Hi everyone. I've been using this website for about a year or so and have always managed to find the info I needed for much of my car issues but recently my car had some trouble and I haven't been able to get it running yet. I was driving down the highway and for no apparent reason my car died suddenly. I put it in neutral and turned the key and got it running again. Then a few more miles down the road it did it again and I actually had to pull over cause it wouldn't start. After a few minutes it started up and I made it to a gas station where from a friends advice I put a new fuel pump in it with no luck. Right now I'm not able to get it to even start. Here's what I've done so far this weekend :changed cap, rotor, condenser,points, plugs, coil, fuel filters, rebuilt the carb, dropped and cleaned the gas tank. A few months ago I put a new starter and solenoid in. I'm not sure what to do next any advice would be greatly appreciated.
...:Handshake when it died, did the dash lights (oil, alt, temp) come on? do you have power to the run side of the circuit when the starter is engaged? does the starter engage?
With a no start condition the first thing to figure out is "Do I have spark?" and "Do I have fuel?" Looks like you are throwing parts at both. So what is the answer both questions now?
and just as importantly.. was the car running any differently than normal before or after the issues started cropping up? Down on power.. stumbling.. harder to start.. running rough.. etc? another thing that happens on occasion is the roll pin on the disty's gear gets sheared away and allows the timing to go so far off that you end up with a no start situation. I've had them cause obvious timing issues with backfiring through the carb.. and sometimes no timing related symptoms whatsoever. Simple to check without pulling it by rotating engine to #1 TDC and check rotor location.
The starter engages and the motor sounds like it wants to start. What is the run side of the circuit? I have fuel through the carburetor, I opened the butterfly and saw the gas going into the engine. I haven't checked the timing yet I'll do that after work. I have spark all the way to the rotor but I'll pull the plug wires off and make sure there's spark at the plugs too. Not sure if it's related but about a month ago the car wouldn't shut off. I'd tien the key and it just kept running like I hadn't turned the key. I had to unplug a connector by the firewall under the hood to kill the engine. I changed the ignition switch on the steering column and it didn't seem to help so after letting it sit for a few days I tried it again and it worked just fine . still not sure what the issue was.
If you changed the ignition switch it could be actuator between the key lock cylinder and the ignition switch. Both the actuator and ignition switch issues will cause - unable to shutoff - unable to start - abruptly shutting off.
I had the same problem that you're describing last year. I ran a wire from the battery to the coil to bypass the ignition switch and it never died again. Yeah...it was aggravating to open the hood to cut off the engine or open the hood to start the car. I replaced the ignition switch and the problem went away.
Well I checked the the timing by lining the timing marks up and pulling the #1 plug out and the piston was all the way up. The plug I pulled out was covered in gas so I checked another one and it was too. I was wondering if that meant anything. Oh and I checked the ignition connection by the firewall under the hood and it's connected. And the rod that connects from the key tumbler to the ignition on the steering column appears to be good
plugs covered in gas, no spark........try using a spare spark plug, pull #1 plug wire and attach, ground and see if any spark at plug. I know you can just remove any spark plug, but since you mentioned that 2 of the plugs that you removed and checked where soaked in fuel, to be safe, leave them in and use spare spark plug to check. possible to that coil could be bad and not producing a healthy enough spark.....cap and/or rotor could also be bad too, plug wires........ check the voltage going to the coil too.
I'll check that. I just replaced the cap, rotor, condenser, points, plugs, coil, fuel filters, rebuilt the carb, dropped and cleaned the gas tank. But for some stupid reason I didn't check to make sure the spark was getting to the plugs
i just had a car that had the plugs fouled from too much cranking with out the ignition working. once we got the ignition working the car would not start till we replaced spark plugs. that really all that you have left.
the seat-belt lockout module on 1974 cars did this to me. the tire shop shorted the thing and ohh boy was it a pain to find out what was wrong. I am still putting the wiring back together from this problem. FYI the haynes manual does not even talk about the seatbelt module I have. -rex
