Howell woes....

[RamblingCJ]

Hey everyone, need help figuring this one out......

I had the stock carter 2 barrel carb and have just installed the Howell TBI kit. I have fuel pulsing to each fuel injector and I have checked for spark. It cranks and will not turn over. The only ignition of fuel that I have heard is a backfire. I gave it new plugs and it backfires more now. I advanced the timing to the point where my vacuum advance was hitting the block and wouldn't advance any further. My vacuum advance originally was pointing towards the solenoid, so it was quite an adjustment to the timing. The jeep ran fine before doing this conversion but with a rough idle (hence the purchase of the Howell kit) that would calm down a little once warm. I did not touch timing until trying to advance it after it wouldn't start and have now put it back to where it "was".

I have talked to Howell. If I hear that "if you have fuel and ya got spark, it should fire," one more time, I might lose it. When I was testing for spark, I was not impressed. It was not that bright. Could my coil be bad or ignition box be going out where it was able to work with the carb but not able to handle the fuel injection? What gives?

Thanks in advance for your time!!

 

[RamblingCJ]

Also......

tested all voltage....fine. I have the ecm power running directly from battery. I have bypass fuel line running into 5 gal fuel can to ensure that its not flooding. I have sprayed starting fluid into throttle body with injectors unplugged and still no ignition. I have checked for spark, its there, but faint as hell. Injectors pulsate while starting like they should.

 

[RamblingCJ]

Wow. I've been dealing with this for a couple of days to no avail. Tested everything with a voltmeter and everything checked out fine.
Even though I was running fine before the installation and Howell kept saying that in no way would their system affect my coil, I finally got fed up with it all and bought a new coil and ignition box. I installed the new coil and adjusted timing and BINGO!

I guess my coil was on the verge of being a goner. Tested fine, but wasn't zapping the dizzy enough I guess. I'm betting the rough idle wasn't all the Carter's fault after all. Runs like a dream now!!!

I'll be calling Howell tomorrow just so that they know that it was the coil and timing combined. Kinda crazy how much of a timing change there was.

 

[Purple77CJ7]

Good to hear you got it figured out!