Faulty injectors?

[Ellie]

Hi there, I need some tips because my '82 only mis behaves when I am driving, Engine stopped completely on my way home and couldn't start. Waited an hour and a half for a tow. Just before the tow arrived, she started but was running really rough, like on three cylinders and blowing clouds of black smoke out the back. Left overnight at Mechanics and the next day it ran without a hint of trouble. Mech thinks I am imagining things. Left it there for two weeks and it ran sweet everyday, tested every thing and came out smelling like roses. To tidy things up we changed the ignition pick up (Had a crack and wires looked like they had been shorting) and module , but as the car was running so well, we weren't convinced this was the problem. 2 weeks of fault free driving and now it has died again

Symptoms - Engine cuts out when accelerating at low speed or taking off from stand still (feels & sounds like flooding)
Once stopped will not start again, turns over and does everything it needs to start but just wont, (again, as if she was flooded). After being left for a while the engine does start but runs rough and blows a heap of black smoke.

I am thinking leaking or stuck fuel injectors but want to rule out other electrical stuff like points, leads, plugs etc if they could cause such symptoms. Keen to hear if there are other things that can cause this too.

Thanks Heaps.

[narfire]

I'd check a few things. If the metal shrouds are off,check the cams and crank are alligned to the relative marks. You'll notice on the front of the cam boxes a raised rib and the back of the cam wheels a hole. These should line up as well as the mark/indent on the crank wheel and the timing marker just below the water pump. Perhaps the belt might have slipped a notch or two. The sensor at the water "T" . good conection, wires in good shape? How does it idle? take a plug lead off one at a time..any difference? same with the injector leads, any difference? What colour are the plugs? all the same or one gummed up?
Good luck,sure you'll have it sorted in no time (I hope)
Chris

[majicwrench]

Coolant temp sensor needs tested. In shop would hook a lab scope up to it heating up and cooling down. Inspect wiring abnd connector at sensor, is an easy spot to damage wire. Odds of injectors causing issue like that not very high. Odds of cam timing causing issues like that very low.
Likely someone with a FI car will chime in with a good way to test things without a lab scope.
Keith

[So Cal Mark]

I'd look closely at the flap in the AFM

[Ellie]

Thanks heaps for the tips. I left the car at work overnight and the next day chanced the traffic to drive home. At first it ran very rough with the black smoke pouring out the exhaust, had trouble idling and struggled to produce any real power, enough to get moving though and I was thinking this was going to be a long long crawl to home. After about 50 yards things improved with a few spluttering kicks and some power was restored. I nursed it up to the highway where I could open her up and once I had some speed things started sounding a lot smoother. By the time I was home (about 20 minutes), Idling was almost normal and power felt like it was back.

Checked the plugs and leads and they're all in good shape. I'll get around to checking the AFM flap and coolant temp sensor on the weekend.

Cheers
Michael