Fuel Pump Relay question

[Chris Hall]

Ok so I changed the distributor and rotor because they were caked in
carbon.  Car's been running GREAT all week.  I did that on MONDAY. 
Tonight, (Friday) I'm driving home (aggressively) and all the sudden
BAM, backfire, engine stall... won't re-start.

I spend 10 minutes playing with things under the hood stalled in a
painted median with cars merging at 60mpg on both sides around me.. I
check the plug wires and the coil wire... remove the distributor cap
to make sure the little "button" hasn't fallen out or something... put
it back on... still won't start (will run for 1/2 a seconds at BEST
and BACKFIRE and stall immediatly then won't "catch") then I keep
checking the ECU grounds, the battery ground on the side of the tray,
etc etc etc then 10 minutes later I try to start it and it starts like
nothing's wrong.  Get 5 min down the road and it dies again.  I spend
10 minutes doing all the same things and it starts eventually the same
way.

Now... I DIDN'T change the plug wires when I did the cap and rotor.  I
tested their resistance, and they were "in spec".  Tonight it's VERY
humid here in Chicago (first time all week...) so I'm wondering if the
plug wires are arching.  I'd LIKE to do the "spray bottle" test, but
85% of my plug wires are in that loom that mounts to the valve cover,
so the problem could be hidden in there...  The only odd thing is that
when I put the new cap and rotor on, I couldn't get the car started
for a few minutes and then all the sudden it started right up and was
fine ever since.

Before I changed the cap and rotor, this was EXCACTLY how the car
would stall, and not start.  Does that sound like a wire problem... or
is my "new" ignition control module maybe overheating and cooling off
enough to allow me to drive again?  What about the way it tends to
BACKFIRE as it stalls?  I used the paste to make the heat transfer
from the module to the heat sink, etc...  I was thinking the
aggressive driving might be overheating it... or maybe "more sparks" =
"more chances for arching" but then if high RPM was threshold I'd
think it'd start and idle with minimal sparks...


Could it be a timing issue or something like that?  I don't know
anything about setting the timing on the car.. but I -almost- remember
the PO telling me that the timing was like 4° higher or something like
that.... maybe I'm totally wrong.


Anyone looking to buy an 85 CGT parts car?   lol

Chris Hall
badcomrade at gmail.com
"making girls cry since 1974"