Help......Engine Died

[BrianG]

Help.....

While taking my 84 SVO out for a spin my engine died. There was a little pop what seemed like a back fire and it shut down.

I had my front headlight removed to see if there was any more power with air going directly into the K&N air filter, which is right behind the head light.

I checked my fuel filter and the gas is flowing fine. I also checked if the engine had spark and it did, but the plug was black and smelled like gas.

Any ideas what the problem could be????

Is there a fuse for the fuel injectors? Could something be wrong with the VAM?

BTW, bad timing.......I have a appointment with a dyno next Saturday (first time) and an autocross race on Sunday.

[Eyelawdoc]

This is kind of a shot in the dark, but it sounds like a broken/stripped teeth on the timing belt problem. Check to see if the rotor turns when you crank the engine. Also check to see if the timing with the spunt out is where it's supposed to be (stock seting is 10 degrees BTC) If not, then it's time to replace the timing belt! Don't worry, the 2.3 is not a valve interference engine, so you didn't bend anything

[svobud]

yeah, check your timing belt. definitely sounds like you ate some teeth off of it.

[BrianG]

What does spunt out mean?

The rotor does turn when the engine is cranked and I have the white paint line at 10 degrees. Now what???

BTW, I just changed the plugs and it didn't help

[svobud]

I think he was trying to say "spout out" .

Is your car currently not running? The distributor will still turn - cause what I'm suggesting is that you look/inspect the TIMING BELT. If it's old or worn - it could have slipped or lost some of the teeth. This would cause your engine to slip so far out of time that it would quit running...and won't start. It would also cause a severe backfire while it was slipping or losing teeth.

[BrianG]

What is spout out?

The car will not start......I did check the timing belt and it was tight with all the teeth attached and in good shape.

This was strong smell of gas on the plugs when I took them out.
If that means anything.

Any other ideas on what I can check?

[SVOeric]

well, you need to find out if you have spark, (you got gas)

and you need to check the timing to make sure the belt didn't slip.

the little round plug in the timing belt cover, pop that out, and turn the crank until it is on 0, if the timing mark doesn't line up on the cam also, turn it 360 degrees more, and it should line up with the timing mark on the cam. If it dont, you need a new belt, and to set the cam timing right...

[gbeaird]

The SPOUT is a connector in the ignition that 'lets' the computer essentially take over the duties of advancing the timing over the static setting you do by turning the distributor. When it is plugged in, the engine is 'seeing' normal timing as the computer sees fit to provide. With it plugged in, you can't properly set your timing, because the timing you see using a timing light is the static PLUS the computer-added advance.

The SPOUT is a plug that is usually located in a wiring harness that leads to the distributer. You can usually see this connector, which is a little plastic connector with a loop of wire coming out of it, between the engine and driver's side fender, behind the distributor, and slightly under the intake manifold.

To properly set timing, you need to unplug this connector and start the car (or have someone turn the engine over, in your case) and check to make sure the static timing is set at 10 degrees before top dead center (BTC).

If it is NOT at 10 degrees, your timing belt may have jumped a couple of teeth. Usually, thought, if the belt has jumped, it will have done so at the cam gear. Then, your timing will look normal. Use the proceedure outlined by SVOEric. Don't forget to also turn the engine by hand while inspecting the belt through the little peep hole. You may have lunched some teeth at another location on the belt.

84 SVOs are notorious for having wiring problems. It is a problem with what wiring insulation the vendor that supplied the wire to Ford in that year. With time, the insulation gets brittle and cracks off. I suspect you may have this problem. Trace the wiring coming out of your distributor back to the wiring loom. I would bet that you will find some cracked insulation. In fact, the act of unplugging the SPOUT may move the wiring around enough to allow the car to start and run.

The problem is a known problem with Ford. They even have a replacement harness for the distributor to solve the problem. Check the wiring.

Gene Beaird
86 SVO
Pearland, Texas

[SVOeric]

just remember, the ignition timing, and cam timing are completly seperate...

Gene-- the way you describe it, they sound related.

if the timing belt has slipped, there is about a 75 % chance, it was the crank gear that slipped, about 20% chance it was the cam gear, and about a 5% chance it was the AUX gear. If his belt really did slip, then the crank and cam are not going to line up.

you adjust the ignition timing by turning the distributor,

the cam timing is not adjustable (unless youhave a adjustable cam pulley)

the 10 degree spec is for ignition timing. when setting the cam timing, the crank needs to be set to 0.

[bell]

"the 10 degree spec is for ignition timing. when setting the cam timing, the crank needs to be set to 0."

thats with the spout connector removed, just so theres no confusion...

[SVOeric]

"the 10 degree spec is for ignition timing. when setting the cam timing, the crank needs to be set to 0."

of course, you are exactly right!

[BrianG]

I did have spark and gas. I followed Eric's instructions and the timing seems to be fine, so I don't think the belt slipped.

I gave up......I had the car towed today to a local garage for some help. I wll let you all know what the fix was tomorrow. (I hope)

When the engine died I was running without the passenger side headlight and the cold air was going directly into the K&N air filter and VAM. Could this have had anything to do with my problem??


Thank you all for your help!!!!!!!!!!!

[svobud]

Originally posted by BrianG

When the engine died I was running without the passenger side headlight and the cold air was going directly into the K&N air filter and VAM. Could this have had anything to do with my problem??

Nope - that would really have NOTHING to do with the engine dying as long as you had the air filter on there.

[GT350R]

Ok, you checked your timing and you know you have spark , right?

Well , you know you have fuel, but you might have too much.

I would get a voltmeter (or tell the shop to). Go to the plug for the VAM, and (with pins) probe the red to the WHITE with black strip wire. and the BLACK wire to the BLACK with white strip wire.

Key on engine off, you should have .2 volts. At idle you should have .8

If you see a voltage that is higher than that, look inside the vam for something sticking it open. If it is way higher , like 4.5-5 volts, look to see if the door is stuck all the way open, or look for a damaged shorting wire around the plug.

[BrianG]

The saga continues......

The mechanic said I got something in my oil that caused some teeth to break on the distributor and thats why it wouldn't start. Does that make sense???

Then, driving home from the gargage the car did the samething and died. It's now sitting in a funeral home parking lot waiting for a tow tomorrow.



My buddy thinks the oil pump failed and that caused the distributor gears to break and I should replace the oil pump.