2.25 not firing 3&4 ?

[Lance]

I never did get a answer to the screw gear....thanks so much. That helps a lot. Probably not that if it would have to move that much. Think I will pull the timing chain cover next.
Thanks for the pic & info. Big help!
I have only owned this a few months, need to learn.

[bkreutz]

I don't know what pulling the timing cover will tell you, any problem with things in there would affect all 4 cylinders the same, the cam timing would either be correct or incorrect for all the cylinders. Looking over your last post, you say you have compression on all 4 cylinders and spark on all 4 cylinders. That only (at least in my mind) leaves 2 things, spark at the correct time (re read some of the earlier posts about crossed plug wires) or fuel. If you have fuel, compression and spark at the proper time it will fire. Is it possible that something in the intake is blocking the back two cylinders preventing the fuel/air mixture from getting there? The reason I ask is that years ago I ran into a similar problem and found a shop rag had been left in the intake manifold during a repair and it was blocking off a couple of cylinders.

[Lance]

I just put the manifold back on a couple weeks ago when I put the head back on. I didn't run a wire or anything through the manifold so I quess there could be something in there but I think I would have noticed plus this problem started all on it's own. I might take it back off, at this point it won't hurt & isn't that hard to do. I agree that pulling the timing cover may not help but I really don't know what elase to do Plus I don't understand if I set everything on TDS #1 then start the motor and put my timing light on it I don't see any timing marks. I thought I should see TDS on the flywheel? I have to adjust my timing light 40 degrees to see the timing marks???

[SafeAirOne]

I agree that it's unusual to have a sudden MECHANICAL issue where the rear 2 cylinders don't operate.

Not to be insulting, but are you sure the timing light is on the #1 plug wire and the firing order is correct? If you put the timing light on the other wires, does the timing mark on the flywheel come closer to the pointer?

I still think it's an electrical issue in the primary or secondary ignition circuit/components.

[Apis Mellifera]

The dynamic timing may be near 40 degrees. You have initial static timing, which is what you measure on the crank pulley or flywheel, and you have the mechanical timing provided by the distributor. To find out what the distributor timing is you take the points plate off and look at the weights. There will be a number stamped on them, say 15. Multiply that by 2 and add the static timing of, say, 10 and you'd have 40 degrees total. It's possible the small springs inside the distributor broke, producing max mechanical advance at all times.

http://www.jcna.com/library/tech/tech0015.html

That might help my explanation.

That said, as was mentioned, given the info you've provided, anything timing related that suddenly happened would have caused all cylinders to misfire. Humor us and simply switch 3 and 4 plug wires to see if that does anything. If that doesn't help, and as you said, you have spark and compression on 3 and 4, it has to be inlet related. I can't think of anything else that could produce the same results based on your tests.

The valves are working
The valves are gapped
There is spark
There is compression
The front two cylinders are working properly
The misfire was sudden
The firing order was checked

This doesn't add up to a misfire on 3 and 4 - I'm stumped.

Just to be sure, your wires should be CCW 1-3-4-2... You can get it backward and still have two cylinders correct.

[Lance]

Don't worry about insulting me, I'm pleased to have you guys helping. I soooo want to fix this and go for a drive! I put the timing light on the front plug wire closest plug to the front of the vehicle. I didn't try putting it on other plugs but I will just to see what happens. The dissy rotates counter clockwise. Firing order is 1 3 4 2. I have #1 wire going to the top front (right) plug on the cap, then going counter clock wise next is 3 4 2.

[Apis Mellifera]

Well, in that case, try starting it up and spraying the inlet manifold around 3 and 4 runners with WD40 or some such. Could be a massive vacuum leak. If that's the problem the exhaust note will change. If you use spray ether, just use short blasts.

If that's not it, I give up.

[Lance]

OK I put the timing light on all the wires #1 & 4 both look the same on the flywheel, the timing marks are there. I switched wires 3&4. Putting 3 on 4 & 4 on 3 (getting zapped in the process....I have good spark). Still no change. I haven't started it in a few days and it is very cold here now some I needed a lot of choke to get it started, I don't think it was my imagination it sounded pretty good like running on all 4 but then it went away & back to two?

[Apis Mellifera]

Since you're switching wires try these configurations (looking at the cap):
31
42

12
34

24
13

43
21

[Lance]

Will do, won't be able to try this until tuesday. Had to call it a day.
Thanks for the help.