newbie, first post. amc 360 not running right

[biohazard cj]

i am a newby this is my first thread.

first let me tell you what i have,

its a 78 CJ5 with a amc 360 from a 73 j truck.
the motor is fuel injected with the holley pro injection kit. the other day i give it moderate gas, and it bogged down like i was low on fuel, so simply i fill up the truck, i leave the gas station same thing, so i do cap rotor plugs and wires. and i redid the timing. and it helped. for a day. and tonight it was fine in the begining but it adventually came to the point where i cannot give it anymore 1/4 throttle, and i have to shift at the rediculous low rpm. or the motor either looses spark or starves itself of gas. when it does this i hear the air going into the motor thats about it, once i let off the gas the engine comes back to life untill u give it gas again.

is there a way to test the ignition pick up and control mod.

oh yea by the way, the throttle body for this fuel injection kit is very simular to the gm throtle body injection. ,, and i was thinking could it be like the chevys with the tps take a ??

 

[CJ]

Hello biohazard cj and welcome to our site!

What mod do you have for the ignition pickup? The control unit should be the Holley injection unit.

As for testing the TPS and such, you should be able to start the Holley software up on a laptop and diagnose the problem. At least if I remember correctly - I have a Holley FI system also.

 

[biohazard cj]

hey thank you for helping,, im not sure, the control unit looks like the origional for the truck, and so does the pick up in the distributer. the whole kit looks kinda old i didnt see any diognostic ports. (wish full thinking) and also the guy before me put in the motor and the FI unit. and such. i just put hid lights and a winch. iv only had it for a couple of months. so let alone the fact of me haveing any softwear. i will take some pictures of the unit to show you and let me know if it looks like the same thing as what you have. ill try to post them for you saturday afternoon.

 

[CJ]

hey thank you for helping,, im not sure, the control unit looks like the origional for the truck, and so does the pick up in the distributer. the whole kit looks kinda old i didnt see any diognostic ports. (wish full thinking) and also the guy before me put in the motor and the FI unit. and such. i just put hid lights and a winch. iv only had it for a couple of months. so let alone the fact of me haveing any softwear. i will take some pictures of the unit to show you and let me know if it looks like the same thing as what you have. ill try to post them for you saturday afternoon.

The Holley unit should look like the below picture - the FI will not run without it. When you find the box - give us the exact model # and I bet we can find the correct software to allow you to 'talk' to it....

 

[Thorwon]

First how long have you been running the fuel injection? Have you changed the fuel filter?

 

[biohazard cj]

the controller is in the glove box i knew that. but i do not see any kind of open connections (for computer) it is definitly not the computer shown in the picture above. also this thinng is old school. the side of the controler says holley pro-jection fuel controller, powered by msd. and it has five ajustmen screws on the face of it, (choke, accel pump, idle, mid range, power) for tuning purposes. thats about it. its like 8inch by 5 inch maybe 1.5inch thick(tall) and i do not see a part number on top bottom face or side of the box. the only place i did not look was the back of it. im even looking at the couple of pages of the manual i do have and im not finding part numbers other then for filters or tps

and as far as thorwon, i have no idea, i bought it with the kit in it alrdy. im trying to find that. cause i think there is a fuel filter on the inlet for the frame mount pump. i do know the filter near the throttle body is good

 

[Thorwon]

I think the first thing you need to do is check the fuel pressure. You will need a fuel pressure gauge and when you check do it first with the engine off, then with it running. You should be able to find a trouble shooting guide at the manufacturers web site that will give you the specs.

My Lincoln towncar did almost the same thing and it turned out to be a clogged fuel filter. The tank had all sorts of crud in it, when I got it and I had to pull it and clean it. That's not a job I want to do again.

I rigged a fuel gauge with a old pressure gauge and a snap-lock tire inflation fitting.

 

[biohazard cj]

to cj
well the reason why i couldnt find a computer port is because i actually have the first production pro injection, ( the guy from holley couldnt believe the details i was telling him of how the ecm looks)

to both of you, he holley tech said that it seems like its a fuel delivery problem, ( like what you said thorwon) and more then likely is a filter. he was nice enough to email me the whole manual and everything, so hopefully that is my problem if not it could be a injector, or a ecm he said but im lacking symtoms to be those. and well if it is one of them ill get rid of the injection and try to save up for a new one. ill keep in touch on what it is. in a couple of days after the turkey day. thank you both.

 

[CJ]

Great to hear you got that kind of support from Holley! I would expect nothing less from them...

