Autolite 2245 sources

Last fall I traded a '74 CJ-5 for a '53 M38A1. I was able to get some decent use out of it before winter fell and I garaged the M38A1. I made sure to fill it with non-ethanol petrol and Stabil before parking it. I turned it over once during the winter and let it run a little. This past weekend I went to get it out and it was missing pretty bad.

My first thought was to just replace the plugs. I haven't had any luck sourcing them from any of the local shops, they all claim they can't even order them. I have checked my local NAPA, O'Reilly's and Autozone. The O'Reilly's said that a Champion 517 was a compatible plug, but they weren't able to get any of those ordered in either.

Where are you guys sourcing these plugs from? I checked eBay and they are listed there but I am a little apprehensive.

I hope that my miss issue is just a plug and I won't have to source the waterproof wires. I was floored by how much those replacements seem to be going for online.

Thanks for any advice.

Big Mikes Motor Pool has sets of 2245's. The price will scare you a tad. Other vendor's have the slightly less hot 2243's available a bit less scary. I would start with checking the cap, rotor, wires. Clean the plugs. Make sure the cap is dry, condensation is a killer this time of year. Also check the cap for cracks and burn marks. Check the points. No mater how careful you are with the gas, that can bite too. Those old dogs can collect water by condensation in the fuel tank also.

Thanks for the pointers. Now that you mention condensation in the tank, I remembered that the fuel tank cap gasket is pretty worn. Can those be replaced?

I am still not certain that it is a fuel issue since the miss seems to be timed. Hopefully this weekend dries out around here and I can start troubleshooting the rest of the ignition system. Is there a problem with running the 2243's for something that is going to be driven slow (<30MPH) and frequently, but low round trip distance? It is mostly a sunny day around the block, get some ice cream, take dogs to the park kind of vehicle.

2243's should be OK under normal conditions. Erik's carries them and several others also have them. The fuel cap gaskets are available. I think part number 8712325 would work, That's the one for a lot of the older M-series.

O'reily has the 2243's for $7.50.

Thanks for the heads up on O'reilly and the 2243. When I called and checked inventory online they claimed they could only get 1 unit shipped. I don't understand how they can have 1 unit only.

They mentioned that the Champion 588 was a compatible replacement. They were also going to have to order those in, which I expected, but they stated they could only get 6 of them. Obviously I only need 4, but why is it that there are so few of these consumable parts out there?

Very limited demand. The principal use is in military gas engines that are long out of service. It's not cost effective to keep manufacturing capacity for limited use items.

I was able to locate 6x 2243's on eBay for $80 shipped. Not bad and a couple spares. I probably need to start another thread for this, but what are my options for wires? It looks like I need a new number 4 wire. The nut on the distributor end is missing and the wire is loose. After this discovery I bet this wwas my problem the entire time. Again, any help will be appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out in this thread. I was able to locate new 2243's as well as a single #4 wire from Midwest Military. Thanks so much to John there for helping me out with that, it saved me a ton not having to purchase a whole 4 wire kit to replace one bad wire.

I also rebuilt the distributor with new internal cap, rotor, and points. Once I went through each component one by one, I was able to determine that my problem was a combination of the bad #4 wire as well as seriously worn plugs all the way around.

The kids enjoyed their evening ride for ice cream.

The waterproof spark plugs have been discontinued. As soon as they were, the prices on fleabay went from $7.70 each to $75 each from some feculators. I've seen over $100 each asked. Not that they will ever sell. S&S quit making wires last year and the price is starting to creep on Jeeps. It has already skyrocketed on M37 and M715. I found a shop that was modernizing and liquidating their old stock. (Coils, caps, wires, plugs, entire distributors, starters, generators and regulators.)I bought all of it for our personal vehicles. Check around your area, you may find something affordable, too.