Guest rayjay1902 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 i think im loosing power in 3rd gear. 1st and 2nd are fine. i heard scraping carbon off the pistons will help. but not sure if thats still necessary with modern gas. or possibly a bad coil. i was hoping to fix the problem myself, if not ill have to send her to dragone motors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC5 Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 I would take a look at the advance/retard linkage for the distributor first. I suspect a lack of advance in high gear would be more noticeable. It is possible an intermittent coil could be the problem although I don't suspect it is very likely. A 'modern' canister-type coil can be had pretty cheap at a well stocked auto parts store (or auto recycler) and you will just need to figure out how to temporarily clamp it in place and connect it up. If this solves the problem there is someone on here (memory escapes me) that rebuilds coils. I'm sure there are other things that could cause this problem but that's my best guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rayjay1902 Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 i have thought about the spark advance......the car starts up right away, no matter where the advance is set at. when your in motion , the advance doesnt do anything. it does move the dist. but only slightly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1930 Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 I would start by finding out if its electrical or fuel, any ideas? Any recent changes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC5 Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Hopefully someone here with a 17 can speak from experience. I can tell on my 25, the advance rod end where it connects to the distributor moves back and forth about 1 inch from full retard to full advance. I believe I read in the MIM that full advance is 25 degrees from full retard (which is near TDC). The distributor also has a built in mechanical advance that may not be working properly. Getting the spark advance working correctly is important for power output because fuel does not burn instantly. The advance is used to start the spark 'early' and let the flame get started before piston reaches TDC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bill Miller Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 This does sound more like an electrical problem than anything else. Either the is spark not firing when it should or the spark isn't hot enough. Check the timing and you might also either check the coil or just swap it for a new one. Another possibility is a bad plug wire or two or even bad or fouled plugs.Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.White Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 As Jason quite rightly asked, have there been any recent changes made or has this loss of power in top gear been gradually developing? Your distributor should move quite noticably when you operate the advance/retard lever and with the engine ticking over, you should notice a change in tone when you advance the ignition - also, it sounds like the advance is not working because most engines struggle to start from cold when fully advanced. If, as Mike rightly pointed out, the advance mechanism is gummed up, you will experience similar symptoms but it is the lack of movement from the manual advance which would concern me the most - perhaps the linkage has come adrift somewhere. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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