Missing, Timing Light Q??

[RCOMBS]

67- 350/350,AT
I was wondering if a timing light is suppose to work on every wire? The reason I ask is that on cylinder 5,7,6,8 the timing light works very little, like it does light up but it only lights here and there but not constantly like on cylinders 1,3,2,4. I pulled all the plugs and they are black. #8 cylinder sparkplug has oil on it??? I need some help!

[krue]

It should work on every wire. Have you checked your distributor cap and plug wires?

[MT1972cheyenne]

It should work on any cylinder, it just wont light at the correct time.
First, have you done a compression test on each cylinder?
If compression is good, THEN look at Fuel or ignition issues. I'm guessing that you have primary ignition issue, but first things first.

[RCOMBS]

This motor was rebuilt in 2002 but it does not have 100 miles on it. It has an HEI dist. I have changed the wires with the same issue. Could it have a bad coil? Could it already have a bad ring causing the oil on #8 plug?

[krue]

I would first look at the contacts on the distributor cap and rotor, then I would swap a couple of wires (one off a good cylinder and one off a bad one) and see if the weak spark moved.

[MT1972cheyenne]

The coil wouldn't do what you described. It always delivers the same spark to each cylinder path via the rotor. From the rotor out is where the problem likely is. Oil could be ring or valve guide/seal. Although not optimal, the oil's probably not a huge deal if you get good spark delivered to all cylinders.

[RCOMBS]

Krue, Thanks for the commmon sense kick in the a$#. I will check this weekend and give some feedback.

[krue]

Let us know what you find.

[skchevota]

as for the plugs being black, it sounds like its running rich. or has a weak spark, if you pull the plug wire off the plug, attach a plug to it that is not installed, ground it to the engine and thrn crank it over. It should have a large blue spark, if its yellow, check your voltage going to the distributor, check your cap rotor, and wires. if all the ignition checks out, then how does it run, is it missing, does it smoke.. If it only has 100 miles on it I would say its not even had a chance for the rings to seat yet so that would probebly be the oil on the plug trouble9 if the ignition checks out). I would also do the compresion test as well, if the #8 cylinder is low, it could have a broken ring from when it was put together.. just a few Ideas

[truckdude239]

did u run a new wire to the distb.? if the use the factory yellow wire from the point distb. the yellow wire is a resitor wire and will only deliver 9 volts and will burn up the coil.