disco 1 v8 gas misfiring

[discologist]

Hey all,i've got an issue with my disco when its running on gas..
At takeoff from low to mid range revs the car is running on 6 or so cylinders fluttering intermittently to 8 cylinders and backfiring through the inlet occasionally. i checked out the engine and could hear a short at the coil (tick tick ticking noise) and could see a small spark jumping from the positive terminal on the coil to the insulator of the coil lead..so i replaced the lead,but same problem, but then i could also hear another spark jumping at the dizzy so i replaced the dizzy cap and coil and it ran sweet for a minute or so then i could hear the ticking at the dizzy again but couldnt see any visible sparking anywhere (leads or cap) so i moved the leads away from each other on the dizzy cap and the ticking stopped..for a minute.... At the coil there is still a small weak spark jumping from the positive terminal through the coil lead insulator....aagh!!!!i also checked the earth strap from the engine to the body and chassis and all seems to be fine...............Bearing in mind that on petrol it runs like a clock!!and im going to replace the 8mm leads that are on it with bosch items tomorrow.Has anyone encountered any similar probs??Any help would be of great assistance!!! Thanks heaps,Ramon.:D

[mousie]

Having had gas on a d1 for many years, with the added resistance to spark accross the gap, you need to ensure the rotor and dizzy are in top condition and the same with leads. I ended up with of course non-resistor range plugs and lower resistance plug leads rather than size of leads.

Reduced all gaps by say 20% less than factory and when you condition came up, generally repeated the process. Gas will also id electrical faults very quickly hence the settling down on fuel. Finally, the simple reliable way of mixing the gas can lean out a little from adjustments so the occassional tune may assist.

Don't go for a tune unless you are confident with your electrical is fine first. hope this helps. By the way, after a few changes a just ended up putting up with a slightly rough idle given the savings I had enjoyed on the 10 years of use. Tuned three times in this period only, and abut 2 changes of dizzy etc. Funny enough I never had success with the aftermarket rotor at say 20 dollars but the factory one at 60 dollars and above only seemed to work for me which means the minor gap differences or overall build of the button which tended to arc occassionally, Cheers