by thomas » Wed Jan 18, 2012 1:51 am
You might see the spark visibly arcing somewhere if you have a look in the dark. A good clean of the distributor cap, internally and outside, and HT leads, and a douse with a water-dispersant like wd40 might effect a cure, but possibly only a temporary one, unless the cause is just damp/humidity. Removal of and cleanup of the spark plugs with a wire brush, regap them if necessary and clean up the white insulator body might help too. Clean the points with clean bit of cloth too, not fibrous paper which can leave bits behind Before doing anything label both ends of each plug lead with the cylinder it belongs to, 1,2,3,4 starting at the front, going towards back (firing order is 1342), tracing each leads route and inspecting them for burning or chafing, a loop of masking tape is good for this as you can write on it with a biro. If it doesn't cure then trial and error with new parts (but don't always assume new parts are assuredly 'good') is the best way and many of the parts such as plugs, points, condenser are service items so replacement of those as routine inevitably necessary anyhow and plug leads do degrade just with the heat and vibration, you might want to look at electronic ignition kits too, much discussed here, but you need to sort out your HT (high tension) side first, rotor-arm, distributor cap, ht leads and plugs.
A plug-socket, wire-brush, feeler gauges, screwdriver and a spanner to turn the front pulley - to turn the engine over to get the points fully open on a cam - are the minimum you'll need. A strobe light is great too but not essential, to get the timing smack on, by loosening the clamp and moving the distributor body round as you watch the timing pointer on front pulley. If you've any manual or handbook have a good read through there too, more tools you can acquire with time and tackling something armed with your just your wits is the best way to learn on the job and is very satisfying and quickly builds towards the ability to tackle other jobs yourself, with ease and confidence.
it appears that the distributor cap is arching and making one of the cylinder miss (or something, mechanic told me)....What will I need to repair this please?
..Will see what dad has in his garage 