i got my truck running last night for the first time in 3-4 weeks. she ran fine for about 5seconds then started backfiring. for the first couple minutes teh backfire was every once in a while, but then it became more (i forgot the word)...active. i pulled the cap and rotor and so arrives my first question...is the tip on the rotor supposed to be black?(the part that hits the tabs for the wires).

this is all i can think of right now, moe will come but it needs more trial and error before i can ask.

 

No, its definately not supposed to be black!!! And I can't think of a good reason why it would be. Mostly you see them with a bunch of corrosion on them, but not burned. I would suggest replacing the cap, rotor, coil, wires, and spark plugs. Then keep an eye on it.

 

the plugs and wires were replaced 2 months ago and i didnt see a light show going on under my hood but i found some rust on the dist cap so i sanded it off since its less than a year old...

 

got another question while im at it...is the slave cylinder for the clutch supposed to comeback out when it is pushed in?

 

It should come back out on its own, but it will be very slow.

 

ok..but how would that disengage the clutch then? i bled the clutch line and put everything back together and the clutch doesn't disengage...

 

I don't understand the question. How the slave cylinder reacts to pushing it in has nothing to do with how it disengages the clutch.

And how did you go about bleeding the hydraulic system? Its not designed to be bled. There is no bleed screw on the slave cylinder. My guess is its not actually bled if it isn't disengaging the clutch.

 

i mean if it comes back out how will it disengage the clutch when the pedal is pressed?

i know its not designed to be bled but i pulled the assembly out turned it upside down and pumped the slave cylinder till all the fluid came out. then i turned it around so the master cylinder was the highest point and put the hose in a can of dot3 brake fluid and pumped the master cylinder till the bubbles stopped... not entirely sure if it was right or not since it was my first time trying to bleed a clutch system and nobody in the neighborhood knew who either...

 

Think of the pressure plate as a huge spring. When your foot is not pushing the clutch pedal down, the pressure plate holds the slave cylinder's piston in. When you push the clutch pedal down, it forces the slave cylinder's piston out into the pressure plate. When you let off the clutch, the pressure plate pushes the slave cylinder piston back in.

If you are holding the slave cylinder in your hand, and you push the piston in and let it go, it will slowly come back out again, but only because of the pressure differential between the outside air and the fluid in the system. But when the pressure plate is holding it back, the piston won't come back out until the pressure differential increases (i.e. you push the clutch pedal down).

Also, it needs to push itself out to make sure its holding against the pressure plate, otherwise there would be slack in the system.

 

ok...now i understand...thanks for the info