Close, but no fire

[Alaska48]

I'm so close... yet so far away. Battery is good, old gas gone, new gas in.... new oil, new spark plugs. turn key, hit the start button, engine turns over but won't fire... I have the choke all the way out and the gas half-way down... I can't figure out what I'm missing, I tried putting a small amount of gas in the carb and also tried a small amount of starter fluid.... any ideas?

[dirty dan]

I'm so close... yet so far away. Battery is good, old gas gone, new gas in.... new oil, new spark plugs. turn key, hit the start button, engine turns over but won't fire... I have the choke all the way out and the gas half-way down... I can't figure out what I'm missing, I tried putting a small amount of gas in the carb and also tried a small amount of starter fluid.... any ideas?

Are you getting spark at the plugs?

Pull the wire off of the plug. If it has a boot on the wire, shove in a phillips screw driver that's snug. Get a volunteer to hold the steel of the screwdriver shaft 1/8-3/16" away from the plug end while you turn over the engine. If you're getting spark you'll see the spark arc from the screwdriver to the plug or possibly some complaint regarding pain from your test volunteer.

Your local auto parts store should have a cheap spark tester. If you stay with a points and condenser set up you're going to want one.

[builtfercomfort]

Another way of seeing spark is to pull the spark plug, put it in the boot, and ground the threads of the spark plug against bare metal on the cyl. head. You should see a spark jumping across the spark plug gap. This won't work too well in bright sunlight but it's usually good enough and keeps you from getting shocked. The high-volts, low-amps from a spark plug wire won't hurt you but it's startling.

[Alaska48]

hmmm spark plugs eh? ..... I suppose it is possible I do not have them torqued right or have the gap set right.... That was one of my concerns because I don't know quite what i'm doing. I'm going to have to see if I can get a friend to help me with some car knowledge around town... otherwise, I'll have to give up and go to a car shop somewhere in town

[dirty dan]

hmmm spark plugs eh? ..... I suppose it is possible I do not have them torqued right or have the gap set right.... That was one of my concerns because I don't know quite what i'm doing. I'm going to have to see if I can get a friend to help me with some car knowledge around town... otherwise, I'll have to give up and go to a car shop somewhere in town

Don't go start throwing money at it yet.

Read this;

http://www.familycar.com/Classroom/ignition.htm

[Young Ed]

I agree with Tom. Pull a plug and leave it in the plug wire against the head. Report back on if its sparking or not and we'll advice the next step. The plugs being torqued down or not gapped correctly shouldnt keep it from atleast trying to start. Unless you don't have a gap at all!

[Norm's Coupe]

It's also possible that with all that cranking the car became flooded. If it did it won't fire either. Did you smell gas when trying to start it up? If so, hold the gas pedal all the way to the floor, then hit the starter button.

[Alaska48]

It's also possible that with all that cranking the car became flooded. If it did it won't fire either. Did you smell gas when trying to start it up? If so' date=' hold the gas pedal all the way to the floor, then hit the starter button.[/quote']

I'm pretty sure its a spark plug problem. Even though they are brand new, they are probably not torqued and gapped correctly, The question I have is wouldn't pushing the gas to the floor only flood it more?

[Young Ed]

Nope nope torqued and gapped isn't it. 99% of the time they are gapped correctly out of the box. Usually good to go unless they have been dropped. Holding the gas to the floor allows extra air to mix with all the gas that is already in there. You aren't pumping it here just to the floor and leave it. Sometimes I will use the throttle cable on my car just to make sure I don't accidentally let the pedal up and then have to pump more gas in it

[Alaska48]

hmmm.... interesting, I'll have to try that tonight after work

[Young Ed]

Do this. When you pull the plug to check for spark look at the end and see if it looks wet. If it looks bad like all oily gassy etc. Pull them all and heat them up with a propane torch. That will help too.

[Plymouthy Adams]

even better than all the above advice ..get the book..read it..understand the operation of your car and its components..this will be invaluable to you as the owner especailly if you intend to maintain this car to any degree yourself...even the most wisened mech has the book near at hand.

[Young Ed]

Tim I believe he said they were on order.

[Alaska48]

yup I have them ordered off ebay, still waiting

[wilmot andy]

How about the ignition coil? And did you try new rotor, points and check the gap?

[Plymouthy Adams]

my bad..excellent to know they be on the way to you...lots of good info..back when the books were written well..

[Alaska48]

yes, it took me this long to get one of my "friends" to come over and help me with my car... we trouble shooted it and found the problem to be the ignition coil.... my question is, to replace it, do I need to find a 8v coil because I am running an 8v battery or will a 6v coil work? I'm not trying to play stupid, I just may be that dumb but i've been having a hard time finding if any 8v coils exist so I am assuming a 6v will do, but I need the forum's blessing first before I purchase

[greg g]

Coils are coils unless they are internally resisted. 12 volt cars run a ballast resistor to drop the operating voltage to about 8v. Grab a cheapie coil from just about any car and run it. Remember positive terminal to the dist.

[steveplym]

I've got an 8V battery in my car with a 6V coil. Works just fine. Like Greg said though make sure positive terminal goes to distributor as it is a positive ground car.

[Lou Earle]

Also be sure that when you put the distributor back in that it was re istalled correctly It will go in right or exactly backwards- f

[brian hood]

Just my 2 cents worth, but one time I made the mistake of wiring the firing order based on a clock-wise rotation of the distributor. What a fool I felt like when I discovered the it was a counter clock-wise rotation.

[fadingfastsd]

Just my 2 cents worth, but one time I made the mistake of wiring the firing order based on a clock-wise rotation of the distributor. What a fool I felt like when I discovered the it was a counter clock-wise rotation.

I'm confused here...

The firing order is 1-5-3-6-2-4 in a CLOCKWISE order right?

If you have the distributor cap off and are looking at the rotor, it turns in a clockwise direction, which is how the wires should be ordered, correct?

you have me worried now!

[PatS....]

I'm confused here...

The firing order is 1-5-3-6-2-4 in a CLOCKWISE order right?

If you have the distributor cap off and are looking at the rotor, it turns in a clockwise direction, which is how the wires should be ordered, correct?

you have me worried now!

Me, too...I wired the old Fargo clockwise

[dirty dan]

I'm confused here...

The firing order is 1-5-3-6-2-4 in a CLOCKWISE order right?

If you have the distributor cap off and are looking at the rotor, it turns in a clockwise direction, which is how the wires should be ordered, correct?

you have me worried now!

Clockwise is correct. Brian's car must have been built south of the Equator.

[claybill]

MY MOST VALUABLE TOOL...is the continuty tester, with a little light in it.

you can tell if elec is going thru...or stopped. go from there.

2nd most valuable tool is a screwdriver..!

claybill