Ok here is the problem, the car is the one in my sig, what it is doing is missing at high RPM when you have it to the floor, but if you let off it a little it will clear up then go a little faster then do it again then you have to let up a little more, and it also has a little miss at idle. I don't know anything about electronic ignition so I don't really know where to start, if it were a vehicle with a distributor I would say it was probably the coil or pick-up coil. Another really annoying thing it does is when I tried to install a C.B. in it, after I got it all hooked up everytime I key the mic it kills the engine, after running wires to different locations and trying multiple antennas I found that it has to be that the RF frequency from the C.B. is killing the engine, I just don't know why, I do think that the whatever the missing problem is has to do with the C.B. thing.
It does need plugs and wires but I haven't gotten to that yet, I did check the diagnostics on it and I am getting a code 32 " Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) Circuit" which might also cause some of the missing problems. Just wanted to know if any of ya'll had any ideas where to start.

Sorry for the long post
Chris

Hi Chris.

I don't know how close the 1986's EGR circuit is to the 1988's one, but if they are anything similar, the circuit has a four wire connector at the EGR. When you look at it, notice how each wire has a different color. First, make a note of where these wires need to be reconnected back to the EGR and then disconnect the wire terminals at the EGR. The terminals themselves on the EGR are lined up in a "Capital Letter T" pattern. Then what you want to do is to install a 15 amp fused jumper from your battery to Terminal D of the EGR circuit (that's where the green colored wire came off the EGR). Then what you do basically is run the engine and ground the remaining exposed terminals one at a time. When you do this, you should notice your engine rpms changing. If the engine rpms don't change when you do this, on all three or any single terminal, then you definitely have a bad EGR valve. This check is called a resistance check.

Hope this helps.

By the way, nice to meet you. We, 86', 87', 88', and 89' Delta 88 owners ought to stick together. :O

I would say plugs or wires are most likely the cause, as a defective coil or pickup would keep it from running in the first place.


Please explain how you came to that conclusion.


A standard tuneup would be the logical place to start.

Norm

I've experienced this missing and misfiring problem myself. After brainstorming and frustration, I finally one night found myself looking under the hood in almost pitch darkness. I saw it. A small arc from one of the wires at the coil pack, to another wire. The spark was jumping from a damaged plug wire to another, firing the wrong cylinder at the wrong time. Missing problem solved with a new set of AC Delco wires.

Thanks for the replies ya'll this is my g/f's car and I am just trying to get info on what I need to fix for her, so that it why it hasn't gotten plugs and wires yet because that'll have to wait till next paycheck but that is high on the priority list and will definitly help track down the problem if not fix it all toegether.

Thanks for the info on the EGR valve I will try that and wee what happens, where exactly is the EGR valve located on the car, I am assuming it is somwhere on the manifold, I would run out and look but the car isn't here all the time.

Norm,
As for why I came to the conclusion about the RF affecting the car and making it die, it is the only logical conclusion because it does it with multiple antennas nomatter where I place them on the care or even if I set them as far away from the car as I can, and I have also ran power wires straight to the battery with the same result, however when the antennas is unhooked it is fine, therefore meaning that the RF transmitting through the antenna is somehow affecting the Electronic Ignition or the ECU somehow causeing the car to die.


Thanks for all the replies keep 'em comin
Chris

Hi All,


OK. In that case, the hydrocilator is the problem.

I thought manufacturers stopped using them much earlier than the nineties, but I must have been mistaken, as it's the only possible explanation.

Regards, Norm

Norm, you bugger! You forgot to tell him about the whole plasmatic encapsulation plate module that must be inspected before the hydrocilator can even be considered.

Sounds like he's looking for the most complicated way out of this problem. Please excuse me kc8ksg if that is not the case. He's already stated the plugs and wires are overdue, and hes got an ignition related problem... Hmmm....

Hydrocilator was first used by Ford in about 1915, and shortly afterward it was adopted by all US manufacturers. I don't know when, or why, they discontinued its use.

From kc8ksgs posts, it appears they were still used in 1986.

I'm not familiar with the plasmatic encapsulation plate module.

Norm

Well, if you're interested in hearing about new concepts, click here:

Rockwell Retro Encabulator

Good stuff

That's a North American Rockwell, promotional film from the mid seventies.

It was done after North American Aviation merged with Rockwell-Standard (owner of Aero Commander) in 1967 to become North American Rockwell, and before Rockwell sold it's General Aviation division to Gulfstream in 1980, its Sabreliner division to Sabreliner Corp in 1983 and the rest of it's aerospace interests to Boeing in 1996.

The product was well ahead of it's time, and I've often wondered how Boeing put it to use, and how the design has evolved.

Norm

Holy moly, I certainly didnt expect that!

Ok, I put the plugs and wires in and, as I figured, it was not the problem. Does anybody have an idea what the problem with it might be, I am pretty sure it isn't the hydrocilator or the flux capacitor or the waternator or the mufflometer, however real parts that are actually on the car that may be the problem might help.


Thanks
Chris

Accurate communication of symptoms, is the hardest part of internet diagnposis.

Keeping in mind, that my perception of a miss might be different than yours, and that we need to be on the same page.

By high RPM, do you mean higher than it should be operated at?
A dead miss in one or more cylinders?
An intermittent miss on one or all cylinders?
Not a miss, per se, but incomplete combustion (and less than full power) on one or more cylinders?
Is it a lack of power, that I might not describe as a miss, but you would?

Did you use OEM plugs, with the gap set for that application?
Did you check/replace the air and fuel filters when you changed plugs?
Did you check all vacuum hoses and replace, as necessary?

Regards, Norm

High RPM's I'm assuming is flooring it and keeping there for a couple seconds. If so, I *think* most do that. Mine does and I think Delta88's does. Just a thing with old motors, can't expect them to be perfect.

If not exactly flooring it, say a range of 4,000-5,000 RPM's and it's missing, you may want to check your coil packs. Only thing I can think of besides what Norm suggested.

Spark plug gap is .045, make sure it's dead on.

The miss occures during heavy accelleration and happens around 40mph in 1st and 70 in 2nd, since there isn't a tach I am not sure of the RPM's but it's up around the shift points. I haven't gotten to the fuel filter yet, however the way it acts the miss is all of the sudden not so much like if it weren't getting enough fuel where it would gradually get worse. The miss itself is feels like 3 or 4 cylinders not firing, when it does it you have to let off the throttle because you start to lose speed, and you can also smell and see raw gas from the tailpipe, thus another reason leading me to believe it is spark related and not a fuel problem.
What do the coil packs usually cost? Are the 3.8's and 3.0's the same? Because I can get one off a 3.8 Buick at a local junkyard for next to nothing.


Chris