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Author Topic: weird problem with my '93 N/A  (Read 2525 times)

helo-tech

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    • 1993 Capri N/A
weird problem with my '93 N/A
« on: February 02, 2018, 07:36:22 PM »

Hey Gang, fairly new guy here and I have a couple questions.

I just picked up this car and it has a peculiar problem. when it's cold outside (lower than 50*) the car won't start, it will crank fine but no start ---but, it starts fine when the temp is over 50*. during troubleshooting, I figured out that if I blow my heat gun on the distributor for a few minutes warming it up, it will start and run fine.

but, here lately, when it finally starts, it runs rough, caughs, backfires occasionally, and barely idles. I'm leaning towards a failing module in the dist. but want to try and confirm it before spending the small fortune for a new one.


the other day when it was warm here, the car started fine and idled great, I decided to try and check the timing but ran into an issue ---according to the service manual, it doesn't matter which plug you connect to for the pickup on the timing light, I automatically hooked up the #1, found and cleaned the timing pointer and the notch in the pulley, I marked the pulley notch so I could see it better.

after warming up the car, I pulled the vacuum off the dist. advance unit and checked the timing with the light, it looks to me like the timing is WAY advanced like maybe 30* or so. then I disconnected the wiring harness at the dist. which set the CEL but still ran fine, the timing mark never moved (still round 30* or so)---then I tried connecting to each plug wire from 1 to 4 and the timing mark never moved.

I marked the original location on the dist. and adjusted the timing as far down as I physically could but can only get it down to around 20* or so. and the car ran terribly, put the dist. back to it's original location which helped the running but I'm still confused about timing mark issue.

can anyone point me in the right direction on these issues.

thanks,
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Rocketman

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    • 91 BPT AWD Capri & 1991 XR2
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Re: weird problem with my '93 N/A
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2018, 12:45:29 PM »

It does sound like a bad connection or a failing ignitor module. You should be able to source just the module and replace it instead of the whole distributor (much cheaper)

The timing mark on the harmonic balancer may have shifted. The pulley is bonded with rubber and can deteriorate and slip, causing the timing mark to shift. You can find TDC and compare the timing mark on the pulley to the scale to check this
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1.8L Turbo All Wheel Drive Capri... the "GTXR2"