked the spark when I replaced the coil and module and it was not orange, but was not blue either. Not sure.

Thanks,

Ed.

_________________
My other car is... another DUSTER!!! .·.

well if it is the correct blueish it will almost look white I would recommend the HEI upgrade and a good aftermarket coil (like an msd or accel) also even if it is a new module you have in their it still might be bad, like with my upgrade the first one I got brand new from the store was bad right off the shelf (before I did the upgrade I would exchange the module you just bought and see if it fixes the problem then go from their)

I've had this happen to me a couple times with the timing chain coming out of "time"...in one case the points ignition was so sloppy it allowed the car the wobble about 12 degrees each way and still run (kinda of crappy when warm, and die at intersections)...in the other case I've had the cam walk and put things out of time (and it died just around the corner from my house luckily...).

-D.Idiot

Well, the rotor turns when I crank the engine, and when in "0" it points to 4:00... I know very little about mechanics, but I think it is the way it should be, right?

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My other car is... another DUSTER!!! .·.

Yeah, that does sound OK. So...probably a problem with air (not enough), fuel (too much or not enough) or spark (not enough or at the wrong time).

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

DusterMunster,

Take your timing light and check the timing that way to be sure that things are firing when they should.

Also, when you pull a plug out after cranking, is it wet?

-Mac

The plugs come out dry, but pretty dirty, actually carbon black... I replaced them a couple of weeks ago and the car has been parked (broken) most of the time... the new plugs have less than 6 hours of "running" time. Could it be mixture and timing?

Ed

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My other car is... another DUSTER!!! .·.

Dry plugs? After cranking and a couple of pumps of the gas?

Try cleaning the plugs, put them back in, hold the throttle open, pour a little gas down the carb (maybe a third of a cup), let off the throttle, then crank it over.

I would think that if you have dry plugs you must be in a no-fuel situation.
But you did say you had a squirt from the accelerator pump...

Hmmm...

-Mac

By plugs you mean spark plugs right?

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My other car is... another DUSTER!!! .·.

Yes, he does.