Dodge W250. Mopar Madness!

[BrettL]

This truck is driving me nuts. It's been running rich, unburnt gas is showing up in the crankcase. It has ran as recently as a week ago and at times, ran well with a smooth idle. Heres my current delimna, I'm looking at the Chilton diagram of the distributor cap. Although the wires are in order, they're about 45 degrees off from how the manual shows. It shows the wire for #1 at the front center of the cap, front being towards the fan. My #1 is at about 9 oclock, counting the firewall as 12 oclock. Big question: Could the engine run with them this far off? It is possible that I removed and put these back on wrong and dont remember doing it. Thanks for any help!

 

[redline4]

It all depends on how someone dropped the distributor into it. You can pretty much have #1 wherever you choose.

If they were not in order, it would either not run or misfire badly.

Which engine do you have?

 

[BrettL]

It's a 318. Looking at it just now, the #1 is actually at 9 o'clock so my original post wasn't entirely accurate. It's an aftermarket cap that doesn't allow for a wire at exactly 6 oclock where the Chilton shows.

 

[redline4]

Is it sucking oil like crazy? I can't recall the years, but I remember doing a lot of intakes on them for friends back when I did side work, where the gasket that seals the lower half of the intake manifold would harden, crack and cause a number of issues.

Injectors dripping?

 

[BrettL]

Not using oil. The previous owner put a carburetor on this in place of a throttle body fuel injection system. Go figure. It ran good this way though. It's a truck I only use off and on. Theres a fuel pressure regulator to keep the carb from getting too much fuel. I hadn't started it in 6 or 7 months so I replaced the regulator, thinking the diaphragm might have hardened and gone bad. New regulator, no real change.

 

[redline4]

How much pressure are you running it at?
What kind of carb?

 

[BrettL]

I need to put a guage on it. Are you ready for this? It's a Motorcraft 2 barell.

 

[BrettL]

I also need to find out what pressure that carb should operate at.

 

[Steve]

So you have fuel in your oil and it runs poorly?

Or you just have fuel in your oil?

Just trying to clarify.

 

[Steve]

Is it sucking oil like crazy? I can't recall the years, but I remember doing a lot of intakes on them for friends back when I did side work, where the gasket that seals the lower half of the intake manifold would harden, crack and cause a number of issues.

Injectors dripping?

94-01 318 and 360 did that.

 

[BrettL]

So you have fuel in your oil and it runs poorly?

Or you just have fuel in your oil?

Just trying to clarify.

I've got it up to running poorly today.lol The plugs were solid black. I replaced the wires but I think I should have left them on. The Belden wires I pulled off were way better quality than the Duralast I put on and 9mm as opposed to 7mm. The truck is still running very rich. I bought a fuel pressure guage. I'm going to have to use a t-fitting between the pressure regulator and carb in order to plumb it in.

 

[Steve]

I've got it up to running poorly today.lol The plugs were solid black. I replaced the wires but I think I should have left them on. The Belden wires I pulled off were way better quality than the Duralast I put on and 9mm as opposed to 7mm. The truck is still running very rich. I bought a fuel pressure guage. I'm going to have to use a t-fitting between the pressure regulator and carb in order to plumb it in.

Get us that pressure reading and we'll go from there.