First, I'm not a great or even good mechanic. I'm trying to get my 225 running well until I can get my 350 (yes, a Buick) put in. I finally put in my Pertronix and new distributor today. After fighting with the Pertronix and getting the distributor indexed properly as I didn't mark the rotor position ... SHE WAS RUNNING! Alas, after a few seconds I started hearing a tapping, and then a knocking sound. I felt the rocker covers...no vibration there. Put my hand on the distributor and I could definitely feel the banging through the distributor cap. Two friends are hypothesizing that the new distributor is somehow blocking an oil galley. I haven't run the car for > 30 seconds at a time so I am hoping I have avoided any damage. O'Reilly's still has my old distributor and have ordered another new one for me. Anything you guys can offer? THANKSTHANKSTHANKS!!!! Rick
An obvious question; did you ensure that the bottom of the distributor was engaging the oil pump? Because if you just placed it it and torqued it there's a chance that you didn't engage the oil pump shaft and if that's the case, it'll start and very quickly starve for oil and start to knock. Remove the distributor, look down the hole to see if the oil pump shaft is there and hasn't fallen away, place the distributor back in and make sure it's properly seated. It's going to make a mess, but pull the oil pressure switch off, crank over the motor, and if there's oil spurting out, you've got a pump. If not, you've got a serious problem, don't run the motor until you figure it out.
so it IS possible for the engine to run without the distributor properly engaged? I thought that it was an 'all-or-nothing' type scenario, where if the gear at the bottom of the shaft wasn't engaging the camshaft that nothing would work. And how would the shaft 'fall away'? ...and I can't seem to find any reference material re: where the oil sending unit is... Thanks! Rick
There is a little slot in the bottom of the distributor that meshes with a slot on the oil pump shaft. It can run without it being indexed properly in the shaft, just no oil pressure. Don't run it. Get a little mechanical oil pressure gauge to test for pressure.
It's alive... I did not have the dizzy secured properly and you could see where the oil pump shaft scored each end of the tang that fits into the oil pump shaft slot. However, there was still more than enough meat on it to allow me to secure it properly this time with the help of a couple well-placed taps. She now runs knock-free. Still runs like crap even with new: carb, dizzy, plugs, wires, coil, Pertronix, rotor, proper timing...but I guess that's for me to figure out as I keep learning. Thanks for the help!!!!
Anything more than a 20% deviation between the highest and lowest cylinder (when doing a compression check) would be cause for concern. But before you do a compression test it's best to put a vacuum gauge on it, that will give the rudimentary health of an engine and determine whether a compression test is even warranted. So, now that you have it running, hook up a vacuum gauge to the carb while it's running; - (use manifold vacuum, not ported, the number on a "good" engine should be between 18-21 in/hg of vacuum) does the needle bounce? What's the highest number the engine runs at? If it's less than 14 in/hg with a bouncy or "noisy" needle, then there's a problem. You can then plan on doing an overhaul. I won't go into it here, but you can tell just about everything that's going wrong with an engine from a vacuum gauge.
Great advise! Here's a page about diagnosing with a vacuum gauge: http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm
I think you need a real Buick V6 distributor. It has lobes to correspond with the uneven firing order. If that gets indexed incorrectly, it will never run right. If you get a distributor from Oreiley's is it for an even firing V6?
There's two distributors for the 225 V6 if I'm not mistaken. Even fire and odd fire engines. Also make sure all the vacuum hoses, canister and system is good.
Would the Petronix also need the proper lobe/magnet spacing for an odd fire, or doesn't it matter? I'm thinking the stock odd fire may have even lobe spacing to ensure consistent coil saturation ( coil is 'on' 120 degrees for each cylinder) and the 'odd' firing depends on the terminal spacing in the distributor cap. Don't know.... does the spark happen when the coil circuit opens, or does it wait until the rotor is within 'x' distance of the terminal in the cap? The dist cap would have to be for an odd fire, make sure it's not for something like an inline 6. Rick, did it run better before you changed all those parts? What model Petronix is it?
When I say 'run poorly', I should be more precise. While idling in park, it shakes a bit. I know odd-fires are inherently twitchy, but I think mine shakes more than it should. But it will idle all day in park. I only have 2 screws to adjust on the 1 bbl - idle and air/fuel. I can't seem to find the sweet spot. Timing w/o vacuum advance is 5 deg. BTDC. When I put the car in reverse and back it out of the garage, it does OK. When I put it in drive and touch the gas pedal, it wants to stall and seems to be starving for fuel so I have to keep blipping the throttle. Once I get over about 25 MPH, it seems to do fine. Once I slow down or stop for a light, the drama begins again. I should do a video and post it so you guys can get a better idea of what I'm going through. If I can get over the crap from 0-25 mph it'll be a runner. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to get a compression gauge and a vacuum gauge next. Rick
As much as I like to encourage people to have a go at fixing their cars, I do have a question You have changed a lot of stuff on that engine, how much did that cost compared to an hour or so of your local mechanics time to properly diagnose your original problem? Thing is now, should it get too hard (as in, you cant fix it) your mechanic now has to go over everything you have done first to make sure all of that is set up correctly (which may get the car running correctly) before moving onto further diagnosis Throwing parts at a car to hopefully fix a fault is not how to fix cars, diagnose the problem, repair or replace whats broken, problem solved. Plenty of stuff on google on the correct procedure for engine diagnosis Good on you for having a crack at it, but study first, throw money around afyer
