M38 trouble shooting

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LoboMike
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M38 trouble shooting

Post by LoboMike »

Had the jeep out running fine. Parked it in the driveway. When I went to put it away and it was running very roughly. ???

Fuel supply is fine. I put in new plugs, points & condenser. Now it won't start. Thinking coil, but wonder about capacitor. If the capacitor went bad, would it just stop running?

All ideas and suggestions invited and welcome.

TIA, Mike
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maeserik
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Post by maeserik »

I had probelms with the capacitor, they had a short lifetime, a bad capacitor is no ignition or very unregulary. No power at all, just bad idling.
Do a test and replace it with another one. Check the opening between the contacts and see if they close and open while turning the engine.

just a tip
Erik
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wesk
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Post by wesk »

Most folks do not have a capacitor/condenser tester handy. A rough check can be made using a regular Ohm meter. You place one probe on the unit's case and one on it's input terminal. The meter should slowly build up a resistance reading which will peak and then drop quickly to "0" resistance. If it doesn't then reverse the test leads and try again. If it still doesn't then it's bad.
Last edited by wesk on Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Wes K
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LoboMike
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M38 trouble shooting

Post by LoboMike »

Thanx,

I have an extra new capacitor I'll test and make the switch if it's OK. If not I'll test the installed unit.

Thanx again everyone
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LoboMike
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M38 trouble shooting

Post by LoboMike »

Well the M38 is back running fine. Turned out to be the distributor cap. Looks fine and I cannot see where it failed. However I had power through to the points, but no spark at the #1 plug.

So I took an old rotor and distributor cap (I guess it might have been the rotor, but I doubt it) and replaced them. Jeep started right up.

I run it a bit and then check timing, dwell, etc.

I'll also need to pickup new replacements. Thanx to all who offered help,

Mike :D
Thomas
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Post by Thomas »

Gentlemen;

It looks like I am having the same type problem. Our Jeep has been running like a champ since we fixed the starter in January of 2008. I have had a few backfires through the tailpipe, but I thought it was the carburetor adjustments.

A week ago it started fine, but cut off several times during warm up. It acted like it was flooded. It started back up several times and then I put it back into the garage.

This weekend, it cranks and tries to turn over, but will not. I have new batteries so I was able to crank it several times. Still no joy. I have not touched the distributor since we bought the Jeep five years ago. I am not sure when the distributor was last maintained or repaired. It sounds like I probably needs a new rotor and capacitor.

My question is...which suppliers might have these parts?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Regards;

Thomas
Charlotte, NC[/b]
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