Running VERY Rough After Head Gasket Job

[Petros]

sounds like the idle speed is too low. just speed it up a bit and see if that helps.

The mechanical adance looks gummed up and stuck. Spray some LPS or CRC light lubricant in on the base of the distributor to get it to loosen up, and wiggle the rotor until it frees up and returns on its own.

[dlb]

yup, the advance is very gummed up and causing ignition timing problems. you can try using penetrating sprays like petros mentioned but i have found the grease in distributors with the same problem to be way too thick and gummy for penetrant to touch it. no harm in trying that first though. if it saves you disassembling the dizzy, that's great.

[vcp]

OK. So remove the cap and give it a good spray around and below the rotor, then wiggle the rotor to see if it frees up. Is there any area I need to be careful not to spray? Or is it ok to 'fear not and spray away!' ?

And if that doesn't work, I have to look at disassembling the distributor. (Why don't you two move a little closer so i can just do a drop-in with the car and a case of beer? )

[dlb]

yes, you've got it vcp. the rotor pulls straight off easily so remove it and get the straw for the penetrant as deep in to the base of the rotor shaft as you can. there's nothing in there that should not be sprayed though so be generous with the stuff.

disassembling the dizzy is actually quite easy. the FSM has good step by step instructions on how to do it so you can use that if it comes to it.

[vcp]

OK Will give it a shot. If I can't find any LPS and CRC 'up here' is there a 'Canuck' equivalent you recommend?

[marlinh]

Deep Creep works pretty good.

[dlb]

i like pb blaster. don't waste your money on 'liquid wrench,' it's junk.

[marlinh]

I have never seen that stuff here David.

[dlb]

this is the stuff. i see it at canadian tire, mostly. oh, and wal-mart has something called 'jig-a-loo' and it's even worse.

[marlinh]

No not liquid wrench, pb blaster.

[vcp]

PB Blaster at Canadian Tire I believe. Also, found this interesting bit re penetrating lubes:
+++++
Machinist Workshop magazine studied the most popular penetrating oils to see
what did the best job of removing rusted bolts by measuring the pounds of torque
required to loosen the bolt. These were the results they published:

Penetrating oil: Average load:
None...................................516 lbs.
WD-40.................................238 lbs.
PB Blaster.............................214 lbs.
Liquid Wrench........................127 lbs.
Kano Kroil..............................106 lbs.
ATF-Acetone mix......................53 lbs.

“The Auto Trans fluid- acetone mix was a "home-brew" mix of 50-50 ATF-acetone.
The home brew tested better than the commercial products in this test. Note that
Liquid Wrench is about as good as "Kroil" for about 20% of the price.”

[dlb]

oh, sorry marlinh. i first heard of pb blaster here on the forum so when i ran out of whatever i was previously using, i got pb blaster at canadian tire to give it a try. i've found it really effective but the info that vcp just posted has me contemplating revisiting liquid wrench. petros likes using straight ATF so i have tried that a number of times but had little success with it so far.

[vcp]

Well, if you really wanna go down the rabbit hole check out this forum:
"Whats the best spray on penetrating oil?"
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/arch ... 60517.html

I also have something called Fluid Film. Good reviews and friendlier for the environment. Will try that once I hear from the company if OK to spray in the distributor.

[Petros]

I think it is kind of interesting that all that "secret stuff" penetrating oil formulas (many quite costly) does not work as well as plain old ATF.

Interesting stories I have regarding ATF: I keep a jug of used ATF around for just such applications, putting on nuts and bolts, preferably a day or two before, to loosen them up (espcially on body parts, exhaust system, etc). I use it straight, no thinning with anything. Once I got out of a "free" box a precision metal angle gauge with a thumb screws to lock it in place, it has a vernier scale on it, neat little device, it was rusted solid. it would not move at all (though it did not look too bad, mostly still shinny and you could read all the numbers and graduations). The corrosion was in the pivot and hinge mechanism. I spraied some PB Plaster on it several times a week while it sat in the garage for more than a month, trying it every few days to see if can be made to break free. No luck, thought it was a gonner, almost threw it in the scrap bin. As an after thought I dropped into the jug of used ATF. A few days later I fished it out and behold! It moved freely! No effort at all. Another time I picked up those little light weight struts that hold the ends of our Tercel big massive rubber bumps up in front on the front wheels. They are light sheet metal stamped channels, with a tiny nut welded on each end for a 10mm screw. I broke off the screws getting them out, rusted in place, but I brought the strut home from the wrecking yard anyway with the ends of the broken off screw end in them. I figured at worst I can drill them out and rethread them. though the tip of the broken off screws looked pretty rough and corroded, it looked bleak if I could remove the screw tip with out drilling it out. I used some CRC on it and used a vise-grip to try and turn the screws, giving it several days repeated soaking. No such luck, thought I was going to have to drill them out. but first I dropped them into the jug of used AFT for a few days. When I pulled them out I could turn and remove the rusted-in screw tips by just turning it with my fingers, no tools required! I never would have guessed it would have worked so good on such corroded parts.

Nothing has ever worked that good on anything I have ever used in over 45 years of working on motors, machines and cars. ATF is the best penetrating oil made EVER.

[vcp]

Ended up using some Liquid Wrench today. Let it soak a few hours and did manage to get the slightest bit of spring back on the rotor. (There was absolutely no spring before.)

Took her for a test drive and the acceleration and uphill power seem better, but the chugging is still there. Very noticeable. (Kinda similar to the feeling when you start off in too high of a gear.) Noticed when I go downhill, with or without using the throttle, at any speed (got up to about 65mph) the chugging disappears. As soon as I level out or head uphill, it returns. Changed the fuel filter last fall, so unless something got in there, doesn't seem like that would be the problem.

Not ready to go there yet, but wondering - Could this be something completely unrelated to timing/tuning/vacuum? Like clutch, or something in the linkage??