car quit running please read
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,011
Likes: 0
From: white hall ar
car quit running please read
i have a 78 -42k mile car .for about 2 weeks its been hard to start but eventually it will go .....last night i got in it it somewhat flooded but it did start ....went for a short ride .2 miles down the road it popped liked the distributor jumped out and died .....so i tried to start it and it started .....it ran about half a mile died again ......would not start .put it on a wrecker carried it home ....sat all night tried it again it sputtered but it started .i pulled it under my garage and it died again .....now all it does is turn over ........reckon its the electronic module .or whatever else .....i honestly think its not firing ....i gotta leave it alone for now because ive tons of other business to attend to ....but please give me your ideas .i really need to fix this myself,to many kids in school to send my toy out to a shop .im sure u all understand thank u for reading this 
Pro
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 517
Likes: 7
From: Peoria IL
Mine did this to me a few years ago. If you change out your ignition module and it doesn't fix it, as with mine, change your ignition pickup coil too. It did the trick for me.
You can confirm your timing chain is OK by taking off the distributor cap and cranking the motor over. If the rotor turns, your chain is working fine.
You can confirm your timing chain is OK by taking off the distributor cap and cranking the motor over. If the rotor turns, your chain is working fine.
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,970
Likes: 45
From: Cameron Park CA
That will tell you the chain is still alive, but it won't give you any indication of chain stretch or the condition of the plastic teeth on the cam sprocket. Those sprockets are crap - they wear quickly and when old spit teeth off you have way too much slack in the chain to the point they can slip a tooth. The intent of using them was silent running, but the result is a lot of cam chains and sprockets need replacing.
Racer
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 428
Likes: 0
In my experience, timing chains slip when the engine is turned off and it really doesn't restart after that. Since yours restarted, I would check for spark first. If you think the chain did slip, bring cylinder #1 to TDC on the compression stroke and see where the rotor points in respect to the #1 position on the cap.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,232
Likes: 6
From: Tucson AZ
St. Jude Donor '12
Sputtering, semi starting etc all indicate (some) spark, and fuel, valves are opening and closing (timing chain ok). This narrows things to how well the spark is being delivered/timed.
If your budget can handle it, you might consider just putting in a new or known good used dist. - otherwise rebuild the one you have but that may cost more.