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This forum is great! After seeing images of my mangled distributor cap (this same thread), fellow Austinite and Saab 96 owner Tom Shehan called and delivered a near-new cap and rotor to my house yesterday.
During the 2 years I've owned my 96, it has NEVER run properly, and I have tried everything: new plugs, points, condenser, coil, wires, complete exhaust system, as well as countless hours monkeying with the triple carb setup. All to no avail. It would never accelerate to the max in any gear, instead choosing to go into a mild fit of coughing and stumbling anytime I neared the limit.
I can't even count the number of times I've had this thing just die on me and had to have it towed home. And, it has always been very hard to start from initial cold, even in our mild Texas weather. For the past couple of months, I've had to resort to a shot of starting fluid for a cold start.
But, today, I installed the new cap and rotor, checked my point gap, and reset timing statically to 18 degrees advance per Tom Donney.
Then I hooked up a timing light to one of the wires, planning merely to use it to check if I was getting spark at all. Reached in through the window, choke was off, hit the starter (foot off the gas of course), and to my surprise the little bugger fired right off and just sat that burbling away as though it has always operated that way!
OMG, just as I was on the cusp of giving up on this car, it is now performing exactly as I would have expected when I first acquired. Acceleration through each gear is smooth and linear, not a hint of a stumble or miss, right up to the point where one would expect the power to taper off, then on to the next gear. Eureka! I drove the car about 10 miles, and was thrilled to see the temperature stayed right in the center of the green, even on this 80 degree Texas day (previously hard driving would take the temp right up to the bottom of the red, even on a short drive)
It is now clear that the missing or broken graphite contact post in the center of the cap required the spark to have to jump the gap down to the rotor contact (as evidenced by a blackened rotor contact), thereby robbing the spark plugs of their rightful full voltage.
I am a happy camper, and owe it all to this forum and especially to Tom Shehan, and can only blame my own lack of observational skills for the long agonizing delay and resolving this issue.
Who knows, if all goes well, perhaps I'll try another go-round with the A/C system I installed last year then removed due to poor engine performance!
Thanks to you all!
Phil Auldridge
Austin
http://www.austinmotorscene.com
->Posting last edited on Sat, 11 Feb 2017 14:21:37.
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