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308 " burning out" plugs big time
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Joined: 21/05/2007(UTC) Posts: 88
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Help needed desperately people . 308 T400 one tonner, recently had new bearings, rings, cam, lifters, timing gear and reco heads fitted. Straight gas GRA single throttle body 510 cfm. Fit new set of plugs and the ute will run awesome for about a day, then it'll start a little miss here and there and by the next day will be missing sp badly you have to drive it hard to stop the miss. Change the plugs to another set, doesn't matter what brand and what heat range they are as they will be stuffed within a day. I have full continuous battery voltage via a relay to the coil, coil has been changed to eliminate it as a suspect even though the old coil was less than 5 months old. Leads have been changed, no effect to the problem. Distributor cap checked for any scratches etc or arcing on the inside of the cap . Inlet manifold removed and replaced with new gaskets just incase I stuffed up during the rebuild, no change. I've gone right up to a 7 heat range in the NGK to see if that helped .. No change. So far I've put 5 sets of plugs in the last 5 weeks and have become hesitant in fitting any more till the problem is found. The dizzy is a HEI one that's been professionally regraphed to suit the gas also. There was not this issue with the ute before the rebuild. HELP!!! Rodders Has anyone heard of this problem before?
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What colour are the plugs once you've removed them? I've no experience of the colour of plugs running on LPG, perhaps someone can enlighten us. Any sign of damage to the plugs when you remove 'em?
Strange, a new set of plugs 'fixes' the problem for a day then back to agro.
And how many tanks of gas have you run through the tonner?
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Attn camry drivers. The accelerator is the skinny pedal on the right. |
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Are you running colder plugs. Maybe heat range 5 |
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The plugs looke normal , no damage, not black, not white. Also, a mechanic grabbed some of the 'old' plugs and tested them in a small spark plug tester and they all sparked fine. So it must be under compression that they are failing. I've tried different heat ranges, resistor, non resistor, different brands, all to no avail. It's got me stuffed as to why it only comes good for a day or so. The tonner has done about 1500 km now on the refreshed engine, so it's basically 'run in'. As for the distributor, if the ignition module wasn't working properly it would either do the savage spark failure miss, which I've had before in my EH with electronic ignition and you definately know when it's going to the crapper, or just not work at all. Is it possible that the igniton module can actualy produce "too much" voltage in the spark and be frying the plugs? Is it also possible that the module is producing "just enough' spark to run the plugs and that when they are new the slightly less resistance allows it to run fine and then as the plug beds in the slightly increased resistance starts the crap happening? All thoughts and ideas appreciated.... I need it fixed as it's my everyday work ute.... And it makes no difference whether the gas tank is full or near empty...
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Hi Pete, I've used 5, 6 and even 7 in the NGK. NGK themselves thought it may have been a plug heat issue, but the BP7FS plugs lasted just as long as the others.... Rod
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On LPG only ever used NGK 6 or 5 plugs. |
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Rodders, you might be onto something re the "too much/ too little voltage theory.
Have you checked the input voltage to the ign module- wondering if low or high voltage into it could cause low or high voltages out of it?
It's all I can come up with on a Saturday night !
Cheers. |
Attn camry drivers. The accelerator is the skinny pedal on the right. |
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The coil has full battery voltage to it via a straight wire from the battery that is triggered from the gas switch via the ignition. I am not using the original ignition wire to power the coil. So I guess you mean what voltage is getting to the module as in what is coming out of the coil? I'll check that first thing tomorrow. MAybe I should just remove the distributor and put in a new ignition module and see if that helps? The module is cheaper than how much it is costing me having a work ute not running right and slowing me down, as I work for myself... Its just weird that new plugs run well for a day or so and then are stuffed.
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you cant "fry the plug with too much voltage" because there only needs to be enough voltage to ionise the gap and start the arc, the maintenance of the arc for the duration requires far less voltage to keep it lit. bang a timing light on it and rev and hold the engine in 500rpm increments to see what the curve is like and whether the timing is moving around, if driving it hard is "fixing" it, i reckon its tune related. Edited by user Monday, 11 February 2013 2:05:33 AM(UTC)
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I've tried BP6FS as well, there's 7's in there at the moment as NGK thought it was a high heat condition causing the plugs to fail. It is still using a little bit of oil but as it's not done too many K's I'm not concerned, as yet. As for the miss, it does disappear if you drive it pretty hard but it doesn't perform as it should even with extra throttle after the plugs have started playing up. Now for the news flash. I just came in from trying something new. I connected up the timing light and went from lead to lead looking for any erratic spark etc. HELL YES. I assume the spark plug fires whenever it gets a spark charge or whatever it's called from the distributor cap via the lead, so if it ain't firing as it should it would play up, yes? The spark on about 3 leads the first time I tried checking them was ranging from erratic to virtually non existant for about 3 seconds at a time!! I turned the car off and restarted it and the misfiring changed to different leads and not as bad, what the hell could that be? There is full battery voltage at all points of the power supply to and from the coil so I'm guessing it's not that. Does this lead to the igintion module?
