Reply to "Engine Cutting Out"

I had a simular problem happen to me last night. The car started as usual and ran strong for20 mins. Stopped at a local store for maybe 3 mins and went to start her up and she back fired and stumbled for a couple of mins. before clearing herself out. Ran great for another half hour at highway speeds and local traffic speed. Picked up my son from soccer practice and stopped for gas. (go figure) Then it did the same thnig..back firing and stumbling. But this time she would not start. I had my son crank her over while I was in the back looking for a reason. While he was cranking her over I could hear sparking and noticed a lot of oil steam blowing by the breathers. We pushed her to the side of the parking lot. (Gas pumps and sparking don't mix) I inspected all the plg wires which looked fairly new when I bought the car two years ago. Then the coil wire, and found thet the connector on top of the dist. had come apart! Pulled the wire out and found it to be very old and full of corrosion. Probably the original wire! Called the wife and she went and bought a wire kit and I fit the new cable by means of my truck's headlights and she started on the first crank! Drove her the half hour home at high highway speeds with no problems. I actually feel a big difference in the power off the line, much stronger pull. I'm guessing that wire has been like that since day one and just hanging on by a thread.

With that said, a closer inspection of your wires couldn't hurt at all.

George

By the way, I'm one of the lucky ones that this was the first time with my car that I had to almost call for a tow.