This one is perplexing to me. I have an '80 L-48 that is totally stock right down to all the emissions stuff. The last time it was tuned was Dec. 2000, by the previous owner and has had about 9K put on it since then. The car runs great most of the time. Every now and again it will start to miss fairly badly. The miss will then go away just as mysteriously. I have never had a car that had an intermittent miss. Anybody else experience a weird one like this? Some possibilities that come to mind are a vaccum leak somewhere, spark plug wire grounding to the block somewhere (it has the original routing under the block,) or maybe even something going on with the fuel filter. This car has only 39K miles on it, doesn't burn oil and is in great shape for its age. Any ideas out there would be appreciated. I am just stumped because it is intermittent.

CVT4ME

Also, check the distributor cap to make sure it isn't cracked either

Thanks, I had not thought of that one. I will give it a going over. I like when broke things stay broke. Intermittent things just aggravate the crap out of me, they are just a pain to troubleshoot.

CVT4ME

CVT4ME said: Thanks, I had not thought of that one. I will give it a going over. I like when broke things stay broke. Intermittent things just aggravate the crap out of me, they are just a pain to troubleshoot. CVT4ME

Yes they are. Let us know how you make out

Try replacing the coil and plug wires. there is a trick to replacing the wires without having to take the bottom covers off. I take the rubber boot off the distributor ends of the new wires. Then I cut the spark plug end off the old wires and tape the two together. then I carefully fish them through the chanel.

Sometimes it's the simple stuff. Have you changed your fuel filter? Run some carb cleaner through the system also.

I thought about the fuel filter as well. I would like to replace it but have not done much with the car as it has been raining here for what feels like a month. All I have is a car port for the car as of now and it is no fun working in the elements. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

CVT4ME

An update to my miss:

Well I took the car in to get the car checked out for my intermittent miss. I just didn't have time to deal with it. On top of the miss I had an exhaust leak and the water pump needed to be replaced as well. I had all that done as well as new ignition wires and new valve cover gaskets. The guy that did the work on the car said that the #6 spark plug was totally covered in carbon. This is also where my exhaust leak was as well. My question is can the exhaust leak have caused that carbon buildup on the plug or am I looking at a valve job somewhere in my near future? The car is running really well now that I had these things repaired. Getting the exhaust leak fix has been great as my car now sounds like a sports car instead of a tractor and the idle is smoother.

Now I can spend time on all the other little things that are not working correctly. Thanks to all for replies and your suggestions.

CVT4ME