Posted by KBishop on December 27, 1999 at 13:04:18:
OK. Now I'm completely frustrated and out of ideas so I'm appealing to those that know. My B3PW is suffering from rough idle, poor acceleration, hesitation, cutting out and a general lack of power. So far I have cleaned the carb (awaiting a kit), drained the fuel tank, replaced the plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor, condensor, points. What perplexes me most is that while trying to narrow down the miss by pulling plug wires one at a time, #1 and #2 cylinders don't affect the idle but it smooths out when I arc the wire to the plug!? I have the plugs gapped @ .025 (owner's manual reprint said .035 but that caused some problems)and the points @ .020. The timing is adjusted by "feel", can't read the pully marks and don't have a dwell meter. Have checked for vacuum leaks and firing order. Will test compression when I find the gauge. I'm thinking that I could still have a vacuum leak or maybe a weak coil (how does one test a 6v coil?). I know the carb needs some attention (turning idle screw has little affect) but how does one explain the smoothing out of idle when arcing the #1 or #2 wire to its respective sparkplug? Truck ran smooth prior to this affliction. I'm at wits end and hope one of you old sages has some insight and that I'm not embarressed by overlooking something simple (been there done that). Thanks in advance for any help.