 

[biohazard cj]

im used to newer obd II systems and deisels, so this old motor im learning alot with, i was thinking, is there a way to see if the timeing chain is worn or not? like by hand rotate crank and feel the play back and forth or the rotational slack? or is there a different way a more acurate way posibly?

 

[Thorwon]

im used to newer obd II systems and deisels, so this old motor im learning alot with, i was thinking, is there a way to see if the timeing chain is worn or not? like by hand rotate crank and feel the play back and forth or the rotational slack? or is there a different way a more acurate way posibly?

Without pulling the timing cover I don't know how you would check it.

 

[biohazard cj]

ok well, i did the filter, and i think it may actually be the feul pump or the controler but im honestly thinking about just going to a 4barrel carb, (does anyone know of any for sale seriously) i am saying fuel pump maybe only because now when i give it gas, no matter WOT (wide open throttle) or pinky toe pressure it randomly gets near/too zero fuel pressure, and if i do not move my foot when it dies, the pressure is like zero 20 zero 20 like 10 times a second (reread that for clearification)

i say it could be the injection contorler her becasue the tuneing knob for the accel pump is just spinning, where it is saposed to be a 3/4 turn sweep knob. and i do not feel it hitting anything as if the switch is turning and the knob is slipping on the switch, (idk if that make any sense)
isnt there saposed to be a regulater to???? where is it?? what does it look like????

as far as a 4 brl carb, what would i have to do to go back to a carb for this engine?

 

[CJ]

I have an Edelbrock carb I'm not using - I think I even have a few tune up parts laying around but it hasn't been used for years - it may need a rebuild...

If your pressure is dropping to zero, are you syre the tank sock isn't clogged?

As for going from FI to carb - you will need to go back to the mechanical pump or add a regulator - the FI pump pressure is too high.

 

[Old Dog]

You need to get fuel presure before you change anything.
I had a buddy with an early model holley like yours, he could never get it to run right. He got a new version and loves it.

If you have a 4 barrel intake now all you would have to do, to go to carb is replace the tb with the carb., otherweise you would have to buy the 4 barrel intake.
There's a holley truck avenger for sale in our classifieds.

 

[Kane]

Checking the time chain. You need to put a dial indicator on your valves and find out what the opening is at certain degrees by the manufacturer specs. If the timing chain is stretched the opening of the valves will be late.

 

[CJ]

Checking the time chain. You need to put a dial indicator on your valves and find out what the opening is at certain degrees by the manufacturer specs. If the timing chain is stretched the opening of the valves will be late.

Or pull the dist cap and watch the rotor, turn the engine over by using a wrench on the harmonic balancer to take up any chain slack, make a mark on the balancer that lines up with the timing tab, turn the engine backwards by hand until the rotor moves again and note how many degrees you had to move...

 

[Kane]

Slick idea CJ

 

[biohazard cj]

well, i did that already cj, it has some play and will need attention rather soon. but not yet.

and as far as the glogged sock, im going to pull the intake on the fuel pump and try to blow back the sock, and see if it works. i think the fuel pump is what is messing up, i got to find out if the pump is constantly on or is it perioticly turned on by the controller. and also what the specs are on the pump, i have a inline pump it does 80psi with a regulater built in so it may work im not sure,

also there is another kit from holley on ebay new in box its the second generation where i have the first gen, there really is no difference.

and as far as my kit never running right, when i first got the truck a couple of months ago the kit was great the truck was fast, torquey, 17mpg on a CJ5 with a 360 on the highway, but now its acting up

i posted a video on myspace of the fuel pressure, check it out let me know what you think..

well im haveing a problen posting a vid online, if u think u can help by see the gauge when i snap the throtle email me made2mud@optonline.net and ill send u the vid.

 

[biohazard cj]

well i fixed it finaly, with alot of thx from thorwon. and everyone else also thanks for ideas, some helped some just gave me good knoledge.

it turns out the fuel pick up in the tank had a small pin hole in it that would just effect it enough when the feul level starts geting down, also there was a slight tear on the feul hose right where it slides onto the pick up, and i think one of the lines were pinched a little. another big problem is before the pump inside the 3/8 hose between the 5/16 to 3/8 adapter and the pump there is a TINY screen element in the hose, that was gloged so i took it out and replaced it with a fuel filter like what ment for a carb (its before the pump so there is no pressure) but i noticed the fuel isnt filling up that filter, it is just running across the bottom of the element so i might have to take it off and see about finding that little screen guy from holley but as of right now no running issues

 

[Thorwon]

Glad you got it running right. I didn't think anything was wrong with your fuel injection it was just getting air.
Now I've got to find one to put on my CJ5 .