318 Won't Start? And I tested as much as I could I think?
Well as I said I would try and recap at the end so here it goes.
I had been starting up every month to get it hot and fully lubed. Toward the winter this sort of stopped and then 4 months later I tried to take to a car club and it ran like crap. As if it was misfiring combined with down cylinders, really rough. So I tried starting it again and the same thing had occurred (sounds like misfiring combined with down cylinders, really rough). First thought was the octane had gotten low in the gas, so I added some to no avail. The next few times of trying to start it were over a few days and it seem to worsen until finally it wouldn't fire up not even for a second or two.
From there I went back to basics, gas, air and fire... the carb is shooting clean streams out of the top so that should have been at least enough to fire for a second or two. Also tried starting fluid with no success.
So with a wide open throttle and a bit of fuel from the carb if should fire with spark?
From there changed plugs, plug wires, coil, rotor cap, rotor, and ballast resister.
All with no change, as well as tried other ECM’s. I also checked all parts of the timing, along with compression and spark.
So, this is when I asked for help…….. And it was very helpful in different ways of testing and checking.
Thank you again everyone! :)
On top of what had tried there were great thing to test.
I agree with most people in the fact it may have been a coincidental two issue problem, Ignition and Carb. I say this based on the fact, initially when I couldn’t get it before changing or adjusting anything I tried starting fluid. This should have at least kicked it for a second since it is so explosive, but no. After checking everything I could think of in the manner I knew there was no progress.
I then tried everything in the list as suggested, and then with a lot of extra fuel I was able to get it to flash up. And then More adjustment to be sure timing was correct. And that brought me to where I am now, not entirely witch item was the problem or if it was merely a matter of cleaning and resetting the ignition system properly.
All of this is easy to test and the parts purchased were something that should be replaced in a tune up anyway.
And now it’s time t move on to 2bbl tune up, repair, or replace?
Thanks Again
Chad a.k.a VolksDuster
So is this O.K.?..... Just Kidding:) I'm just putting this in to wrap up and say thanks
Well as I said I would try and recap at the end so here it goes.
I had been starting up every month to get it hot and fully lubed. Toward the winter this sort of stopped and then 4 months later I tried to take to a car club and it ran like crap. As if it was misfiring combined with down cylinders, really rough. So I tried starting it again and the same thing had occurred (sounds like misfiring combined with down cylinders, really rough). First thought was the octane had gotten low in the gas, so I added some to no avail. The next few times of trying to start it were over a few days and it seem to worsen until finally it wouldn't fire up not even for a second or two.
From there I went back to basics, gas, air and fire... the carb is shooting clean streams out of the top so that should have been at least enough to fire for a second or two. Also tried starting fluid with no success.
So with a wide open throttle and a bit of fuel from the carb if should fire with spark?
From there changed plugs, plug wires, coil, rotor cap, rotor, and ballast resister.
All with no change, as well as tried other ECM’s. I also checked all parts of the timing, along with compression and spark.
So, this is when I asked for help…….. And it was very helpful in different ways of testing and checking.
Thank you again everyone! :)
On top of what had tried there were great thing to test.
- Reluctor and pick-up gap
- Setting timing by the reluctor
- Testing for a stronger spark 3/8’’ – ½’’ gap with a hot blue spark
- Different ways to determine TDC
- Testing the coil strength - check voltage to coil + when cranking; it should be 10-11 volts. That will check to see if your coil bypass for startup is working. If it is not, then the voltage will be lower, in the 6-9 volt range
- How to test the ballast - Pull the connections off and measure resistance on the 2 halves; one half should be around 5 ohms and the other < 1 ohm
- Preferred timing – different then the book(better though) - you want AT LEAST 5-10 BTC on a dead bone stocker, and more if you have a "mild cam" in the thing.
- Setting Plug wire locations
- Cam Timming – ensure it hasent slipped or there is no damage
- Ensuring there it new fresh gas
- Checking Compression
- Choke and wide open throttle setting – proper choke at start up no full throttle, Choke is for regular start up, full throttle is only for a flooded engine.
- Why not to use starting fluid – Excessive starting fluid washes oil out of the cylinder and piston rings requiring oil to be added through the spark plug hole to be safe.
- How to spot water in fuel
I agree with most people in the fact it may have been a coincidental two issue problem, Ignition and Carb. I say this based on the fact, initially when I couldn’t get it before changing or adjusting anything I tried starting fluid. This should have at least kicked it for a second since it is so explosive, but no. After checking everything I could think of in the manner I knew there was no progress.
I then tried everything in the list as suggested, and then with a lot of extra fuel I was able to get it to flash up. And then More adjustment to be sure timing was correct. And that brought me to where I am now, not entirely witch item was the problem or if it was merely a matter of cleaning and resetting the ignition system properly.
All of this is easy to test and the parts purchased were something that should be replaced in a tune up anyway.
And now it’s time t move on to 2bbl tune up, repair, or replace?
Thanks Again
Chad a.k.a VolksDuster
