Help on carter,idles a minute then conks out

[Ryan_M]

The spring loaded knob is a oiler. You can dribble a drop of oil in there every 1000 miles or so.

[specialty]

The spring loaded knob is a oiler. You can dribble a drop of oil in there every 1000 miles or so.

Not to sound stupid but what does it oil? Thanks

Trying to educate myself on these CJ3A's so I searched it and saw what it does. Right now my distributor is frozen hard so I need to get it freed up.

[specialty]

Make sure your your rubber fuel lines, if any (usually running from the fuel pump to the fender mounted hard line) are not kinked or restricted in any way. At one point I thought I had a carb issue only to later realize a twisted fuel line was allowing enough fuel to pass through in order to start but not run at high RPM's for very long.

right now tub is off and running out of a 5 gallon can. thanks

[scoutpilot]

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I had the linkage for the idle screw on wrong so I cut it off and put it where it should be so I could idle it down.

Now I�m concerned. Please post a photo of this area?[/size][/font][/b]

[specialty]

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I didn't actually cut anything off the linkage, I cut off the engine. Should have made myself clearer on that, sorry. I had the linkage for the idle screw on wrong so I cut it off and put it where it should be so I could idle it down.

Now I�m concerned. Please post a photo of this area?[/size][/font][/b]

What I did was I had the tang on the wrong side of where the small screw goes in. It has 3 positions to put this little screw in and having the tang on the wrong side of the screw made the idle screw� to far away from the stop to do any good. Got that corrected now and that part is now fine. Now I need to get my distributor freed up and from my research that may take awhile. You know of any quick tricks to get it� freed up? I wanted to check timing and make sure the bushings were okay thinking that they may be possibly worn and causing my issues. That along with the timing being off enough to cause my problems. I am just trying to go through a process of elimination on things I can do myself and need to be checked anyway. I have a friend coming over who has the gauges and know how to check the other things you suggested but getting him on the ball is another subject. Going to work on that frozen distributor some today so when he does show up I am ready. I am persistent.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[Bruce_W]

  The ignition timing may very well be off, but if it was off enough to cause the engine to not run it would be off ALL the time, and the engine would not run at all. The timing can not be "close enough" for the engine to run, then change after a minute or two, and cause the engine to die.
  Check the things that have been suggested:
  Fuel delivery- "drawing out of a five-gallon can" or words to that effect - A clean can? Drawing from the bottom, or siphoning over the top? You must be using a piece of hose, is it connected to steel line or hose-barbs anywhere, and is it air-tight? Is the hose large enough, and not kinked or twisted, etc?
  Condenser - it can be tested, but no one has the equipment to test one anymore, so the only test is to substitute a known good one. And a new one may not be good. Great, huh? This has been a big problem lately. If you have another vehicle with a condenser, or know someone who does, maybe you can borrow one. A good, "wrong" condenser will be better than a "right", bad one.
  Coil? again, about the only way to test is to substitute a known good one, or you could check for spark immediately after the engine shuts down. Ballast resistor - Could expand with heat and open a poor connection. See if it still passes current after shut-down.
  Don't worry about timing now. It's OK part of the time, it's OK all the time. Get this thing to run continuously, then check the timing.   BW

[specialty]

� The ignition timing may very well be off, but if it was off enough to cause the engine to not run it would be off ALL the time, and the engine would not run at all. The timing can not be "close enough" for the engine to run, then change after a minute or two, and cause the engine to die.
� Check the things that have been suggested:
� Fuel delivery- "drawing out of a five-gallon can" or words to that effect - A clean can? Drawing from the bottom, or siphoning over the top? You must be using a piece of hose, is it connected to steel line or hose-barbs anywhere, and is it air-tight? Is the hose large enough, and not kinked or twisted, etc?
� Condenser - it can be tested, but no one has the equipment to test one anymore, so the only test is to substitute a known good one. And a new one may not be good. Great, huh? This has been a big problem lately. If you have another vehicle with a condenser, or know someone who does, maybe you can borrow one. A good, "wrong" condenser will be better than a "right", bad one.
� Coil? again, about the only way to test is to substitute a known good one, or you could check for spark immediately after the engine shuts down. Ballast resistor - Could expand with heat and open a poor connection. See if it still passes current after shut-down.
� Don't worry about timing now. It's OK part of the time, it's OK all the time. Get this thing to run continuously, then check the timing.� �BW

Actually I am running a vacuum hose to the can making sure it is submerged. I rebuilt the distributor today with new bushings and freed up the centrifugal advance. You are right, the timing wasn't the issue. When I first cranked it it ran fairly good so I thought I had it solved. after running for a few minutes it was back to running erratically again. Much better with new bushings but not right. I recently had bought another 12 volt coil not realizing it needed a external resister. I added a ballast resister from the parts store. could it be the coil is not matched with the resistor and after running a while breaking down and causing my problem? It's like it running out of gas. When I go to rev it it wants to sputter and die unless I work the throttle real fast giving it lots of fuel while it's sputters and shakes. Should I just get a internal 12 volt resistor coil with original 3A points and condenser so it;s all matched up? 

[specialty]

Finally got it fixed. This morning I went and got a new coil with a internal resistor and a new condensor and points in case these were fried. Also got new fuel line from pump to carb with a see thru filter so I could see it pump. I also ran a 3/8 new rubber line to the gas can. I runs like a sewing machine now. After thinking about it last night I noticed it ran better when cold and acted up after running a few minutes which from messing with newer cars told me something electrical was breaking down once it got warm. I am not sure which one of these fixes actually fixed it but I think it was the coil with the external ballast resistor causing the problem. From what I understand these need to be matched up for proper operation. Not knowing the ohms of the coil or the resister since they came from a national parts store I had no idea what they were.
I really want to thank all of you guys for helping me and each of you helped a lot. Special thanks to Scoutpilot for his patience with a rookie like myself and his input. He is surely one of the best on this subject. God bless you all! Really great people.

[Carls_jeep]

Glad to see you have the problem fixed and I hope it stays this way.

[specialty]

Thanks Carl.