I had a similar problem with a 72 midget I once owned. It started
backfiring on a long trip and then as the problem got worse the engine
quit altogether. It left me a two (yes two) friends stranded and we had
to walk and hitchhike over 60 miles. I later went back to get the car and
after towing it all the way back home I found out all it was that the
distributor came loose and had spun about 180 degrees. If I had looked
earlier we would not have been stranded. That is the long way to tell you
my guess is its nothing more than a timing problem.
----------
From: mgs-owner[SMTP:mgs-owner@autox.team.net]
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 1996 5:15 PM
To: mgs
Subject: Misfiring engine; please help
Hello all,
In all the time since I've owned my MGB(2 years now), I've never needed
more help than now.
On my trip down to Atlanta from Memphis, I had some problems from my
engine. Initially, at high RPMs (>3500), I began to hear a backfire from
my muffler intermittantly. At lower RPMs, the backfiring was not
occuring, and at high RPMs, the backfiring only occured when the engine
had a load(i.e. going up a hill). As I reached Birmingham, a few hours
later, the backfiring became worse, and then I could detect that the
engine was not firing properly. I began to suspect that the spark plugs
or wires were not up to par, so I stopped and bought new spark plug
wires.
I installed the new wires, but the problem is not gone. In fact, it has
gotten worse. At speeds over 50 MPH the car misfires and backfires
constantly. My next place to check is the spark plugs. Maybe one is
fouled. But wouldn't a fouled spark plug affect the engine at any RPM?
Could my problem be in the distributor, or coil.
By the way, my car is a '78 MGB.
Please give advice, criticism, and feel free to ask me any details. This
is the first time I've had any real problems out of this car, and it came
at a really inconvenient time(away at school and not at home with the
tools and carport).
thanks
jay
--
Jurgen Hartwig
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt0003a
Internet: gt0003a@prism.gatech.edu
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