I pulled the motor then removed the spark plugs. I found the #1 spark plug seemed gas fouled as it appeared wet but was not wet. It had a glazed look to it. I also found the spark plug (#2) with the CHT sender under it was leaking. I replaced the glazed plug and moved the CHT to the #3 spark plug and hopefully it will seal better there.
I also removed the tops of the carbs and remeasured the float positions. The left side upper position was correct but the drop position was too much (about 15mm). So I adjusted it to about 12mm. The right side seemed out in both positions. I adjusted them into the proper positions of about 5mm and 12mm. But I also found a clip that holds the float in the bottom of the bowl. This may have been the 2 year old gremlin giving me issues intermittently. So I will reinstall the motor today and we will see if I indeed fixed the gremlin.
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After installing the motor, everything was running very good. Good smooth power running on all four cylinders. So I took the bus to my girlfriends house and it ran very well. On the way home, it did it again. Could not reset it again. So I am off to take the motor back out again and check spark plugs and carbs.
I pulled the motor today and inspected the spark plugs. I didn't see anything that I would call fouled. I also removed the tops of the carbs again but did not see anything there either. But the problem still persists. So i am a bit stumped. So I removed the motor again and removed the spark plugs. I will be buying new spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor in the morning.
Bought NGK spark plugs that are one step hotter and new Bosch wires rotor and cap. I only installed the wires and plugs at this time as everything actually still looked good. Also, since I had the motor removed, it was a lot easier to get the plug and wires in now. I can always install the rotor and cap any time.
Anyway, so far so good. I drove about 40 miles and no issues yet. Good smooth power. But time will tell if this will do it. I still really don't know what the problem is except for the fact that when I change spark plugs, things seem better for a little bit of time. I will check back later as I will drive to work today and see (22 miles each way).
Well that was short lived. The problem still persists. However, right now I can reset it by shutting off the motor and restarting it. Then it runs on all four smoothly.
Sometimes when trying to reset it the starter would turn over very slowly. My battery is about 5 years old so I assumed that it was on its way out. So I purchased a new battery and installed it. Well during one of the resets, it cranked over slowly again. So it appears that the slow cranking is not due to the battery. Maybe from raw gas in the cylinder not compressing. I don't smell gas though so I don't know.
I went ahead and installed the new cap and rotor but it did not change anything as I made the problem happen. I will be purchased points and condensor to replace the pertronix unit to rule it out as the problem.
The next thing I may try if the points don't do it will be lowering the float level in the carb by a mm or two. Stay tuned.
Today I blew a spark plug out of the #2 cylinder. It appears that I may have cross threaded the plug at some time and the threads in the head appear thrashed. After towing the bus home, I will take the motor out again. I will then repair the threads of that plug hole with an insert.
The spark plug thread repair went good. I took the bus for a test ride and all was good so far. I even tried to make it run on three cylinders and I could not get it to do it. So now I am wondering if this spark plug hole was the gremlin all along. Again, time will tell. I will take the bus to work today and that will a test for it. I will check back later.
The problem still persists. It did it on the way to work today. However, it did reset. I will drive it so that the motor is not suseptable to the problem. I will then buy points and consdenser and rule out the ignition system.
Ok, I adjusted the floats of the carbs down so that the fuel level in the the float bowl is lower. I did this by 1mm (from 5mm to 6mm from the top). I also adjusted the drop down from the top to allow quicker response to filling the bowl (more flow to the bowl).
With this adjustment, it seems my gremlin may have been worked. I will drive the bus over the next few days trying to make the gremlin show up. I will post back the results. Hopefully it is gone.
Also, i forgot to mention that I did buy points and condenser. I did attempt to install buy realized that I needed an isolated terminal for the distributor wall that the points and the condenser connect to. I could not find the one that came with my distributor, so I just kept the pertronix unit in.
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