Hello, I did a dumb thing this weekend while taking my 1974 FJ40 off road. I drove it through a fairly deep puddle and it stalled out. It struggled to start back up but eventually did and now it is always struggling to start up and it stutters at low RPM. I took a look at the distributor cap and it looked clean, just to be safe I sprayed it out with some cleaner. I also opened up the top of the carb and sprayed some carb cleaner into it and it seemed to help. But I am still having some stuttering and long ignition. Being a millennial this is the first carbureted vehicle I have owned and I would like to be sure it could be caused by dirt or mud in the carb before I attempt to take the carb apart and give it a thorough cleaning. Has anyone had similar issues?
Stuttering at Low RPM and struggling to start (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter cptmackay
- Start date
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How deep is deep?
You don't have an air cleaner full of water I assume.
Sounds like water in your HT leads or coil somewhere.. You sure you put your dizzy cap back on properly after cleaning it?
Dizzy isnt loose?
Crank it in the dark and watch for arcing....
You don't have an air cleaner full of water I assume.
Sounds like water in your HT leads or coil somewhere.. You sure you put your dizzy cap back on properly after cleaning it?
Dizzy isnt loose?
Crank it in the dark and watch for arcing....
- Thread starter
- #3
It was maybe a foot deep but there are splashes up to the side of the engine about the height of the distributor cap. I am pretty sure I put the cap back on properly.
The air filter is dry.
The air filter is dry.
- Thread starter
- #5
What do you mean by the fuel bowl? Is that part of the carb?
pb4ugo
SILVER Star
You can spray some wd40 inside the cap then wipe it down. You may have water in the points area too. Check the wire ends also. Spray down the wires too. WD= water displacement.
There's a little chamber on the side of the carb that holds fuel ready to be used - there's a drain screw on the side at the bottom - catch it in a pot and look if there's water in it.
- Thread starter
- #8
So i think it is the distributor cap. I took off the cap and the rotor had some corrosion on it. So I cleaned that and took it out on a test drive and it faired much better, however, when i got back it is back to not starting. So I pulled the rotor off and I noticed on the inside it looked like the plastic was all bent up so i am going to order another one to replace it. Hopefully that solves the issue.
If thats because the shaft is worn then your points won't open right either - there are nice easy upgrades to electronic points around (contactless optical sensor screws inside the dizzy).
Well worth doing in my view. I'm sure there are a few threads on this and people to weigh in with recommendations.
Well worth doing in my view. I'm sure there are a few threads on this and people to weigh in with recommendations.
- Thread starter
- #10
So if anyone else has this issue. It's definitely a bad distributor. I replaced the rotor and it seemed to fix it but a few days later It started doing the same thing and the rotor was chewed up on the bottom again. So I will be looking into the electric points because I think it's the shaft. There's a little bit of give on it.
Some photos of the rotor arm and inside the cap might be useful? My electronic pickup is optical, so the shaft can run way out without a problem. The HT contacts on the other hand could become the problem.
