68 dart 318 troubleshooting challenge

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BTW, anyone reading this that needs an optima, sam's club had the 1000 cold cranking amp red top for 150$

the internet places I found wanted 169+20$ shipping.

I wanted to buy it from my local parts store, (help them grow, to help me better) but they only had the reverse terminal version, and it was 199, and then they tried to convince me to buy the 129$ lead acid battery, which kind of put me off
 
Just take a deep breath. Dont let it bum you out. We will figure it out. I am sure it is something simple. Did it run before you worked on her?
 
homecloned said:
Just take a deep breath. Dont let it bum you out. We will figure it out. I am sure it is something simple. Did it run before you worked on her?
Click to expand...

thanks...

yes, I bought this car 14 years ago when my wife and I first married. we had no idea what it was, it just looked awesome and my wife said "that is a cool car, you should buy it" well, I had to swing at that pitch! so, we buy it for 1700$, but we were young and broke and just starting out, so I fixed what I knew how, and could afford, but it was never fun to drive, because it needed more attention and money than we gave it so it sat a lot more than it drove.

so, fast foward, carrying the car from house to house, two businesses and three kids later. I find myself bieng one of those guys with a cool car sitting in the garage with boxes on the hood and my 6 year old says "when are we going to fix the hot rod" okay, it's now or never, so My wife, (Or, rather, my awesome wife) says "fix it" and we start spending money and learning how to fix mopars.

so, i know that doesn't answer your question, but yes, it did run, in fact, i put a new gas tank, sending unit, carb, fuel line, and filter on it and it ran better than it has in years. I was painting the dash, welding in floor pans, gluing on a plastic dash cap, re carpeting, etc. and starting it periodically just to hear it run.

ironically, I had told the kids to put their shoes on, ready to take them for a ride, when it would not start. I thought we were out of gas at first.

one way or another, I am done bieng "that guy" I have even caught myself in the past seeing someone with a cool car under a tarp in front of their house rotting away and thinking "I would never let that awesome car sit and rot like that!".......oh, yeah, I have an awesome car rotting in my garage right now.
 
pedalpowerceo said:
thanks...

yes, I bought this car 14 years ago when my wife and I first married. we had no idea what it was, it just looked awesome and my wife said "that is a cool car, you should buy it" well, I had to swing at that pitch! so, we buy it for 1700$, but we were young and broke and just starting out, so I fixed what I knew how, and could afford, but it was never fun to drive, because it needed more attention and money than we gave it so it sat a lot more than it drove.

so, fast foward, carrying the car from house to house, two businesses and three kids later. I find myself bieng one of those guys with a cool car sitting in the garage with boxes on the hood and my 6 year old says "when are we going to fix the hot rod" okay, it's now or never, so My wife, (Or, rather, my awesome wife) says "fix it" and we start spending money and learning how to fix mopars.

so, i know that doesn't answer your question, but yes, it did run, in fact, i put a new gas tank, sending unit, carb, fuel line, and filter on it and it ran better than it has in years. I was painting the dash, welding in floor pans, gluing on a plastic dash cap, re carpeting, etc. and starting it periodically just to hear it run.

ironically, I had told the kids to put their shoes on, ready to take them for a ride, when it would not start. I thought we were out of gas at first.

one way or another, I am done bieng "that guy" I have even caught myself in the past seeing someone with a cool car under a tarp in front of their house rotting away and thinking "I would never let that awesome car sit and rot like that!".......oh, yeah, I have an awesome car rotting in my garage right now.
Click to expand...
What do have rotting? I have a 69 GTX that I stopped the bleeding on.
You have quite a history with your 68. Like I said we will get it running.
 
i dont have the time to read all this now so im sorry if this has already been said but if you put ur finger over the spark plug hole with the spark plug out. and if your finger has a seal with the block when you turn it over it will blow your finger off the block when it starts making compression
 
tyler_s18 said:
i dont have the time to read all this now so im sorry if this has already been said but if you put ur finger over the spark plug hole with the spark plug out. and if your finger has a seal with the block when you turn it over it will blow your finger off the block when it starts making compression
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oh, wow, cool.

I'll try that, thanks.
 
homecloned said:
What do have rotting? I have a 69 GTX that I stopped the bleeding on.
You have quite a history with your 68. Like I said we will get it running.
Click to expand...


well, I guess it's not rotting anymore, it sat outside at one of the houses we lived in and got wet carpet rusted floor pans and there were a bunch of old rags under the spare tire that got wet and rusted the trunk floor.
 
tyler_s18 said:
i dont have the time to read all this now so im sorry if this has already been said but if you put ur finger over the spark plug hole with the spark plug out. and if your finger has a seal with the block when you turn it over it will blow your finger off the block when it starts making compression
Click to expand...

