This regards my FJ45 with F135 engine and nonUSA distributor, SD50 single barrel carburetor.
I may have more than one issue going here, and I understand that. Still, I thought I'd run a flag up and see what people think.
Yesterday, before sunup, I was driving to a secret turkey hunting spot, and had dropped 500 feet in elevation, and I noticed the development of a rapid, regular snapping sound coming from the front of the vehicle. It sped up and got louder with faster RPMs and load, and dropped but didn't disappear when I slowed down.
It reminded me of the sound a playing card makes when pinned to a bicycle yoke and it slaps against the wheel spokes.
I got to my hunting partner's place well before shooting light, parked with the engine running and raised the hood. I could still hear the sound, but not pinpoint it, except it seemed to be on the passenger side. I also noticed, in the dark, that I could see blue sparking arcing between the ends of all 6 spark plug boots, across the ceramic of the plugs and to the base of the plug/engine block. It was regular and equal across all plugs. There was a black collar of carbon around the ceramic of all of the plugs between the end of the boot and the base of the plug.
I touched each of the wires
D) without any shock. Boots were tight on plugs.
After hunting (in ptnrs rig) I drove back home. Sound still there, but it diminished to the point that I couldn't really hear it at all as I returned to home elevation.
The plugs and wires are a couple of years old and maybe have 12K miles on them. OEM wires with Denso plugs for the F135.
After getting home, I did a little tuneup/check.
Wires looked clean, no cracks, plugs looked good, maybe a little carbon around the rim but not the electrodes and no gunk. I cleaned off the carbon collar and replaced.
Idle speed normal @700, electrical timing right where I had set it at 12 DBTDC (a little advance).
Then I checked the points, which seemed a little worn. Plus, the dwell angle was 37 degrees, a bit less than the 41 degrees spec for that dizzy (or 50 for the engine). So I had a spare and changed out the points and ended up with a good gap and dwell angle of 40.5 degrees. I noticed after replacing the points the timing was at 9 degrees BTDC. Not sure what that meant.
All the while, it seemed to run normally without missing, albeit underpowered on the hills, but that's not too unusual with this old truck.
Last night after dark, I checked again. I could still see the arcing, although it didn't seem as intense as it had in the morning.
So, two people have told me to replace the wires. I'm not sure. Is that the problem, or is it just arcing past the end and will it do the same thing with new wires? Any other thoughts?
I may have more than one issue going here, and I understand that. Still, I thought I'd run a flag up and see what people think.
Yesterday, before sunup, I was driving to a secret turkey hunting spot, and had dropped 500 feet in elevation, and I noticed the development of a rapid, regular snapping sound coming from the front of the vehicle. It sped up and got louder with faster RPMs and load, and dropped but didn't disappear when I slowed down.
It reminded me of the sound a playing card makes when pinned to a bicycle yoke and it slaps against the wheel spokes.
I got to my hunting partner's place well before shooting light, parked with the engine running and raised the hood. I could still hear the sound, but not pinpoint it, except it seemed to be on the passenger side. I also noticed, in the dark, that I could see blue sparking arcing between the ends of all 6 spark plug boots, across the ceramic of the plugs and to the base of the plug/engine block. It was regular and equal across all plugs. There was a black collar of carbon around the ceramic of all of the plugs between the end of the boot and the base of the plug.
I touched each of the wires
D) without any shock. Boots were tight on plugs.After hunting (in ptnrs rig) I drove back home. Sound still there, but it diminished to the point that I couldn't really hear it at all as I returned to home elevation.
The plugs and wires are a couple of years old and maybe have 12K miles on them. OEM wires with Denso plugs for the F135.
After getting home, I did a little tuneup/check.
Wires looked clean, no cracks, plugs looked good, maybe a little carbon around the rim but not the electrodes and no gunk. I cleaned off the carbon collar and replaced.
Idle speed normal @700, electrical timing right where I had set it at 12 DBTDC (a little advance).
Then I checked the points, which seemed a little worn. Plus, the dwell angle was 37 degrees, a bit less than the 41 degrees spec for that dizzy (or 50 for the engine). So I had a spare and changed out the points and ended up with a good gap and dwell angle of 40.5 degrees. I noticed after replacing the points the timing was at 9 degrees BTDC. Not sure what that meant.
All the while, it seemed to run normally without missing, albeit underpowered on the hills, but that's not too unusual with this old truck.
Last night after dark, I checked again. I could still see the arcing, although it didn't seem as intense as it had in the morning.
So, two people have told me to replace the wires. I'm not sure. Is that the problem, or is it just arcing past the end and will it do the same thing with new wires? Any other thoughts?