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g'day mr rodders , i think i have a solution for you , i had the very same problem+also burnin out points with a yanky car i purchased last year , it was eating plugs /points and even melting the plastic sleve on the points... , points in 2 days! ..the car would run fine then start to get a bad miss then it would get worse, then it wouldnt idle then die ......i checked changed everthing , points plugs/ leads/fuel pump /coil / carby/re earthed the motor/ balist resistor ....this kept happenin for around 1 month i couldnt figure it out , drivin me nuts my brother everythang ...then i went back fronm the start studied workshop manual crossed referenced parts+numbers..... bingo! the previous owner had instaled the wrong coil??? , i then just re newed it with a brand new coil that suited a car with a external balist resistor... when it need a coil with a built in resistor ....put in a ol coil from back yard ....whammmmo , no more burnt out pionts /plugs ...car has been running perfect for over a year!... i REALLY HOPE this work for ya
nascoman
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Why do you have a relay going to the coil? My guess is there is a wiring problem with this relay setup.
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Hi, I use a relay as I've changed from the original wiring that was in the ute when u bought it as they were using the original ignition wire to power the coil, 7 odd volts ain't enough. I use the gas switch wire as a trigger to pull full battery voltage to the coil.. Have tested it and battery voltage is evident throughout the wiring from battery to coil to distributor module. I have had one go on me before (ignition relay) and it won't bloody go at all when the relay craps itself! Happened to my EH prem wagon when ij was leaving for home after doing overtime on afternoon shift!!
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I'm running straight gas in my Brock with a 5.6L stroker. I'm still on the set of BP6FS I put in it over 2 years ago when I got it back on the road. Initially it was misfiring after a long run on the freeway, but it would run around town all day and not play up. Every time I did a freeway run I had to pull the plugs & clean them up - after that they'd run OK again, until the next freeway run. I went through everything - new leads, LPG tune, adjusted the base timing (Dr T regraphed the dizzy for me), a new ignition module, and checked all the voltages several times.
Turned out the brand new HEC716 Bosch coil I'd put on it wasn't a HEC716 at all. It was an MEC version (from the EFI cars) that had somehow made it's way into a HEC package - most likely at the parts shop when someone was doing a comparison. It was breaking down after a long run. Put another new one on it - after checking the numbers carefully, and it has been perfect ever since. The only thing we can think of, is that the different Bosch ignition modules run the coils differently, and you can't mix up the HEC & MEC versions.
Might be worth checking the compatibility of your coil & module. |
Cheers,
Mick _______________________________________________________________
Judge a successful man not on how he treats his peers, but on how he treats those less fortunate. |
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Actually, I've just had another thought. What's the mixture like across the whole rev range? Have you had it on the dyno with a gas probe in the exhaust to monitor the mixtures? It may well be running out of air or gas flow at higher RPM. Might be worth finding a local car club running a dyno day & spend the $50-60 entry fee to find out. Could save you chasing a lot of other things if it turns out to be fuel/air supply related. |
Cheers,
Mick _______________________________________________________________
Judge a successful man not on how he treats his peers, but on how he treats those less fortunate. |
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Are you using the genuine style Bosch coil or one of those after market gt80 style ones? They are useless. Thinking if its fouling the plugs though after you rebuilt it though you should do a commodore nut says and put it on the dyno for a proper tune as the motor will be running differently to before.
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Hi, it's the Bosch coil. Originally it was the standard shaped oil filled one and now it's the Bosch high energy solid state one ( you know, the smaller almost rectangular shaped one). Changing the coil made zero change to the problem.
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Nascoman, thank you for the detailed info on the problems you had and how you sorted it out. Unfortunately I've got the electronic distributor so no points, bugger. Would have been great to have it be the coil, if you know what I mean.. Thanks again.... Rod
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thanks rodders , but have you checked if your wiring is set up for balist resistor as the coil still may be incorrect as was mine ....my yanky car had no resistor , while the aussie assembled car had a factory resisto in the wiring harness this miss match caused all the problem ...mate i swore black and blue this could not be the problem with my car but once i triple checked this i was wrong ....and my car as no more probs....
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Those coils are rubbish. Swap it for the original style one. Make sure its the bosch one. Even if its working now it will let you down later. Also if you swapped the same style of coil then there is still a chance thats the problem. Especially if it runs for a while and then plays up. Could be over heating and then giving trouble. Put it on the dyno, you can guess at problems here all day.
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308 " burning out" plugs big time
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