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UPDATE: Engine Sputtering

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Wana

Wana

Jedi Hopeful
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As you may recall the situation - car running great, sat idling for 10 minutes waiting to pick up my son. On the way home the engine was sputtering when I would accelerate. I changed the fuel filter, checked to see that the fuel pump was pumping adequately, changed out the Pertronix back to points, changed the flamethrower coil back to original coil. No difference - engine still sputtering.

This morning I had some time so I took out the spark plugs (new in March). The front 3 were very black and I noticed that the gap looked very big on each one. I had gapped them all to .035 and now the front three were .044! It looked like the center electrodes were almost down to nubbins. The back three weren't as black and the gaps weren't as wide. What in the world would have caused this?

I put the old set of plugs back in - all gapped at .025 - and the car runs great! (When I changed the plugs in March I wasn't sure how old they were so I kept them in the cupboard just in case)

Any thoughts on this? Would a bad Pertronix or coil have caused this spark plug situation?

Thanks! Wana
 
Hi Wana, I do not think the ignition components caused the failures you defined. Generally the symptoms you listed are the result of; the wrong heat range for the plugs and an overly rich fuel mixture coupled with chronic preignition {Pinking].---Fwiw--Keoke
 
What plug brand and number are you using?
 
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