Pride gone... asking for help

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Mghampton

Mghampton

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Joined
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Lincoln ne
This is my first mopar. Primarily always had GMs. But I love some mopars too. It's a 1973 dodge dart sport sitting since 1994. So the last couple days I've been giving her some well deserved new parts. I bought it in non running shape. Gas tank was cracked. Replaced it. Wiring had been chewed by mouse but thankfully only at the ballast resistor and ECU. Now... I rssoldered my ECU wiring and the car came back online... but wouldn't start, just crank. Checked ballast resistor and it was bad so I changed it. Still no start just cranking. Changed ECU for the hell of it. No start just cranking. Have tried spraying starting fluid as well. So j moved on to coil.... at first no spark. Tested with another coil spark so I changed it. No spark... then I removed the resistor for the radio reduction thing next to the coil.... got spark... still cranking not starting . Changed cap and rotor as I noticed rotor was kind of bent on the springy metal part. Still just cranking and no start. I' have loosened distributer lock down bolt and tried to play with timing ... noticed it only turns about 3 inches.... not sure if that's normal as this is my first slant 6 motor. Also removed cap and made sure rotor is spinning while engine is cranking. It does. ... only thing I have changed is the wires and that's only due to no parts store or even speedway which is in my town having them in stock....so tmrw I'll change wires.... so now I am on my way to get a timing light which I'm assuming through some which way or another and some YouTube I can verify tdc on my #1 cylinder I read in an article and then see if distributer is installed correctly.... can anyone shed any other light on this.... I'm pretty confident the wiring is a repaired correctly... checking distributer position and changing plug wires is all the ideas I have left.... even spraying starting fluid doesn't even try. But it's 113 with the heat index today and I'm in a barn trying to figure this out so I can drive it across the farm to the garage. Any ideas? Maybe a ground? Distributer off a tooth ? Timing chain jumped (if that happens on slant 6 engines) ? Somethjjng else wrong with distributer? Also hooked a multimeter to the electrical connector on distributer and verified the rotor is making contact as well. Thanks.... appreciate this. I just joined this group. Had no idea these existed.
 
I may be wrong and this may sound silly but did you make sure that the fuel pump is getting the gas flowing? Just a thought instead of just replacing all of these parts. Let me know how you make out. Brian
 
scampman said:
I may be wrong and this may sound silly but did you make sure that the fuel pump is getting the gas flowing? Just a thought instead of just replacing all of these parts. Let me know how you make out. Brian
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Just putting gas down carb and starting fluid. Haven't got gas coming out of line yet and isn't hooked up. Just running into a bottle right now.
 
if you do find low compression #'s, here's an old school trick - try a cap of Marvel Mystery Oil into each cylinder. Cycle it a bit, let it sit a day then do it again. um, I don't see any mention of oil, you changed the oil - - - - and the filter, yea??
 
Sorry to hear about your struggles... I recently just got my slant six running again. Now my problem may not be the same as yours but the people here definitely responded with some good tests to under take on a non-running slant six. You can search for the thread in the search bar by typing in "Beyond Frustrated" and it will come up.
 
ScampMike said:
if you do find low compression #'s, here's an old school trick - try a cap of Marvel Mystery Oil into each cylinder. Cycle it a bit, let it sit a day then do it again. um, I don't see any mention of oil, you changed the oil - - - - and the filter, yea??
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Yep. Changed oil and filter before anything. Put a little oil in each cylinder. Also changed plugs when I first started. And has new battery. Forgot to include a few things in initial post. My bad..
 
Im gonna check compression and try to verify distributer is in right. I have fuel line off of carb right now just running into a bottle. I still haven't gotten any gas through it. When I changed tank I blew out the line and changed fuel filter as well. Plan is to run into bottle to make sure everything is nice and clean when it goes into carb. Should be with new filter but I'm paranoid. But still no fuel... so I'm doing it manually
 
Put a plug on the end of one of the wires and crank it to verifi spark. even 90psi compression and it will run. if you have spark try and put dist back to where it was before you turned it and try even more gas down carb. you will be surprised how uch gas it will take to get that initial fire. keep extigusher handy or better yet a damp towel to smother any backfire.
 
Alright due to the spark plug hole being so far into the head i sincerely hope I messed this up on the compression test. Had to use a spark plug to get it into the hold and back it off and then attach the hose and try to tighten it that way on the compression tester. If it really is sealed up tight then I have major problems. I'm gonna try and make sure it's tight and take a pic and post it
 
pull a plug and verify spark when cranking: lay it on valve cover or metal ground and watch. plugewire> 153624 clockwise wire routing? thumb on #1 hole and bump motor until compression, then run a stiff wire in there and manually turn crank until you think your at TDC, is your rotor pointing to #1? Make it so, maybe a tad BTDC but 0 will run it. low compression motor will run on even bad gas....do you have a pump shot on throttle blip? put some gas in a diner ketchup squeeze bottle and fill bowl via vent tube: squirt it down carb while assistant cranks. careful of any backfire. rotor top contactor is either spring steel or button in cap is carbon on spring but I read you Ohm'd that out and read continuity....distributor can move more but its a second lock bolt under distributor.
 
Make sure that you have a good clean ground on the ecu box... Wire brush where it contacts and then use a little dielectric grease to prevent corrosion...

Turn ignition on and check voltage on each side of the ballast resistor... One side should be about 12 v, the other side is 6v.

The 6 v side should go to the coil + terminal. The coil + should have 6 v...

check the wiring harness connectors at the ecu to make sure they are good, we got a new harness that was bad...

Also make sure you have good clean body grounds from the battery and engine to body....
 
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If you have no compression, pull the valve cover and make sure you have .012in-.022ex lash on every seated valve. youll have to bump the starter a few times to confirm all have lash. Slants tend to sink valves over time so you'll lose lash over time. once you get it started, get back in there and set correct lash on intake. It should run bad on 5 easily.
 
Tap each valve gently with rubber mallet to make sure none are sticking. Watch you dont ccontact piston with valve.
You replaced tank? I wonder if fuel sock/pickup got messed up?
 
Did compression test number 1 cylinder now. Got 35 psi there... I'm gonna check the rest. Have 6 volts to coil... I think I'm good now electric wise. I was trying to Check for tdc to make sure distributer is in right but I can't hear anything manually turning over motor and finger isn't long enough to reach the hole.
 
I wouldn't bet my reputation on it, but it sure sounds like you might have some stuck valves, I would definitely pull the valve cover pull the coil wire off roller motor over a few times and make sure that they're working correctly. Did the car run when you parked it? Slants are tough motors, but as mentioned above, they do require valve lash adjustments from time to time. Other then that, it sounds like you've got all the bases covered good luck and welcome aboard. Keep us posted on what's going on .

Jeff
 
I've confirmed the distributer is in correctly. When at tdc on compression stroke I'm facing the number 1 spot on the rotor
 
Im going to pull the valve cover now and check those. No idea if it ran when parked. I assume the dented gas tank and hole in it is what parked it in 1994.

4spdragtop said:
Tap each valve gently with rubber mallet to make sure none are sticking. Watch you dont ccontact piston with valve.
You replaced tank? I wonder if fuel sock/pickup got messed up?
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AJ/FormS said:
If a valve is "stuck" there's a good chance that by now, the pushrod to it will be bent. There may be more than one.
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Can't upload photo .... not rockers are loose. #1 works #2 exhaust stuck #3 both stuck. #4 intake stuck. #5 works #6 both stuck. By stuck I mean rockers loose.... not touching pushed. It's freakish hot here so plz excuse misuse of words lol
 
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