A new distributor will cost me at least $200 along with the labor. I have an 84 mustang. It's not firing as much as it should but still runs ok. Should i go ahead and get a new distributor, carburator or do other things first?

 

ever heard of a tune up? spark plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor for the dizzy. a new coil wont hurt i know after a while they go bad. and a new fuel filter

 

A tune up? What's that there??? J/k, ya i have already done a tune-up. I just put new spark plugs and wires on and you can hardly see the arc when you hold a spark plug to metal. There's a problem and i think it may be the distributor. It may also be a faulty ignition module (just put a new one on). So, my next step is replacing the distributor. Does anybody know how i can test the distrubutor other than replacing it to see if that's my problem? thanks

 

Change the coil before you change the dizzy. If its a spark issue its more likely the coil than the dissy unless the timing is off.....which in that case check the timing first before you replace either part.

 

I also replaced the coil. I took my car to "precision tune-up plus" and the mechanic said that "there's little fire" and he showed me. They replaced the coil and said maybe i need another ignition module, even though the one on it was brand new. I have yet to return it and try another, but i'm kind of worried because i don't think he took a timing light to it and just estimated. What should i do?

 

so what is the actual drivibility issue you are having that makes you think there is a problem??? symptoms please no parts slap and what "precision don't gotta clue "says

 

The engine is missing. There is not much arc in the spark, it's very faint. There was consensus with everybody about this and the mechanics were not all idiots, there was 3 of them. My question is how do i know when i should replace the distributor or diagnose this problem. I kind of think it's the timing because although the vietnamese mechanic there was pretty knowledgeable he was kind of arrogant and felt he didn't need to use a timing light. Can you really set the timing without one?

 

Well we won't debate wheter or not they are idots cause the first thing any good technician will do when dealing with a misfire is narrow it down to a specific cylinder and if any tune up shop has a clue an occiliscope can find the misfire on a secondary or primary component by watching the parade pattern/ raster on the scope and then looking at firing KV.......IF IT'S A RANDOM MISFIRE MEANING ALTERNATING BETWEEN DIFFERENT CYLINDERS, often times it can be a cap/ rotor issue = randomly can affect all cyl or a coil issue or even a primary component such as the duraspark box......I doubt timing is the issue unless it were severly retarded or way over advanced and then misfire would occur on upper rpms as total advance would be way off, is it a solid misfire = meaning present all the time?? now ask the precision mechanics that!!! this is how a good tune up shop would attach a misfire answer my question on the misfire and we'll go from there

 

it was a random misfire

 

and how was that determined?? and random not meaning you felt a misfire every now and then, when I say random meaning it was docummented/seen on lets say number 3 then on lets say 7 and so forth, just wanna make sure it's clear cause internet diagnosis is like asking a blind man to cross a busy intersection