engine bucks/quits

[randeeb1]

I have a 1980 spider 52000 miles ...about 100 miles ago the tach started to jump ( 100 to 400 rpms - + )while driving any speed/any gear maybe a little worst lower rpms,,,,then the bucking seemed to be happening more often....then yesterday while normal driving it would loose power and stall,,would crank over the engine but would not start ...but could jump start it...and felt like it was running on 3 cyl then have good power then back to three...also after it cooled down it started.... I did buy a new coil that doesn't fit tight in holder ...Im confused..

randeeb1

[narfire]

We love problems like this... Don't know if its a FI or carb model. The tach jumping around... Take a look at the dist. perhaps the magnetic pickup under the cap and rotor,is contacting the lobes. Battery conection.. both good and tight. Check all the spark plug leads and main coil lead. Sometimes the hood liner can touch the leads and cause a short (my problem last week)FI..check all rubber hoses leading to the plenum are tight,no air is getting in past the air flow meter.
Hope some others chime in, they'll have the problem,suggestion anyway, that will help getting you on your way.

[mbouse]

the coil sounded like a great place to start looking. go back one step further and check the feed to the coil through the control module. or rather as narfire suggests, the magnetic pickup wires inside the distributor are suseptible to losing their insulation and shorting out.

[randeeb1]

Its FI not carb.....does the coil have to ground thur its bracket to auto chassis ?

[mbouse]

no, the coil should be the same as the carbureted models with the coil having a ground terminal on top of the coil.