Missing At Driving Speeds

[CAPRICE LIFE]

I Have N 82 Caprice That Idles Good But When I Drive It,it Misses Throughout Driving Range...it Also Hesitates When I Press The Gas Pedal Down Like Im Not Gettin Throttle Response Like I Should...its A 305 Wit A 2bbl Carb.....350 Turbo Tranny....any Help Will Do Justice

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by CAPRICE LIFE

I Have N 82 Caprice That Idles Good But When I Drive It,it Misses Throughout Driving Range...it Also Hesitates When I Press The Gas Pedal Down Like Im Not Gettin Throttle Response Like I Should...its A 305 Wit A 2bbl Carb.....350 Turbo Tranny....any Help Will Do Justice

#1, off-topic, please don't capitalize every word. It is annoying!

I'll answer your question with another question, does it backfire through the carb ever, especially when it's at its worst with the misfiring? If so, you may have a worn out camshaft.

Before we go there, however, let's do some troubleshooting. Check your distributor cap and rotor for carbon arcing, or cracking. If you see any, replace both. The rotors on the cap-in-coil HEI distributors tend to 'burn through' right under the carbon button in the cap, this allows the spark to jump through the rotor to ground on the centrifugal advance mechanism. Lots of misfiring.

Check your spark plug wires. Sometimes, especially with the exhaust manifold layout on these cars, the wire will rub the manifold and burn through. If there's a valve cover gasket leak (or rear intake seal leak, anything that produces an oil leak from the top of the engine), oil can get on the plug wires and over time, this causes them to swell and misfire.

Check your ignition timing with a good induction pickup strobe timing light, with the wheels blocked, the car in drive and the vacuum advance line pulled and plugged. It should be at 8 degrees BTDC. If it's more, then you could be experiencing detonation which kills performance (and engine parts), mimicking a misfire.

If it was an older non-electronic ignition, I'd tell you to check your points and the dwell angle. But it's HEI, so you might check the ignition module and/or pickup.

Anyways it wouldn't hurt to check the carb as well, but I have a feeling this is either ignition related, or camshaft related. Good luck in getting it tackled.

[CAPRICE LIFE]

thanks for the reply(no caps now)lol...anywayz theres nothing comin thru the carb at all....timing is right on point....i think it may be the distributor cap and rotor button as well.....what bout the carb gasket?will that make it misfire?theres no oil leak....at it runs smooth at idle.....thanks

[Cyrix_2k]

The same thing happens on my '89. It was supposed to have a new cap, rotor, wires, and plugs when I bought the car, and it had the same problem then. It does knock every-so-often such as when I'm driving up a hill and it stays in OD; basically it happens at times when there's a high load on the engine at low RPMs.

[bobss396]

I agree with checking the cap, rotor and wires first. Look at the gas line where it comes into the fuel pump, sometimes they dry rot and suck air. Just to rule it out, change your gas filter, they're only a few bucks and takes 10 minutes to change.

Bob