"Charles T. Low" [withoutUN] wrote in message
...
Just to increase the odds that I'm not missing anything: I have
condensation inside my distributor cap. (This on a Chrysler 318, 1978,
www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26). Needless to say, it runs poorly that way! The seal
is old and brittle, and I have a new, marine cap on its way. We dried it
out the other day (after which it ran well), and I'm trying to leave the
engine hatch a tad open to improve ventilation (having put
weather-stripping and sound-insulation under it over the past few
years...), and today it's wet again. My bilges are always wet, long story,
but they are.

I found an article on Car Talk
(http://www.cartalk.com/content/colum...ctober/06.html) about this.

Strangely, last year the engine began to run very rough, but only under
very specific conditions, those being all of i/ high heat, ii/ very calm
days, iii/ slow speed operation (e.g. 1400 rpm, ~7 kt), and iv) 20-30
minutes underway. (If any of the conditions were absent, it didn't seem to
happen.) Then, if I opened the throttle, I would get very lacklustre
performance for a few minutes, then brief surges of normal operation,
lasting less than a second at first, but becoming more frequent and
longer-lasting over a few more minutes until the engine ran normally
again. Of course, whenever I brought my mechanic down to check it out, it
ran normally.

This year, it is just rough, atmospheric conditions regardless. Apart from
being one year older, I also neglected to leave the engine hatch slightly
open over the winter lay-up.

I changed the plugs, and the leads, last year without solution. Plus, if
it were the leads, then why only intermittently?

The fuel pump was just tested and develops good pressure (and if faulty,
wouldn't behave intermittently this way?). I've checked the inline and
water-separating fuel filters, and they are clean. I have had the
carburetor rebuilt (and they said it was actually in pretty good shape
anyway), and then re-adjusted the idle jets. The air filter is clean.

Lots of people have scratched their heads over this. We didn't notice the
distributor cap condensation, though, until this year, and I'm hoping
that's it. But, from Car Talk, perhaps I should get a ventilated one, if
such exists...

Am I missing something obvious?

Thanks to all in advance.

Charles

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Charles T. Low
www.boatdocking.com

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Your handy dandy can of WD-40. Lightly spray inside the distributor cap,
let it air for a half hour, then re-install.

RCE