On the way to work in the rain the other day my 82 FJ40 (stock 2F, stock everything) quit running.

It felt like it couldn't get fuel, die, sputter for a bit, then die again. I thought the fuel pump was the suspect, so I changed it yesterday but it didn't help. I can see a steady stream of fuel shooting into the carb when I work the linkage.

I pulled a plug, and it's very dry :confused:

Then I thought I got water in the distributer, so I pulled the cap and cleaned it up too, still no change:mad:

What next?

Coil or ignitor maybe?

Originally posted by yardbird
Coil or ignitor maybe?

MD, possibly the igniter.... i had the same problem. If you have a Haynes manual, they tell you how to bypass the igniter and run the truck without it (it eats points though). if you don't have one, i'll scan and post mine when i get home in about 3 hours. J

I have a manual. Since I have electronic ignition do you know if bypassing the ignitor will jack things up in there?

Originally posted by Macgyver


MD, possibly the igniter.... i had the same problem. If you have a Haynes manual, they tell you how to bypass the igniter and run the truck without it (it eats points though). if you don't have one, i'll scan and post mine when i get home in about 3 hours. J

Uh... '82 has a coil pickup, no points, you can not do the igniter bypass trick.

Pull a plug wire, hold about 1/8" from a metal ground point, and have Co Pilot crank the engine. Got spark?

Wipe the little glass fuel level sight off. Shake the rig back and forth... can you see fuel in the carb? Gives you an idea is there is a fuel delivery issue, or a carb problem.

If spark and fuel look good: Fuel cut off solenoid. Only need it to idle, once you get started and keep the engine rev'd up... it will run fine, but die at every stop sign.

All for now... otherwise we'll just keep guess all day. :)

Tom :usa:

Pull a spark plug and check for spark...

Only two things can go wrong. Spark and gas...

It has to be one or the other.

Speaking from experience on my friends '78, dont bypass the ignitor, if you can figure a way too... Fried the electronic pickup in the dist. I would get an extra spark plug and stick it on one of the wires and ground the electrode. Crank overand check for spark... Checkand make sure you have fuel in the float bowl at the sight glass...


-Brett

my bad, i did it on my '75, she had points.....

Hey Eric, I've had a bunch of problems caused by the damn fuse box. You might want to check and clean the fuses and fuse contacts. My idle circuit cut off solenoid quit working the other day for no apparent reason. I slid the fuse back and forth and viola it started idling again. Seems like a similar problem could just as easily arise from the engine fuse getting corroded. Not sure if it's the problem or not, but something else that's easy to check.

HTH,

Later.

Jimmy :beer:

Fusible Link?

If you have fuel, you must not have spark...

Jim

The sputtering sounds like a fuel problem. Just looking at the little squirt the fuel pump puts out may be misleading. What is the fuel level in the sight window on the bowl? The pump should put out about 1 cup in 15 seconds of cranking. If it doesn't, check for rust in your tank.

Let me know if it is the ignitor or coil, I have my old one from my 60 out in the garage. I replaced it with a unified setup, so I don't need it.

Thank you guys for all the info:D

Turns out that the problem was a few gallons of water in my tank:( :mad: :(

I have no freakin idea how it got there:confused:

Originally posted by Mustard Dog
Thank you guys for all the info:D

Turns out that the problem was a few gallons of water in my tank:( :mad: :(

I have no freakin idea how it got there:confused:

:confused: No kidding.... At least as a prank, not as bad as surgar or something more nasty in the thank.

Uh... locking gas flap on your rig?

I remember a GAS STATION that had serious problems with their underground fuel tank... pumping water/gas into tanks of cars. Most of the EPA stuff today insures water tight fuel tanks, so rarely hear about that any more.

Yes, one day we had about 10 cars die in front of the Shell Station were I worked... all having gotten gas from a place down the street, and made it that far. The Toyota's with drain plugs in the tank were easy to drain the water out of! :)

Tom :usa:

Originally posted by roundrocktom


Uh... locking gas flap on your rig?



Yep. I gassed up in the day or two before at the station I've used for years, maybe they just had a problem with the recent rains:confused:

Originally posted by Mustard Dog


Yep. I gassed up in the day or two before at the station I've used for years, maybe they just had a problem with the recent rains:confused:

Strange, but possible.

Years back... worked with a shop that rebuilt rotary engines. They blew seals so often (1970's) that when a "dead engine" Mazda came in for an engine rebuild... you didn't question, just pulled the engine and tore it down.

Did one of the motors, but looked great. Seals still in good shape, no sign of water leakage. Oh well, just install new seals and rebuild it.

The car wouldn't start with the new engine! Usually with the full compression, and a 24V jump start, it would take right off... took a while, but finally noticed the carb had LOTS of oil in it (they would inject oil into the float bowls, to provide seal lubrication on the early ones). Cleaned out the two float bowls... uh, what's with the gas... Uh oh... tank full of DIESEL! Quickly drained it all out (full tank!), flushed the lines, refilled with regular... nope, never said a word. Customer was happy with the rebuild, and commented the car started much easier. :p

Oh well, almost as bad as a RX-2 I bought with a "blown engine" for $75... turned out to have a BAD FUSE in it! Always liked buying them back then, as you'd find new ignition coils, rebuilt carbs, and a bunch of other stuff before people realized their wasn't enough compression to start 'em. That one hadn't been touched, bought it as it had a good clean body. :D

Tom :usa: