distributor pickup went up again. what could be causing this?

[SonOfaTomP]

i had a no spark issue at the beginning of December. sent the car away to two different shops and ended up finding out it was my Magnetic Pickup in the Distributor. got it back and the old girl ran great. flash forward to this week and the car has started becoming harder to start. Intermittent spark. i could still get her running after a few tried. i had thought it was a carburetor issue at first but now it's become clear what it is. i scraped the contacts on my distributor cap and rotor and she ran great today but after a while of sitting "CLICK!" nothing. like a dead battery. a lady in the parking lot told be to "Shake the car". i rocked the car back and forth and low and behold, started right up. after getting home and going back out to go to work same issue. click like no battery and would crank once the car was shaken. my battery terminals are fine. all my plug wires look good, and i just sanded the cap and rotor. with how the issue is intermittent i'm thinking a short in the pickup. . any ideas?

 

[toolmanmike]

A distributor pick up has nothing to do with the engine cranking. You need to look in the battery, starter, charging system.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

Rocking the car..... makes me think you're not in park, or maybe the neutral safety switch is being weird, starter is acting up, battery maybe, etc.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

Or there's crud in the gas tank, bad ground... Shaking wouldn't do anything to the distributor.
The neutral safety switch won't let the starter click at all if it was bad.
Get an ignition test light to see if it's getting spark at all. The pickup is a magnet, not very likely to fail twice unless something else is causing it. Could be your distributor is defective and there's play in the shaft causing the gap to close. But whoever worked on it should have noticed that. Or the gap wasn't set right. But that should have showed up by now.

 

[SonOfaTomP]

i'm guessing the distributor because this is what failed last time the car did something very similar. i had an intermittent spark issue what the first shop couldn't figure out. what confuses me is, the car ran fine for a month before this issue emerged again. very suddenly happens. i'll fiddle with it again in the morning. what i'm noticing is you can turn the key. sometimes just "CLICK" then try again the car will crank. keep at it and you might get it to start after fucking with it for like 10 minutes. i had guessed a bad negative battery terminal last time the car failed and the mechanic proved it was my magnetic pickup. though the shop before them said it read fine. i can check it's wire. see if it's loose again. then we'll try the gap thing. i only remember something about a folded piece of paper for that procedure. nervous about taking the whole thing out the car. never timed one before. i think Mike is right. could be the whole thing has gone up. my cap and rotor didn't look that bad. a little bit of corrosion but nothing crazy. took a knife to it and she ran smooth before failing once again.

 

[SonOfaTomP]

one thing i forgot to mention. sometimes when i did get her started she'd run for a minute or two then stall. perhaps this is a fuel issue, or she just didn't have enough spark to keep going? if that makes any sense. the part that most makes no sense is that after minimal fiddling with it, she'll run like a normal car. can run errands for a day then it'll go right back to being difficult to star and acting like the battery is dead. when running, it doesn't even run all that bad. just shakes a little when holding the brake

 

[SonOfaTomP]

ok so, it was a bad starter solenoid. and bad ground on the ignition module.

 

[SonOfaTomP]

got the car back. now a new problem. throttle is sticking. my kickdown was always kinda loose but it ran fine so it wasn't a big deal. now, it stays at high idle all the time. won't come down after hitting the gas at all unless you pop the hood and flick the throttle lever. after driving and parking the car is up at high idle again. when braking, say we're at a stop light. car seems like it's trying to go forward. and when on a hill, you can take your foot off the gas and the car will go up hill.

the car just had it's starter replaced. perhaps they bumped the transmission? their work shouldn't have taken them anywhere near the Carburetor. car has an aftermarket BBD and still has a 6280 kickdown. worked good this far but was loose. thanks

 

[AMC Diplomat]

Check your return springs. Also, what do you mean by loose kickdown?

 

[SonOfaTomP]

ok so the idle screw was screwed all the way in. very odd but that's sorted now. where the kickdown links to the left side of the carb, there is a lot of play here. i might need a c clip to fix it in place or perhaps a washer can screw on there? i'm seeing conflicting info if a spring needs to go on the slotted arm.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

Link: Post in thread 'Carburetors' Carburetors

Are you using the cruise control?

There should also be a diagram in a factory service manual if you have one

Those springs look old and you're missing one on the kick down. The pics in the link above show a typical set up with cruise control

 

[Mikes5thAve]

There's couple different setups. Some have a spring lower down near the fire wall that pulls it up. The ones with the spring at the top are in a different spot. I see the one in the carburetor link is a another style again.

 

[SonOfaTomP]

Link: Post in thread 'Carburetors' Carburetors

Are you using the cruise control?

There should also be a diagram in a factory service manual if you have one

Those springs look old and you're missing one on the kick down. The pics in the link above show a typical set up with cruise control

this is a good reference photo. i should have a spare spring somewhere around here. thanks. my car has cruise control but i personally don't use it.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

View attachment 55129

this is a good reference photo. i should have a spare spring somewhere around here. thanks. my car has cruise control but i personally don't use it.

You can see in your pic that the retaining clip is all the way over where the spring should be (red arrow) and that retaining clip should be farther over (blue arrow)


That would cause a lot of slop side to side, probably binding up your throttle

Get new throttle springs too.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

The throttle springs are fine unless you're after the shiny new look.

 

[SonOfaTomP]

You can see in your pic that the retaining clip is all the way over where the spring should be (red arrow) and that retaining clip should be farther over (blue arrow)
View attachment 55130

That would cause a lot of slop side to side, probably binding up your throttle

Get new throttle springs too.

appreciate it. will i need to file the rod to make the clip stay in place?

 

[AMC Diplomat]

appreciate it. will i need to file the rod to make the clip stay in place?

No, if memory serves correctly there should be a little indentation for the clip

 

[toolmanmike]

It also looks like the cruise cable is coming in contact with the kickdown linkage. I would make sure there is no rubbing going on there through the full throttle travel. It could cause issues.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

@68HemiRR has the spring you need for sale if you haven't fixed it yet: FOR SALE - OEM V8 Throttle And Kickdown Springs

 

[SonOfaTomP]

@68HemiRR has the spring you need for sale if you haven't fixed it yet: FOR SALE - OEM V8 Throttle And Kickdown Springs

thanks for the link but i was able to get em off a junked fifth. got em on there now. not sure if it's a placebo or not, but my throttle seems much more responsive now