I think you mean Head not Block..............
 
homecloned said:
But what is it?
Click to expand...


oh, sorry, I was talking about the dart that wont start. It is the only one I have...

I was saying it was ironic that I would see someone else with a cool old car rotting and say "I would never leave that cool car and not drive it" while I had the dart sitting in the garage in disrepair, and I was vowing not to be "that guy" anymore.

BTW, I tried to start it with the rotor turned 180 degrees, but got nothing,

I went to buy a compression guage and the parts store had an msd box on the shelf.... I ended up buying a timing chain, gears, compression guage, msd box, later model electronic diistributor, cap, rotor, and plug wires... I am pretty sure I have something in one of these bags to fix it... I'm going to get drunk tonight and spend tomorrow working on it.

I'll let y'all know how it goes.

I'll post pictures eventually, I know that will take some time to figure out how to do, and all my mental energy is going into fixing the dart right now.
 
Did you say it's points? You left the key on all night in the run position on a points car? You might have just created yourself another problem and fried the points. Better check 'em while you're in there!
 
ramenth said:
Did you say it's points? You left the key on all night in the run position on a points car? You might have just created yourself another problem and fried the points. Better check 'em while you're in there!
Click to expand...


thanks, maybe that is what started the whole "not starting" thing.... I am the king of leaving the key on all night when I am working on the car and not driving it.

getting rid of the points tomorrow, going to be an msd car.
 
First, pull #1 plug, put your finger on it, crank it over with a breaker bar.
When you feel pressure, check the balancer mark. If it is close, move it to 0.
Pull the cap, check rotor to #1.
Then spin and check for good blue spark; then pour a teaspoon of gas down the carb, and try again.
Then if that don't get it, check compression. and wires again.
Don't start changing stuff on a non-running engine; you only get deeper in the fog.
 
green1 said:
First, pull #1 plug, put your finger on it, crank it over with a breaker bar.
When you feel pressure, check the balancer mark. If it is close, move it to 0.
Pull the cap, check rotor to #1.
Then spin and check for good blue spark; then pour a teaspoon of gas down the carb, and try again.
Then if that don't get it, check compression. and wires again.
Don't start changing stuff on a non-running engine; you only get deeper in the fog.
Click to expand...


I bought a compression guage.

that is good advice about not changing stuff on a non running engine, I was already thinking that.

even better: you are the second person to point out that the spark should be blue... I only have white.
 
homecloned said:
Some how I missed this.
Is it running? Bummer it wasn't just 180 out.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't mean to leave y'all hanging.

no, still not fixed.

I will definately post up when It runs. I have been working on it so much (alot before it quit running) that I decided I had better work a little bit.
 
OK, how about adding some air? You need fuel, spark and air right?
Kidding, hopefully you haven't sunk the car in a lake yet.
OK, I read the whole post but I didn't read if you ever had the car spitting or sputtering at any time since it decided to not run. Does it do anything or just crank?

If you've already replaced the ignition parts (except for the electronic ignition, MSD, etc) but it still won't run and you do have spark, are you sure you don't just have your firing order way off. Not to make you sound dumb, but, is your idea of #1 plug and everyone else's the same?
Just in case, #1 is the front drivers side plug and the firing order is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 clockwise. You can re-set the order off the rotor even if the timing gear has skipped by getting the #1 cylinder up to the top of the compression stroke, then set the plug wires off the rotor location in the cap in the correct order. It will at least tell you if you have a gear problem (sometimes).
 
gts340 said:
OK, how about adding some air? You need fuel, spark and air right?
Kidding, hopefully you haven't sunk the car in a lake yet.
OK, I read the whole post but I didn't read if you ever had the car spitting or sputtering at any time since it decided to not run. Does it do anything or just crank?

If you've already replaced the ignition parts (except for the electronic ignition, MSD, etc) but it still won't run and you do have spark, are you sure you don't just have your firing order way off. Not to make you sound dumb, but, is your idea of #1 plug and everyone else's the same?
Just in case, #1 is the front drivers side plug and the firing order is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 clockwise. You can re-set the order off the rotor even if the timing gear has skipped by getting the #1 cylinder up to the top of the compression stroke, then set the plug wires off the rotor location in the cap in the correct order. It will at least tell you if you have a gear problem (sometimes).
Click to expand...

i know fords have it different sometimes so lol the left(drivers) side goes from the front to back 1-3-5-7 and the right (pass) 2-4-6-8
 
yes, that is a great point.

I have the wiring diagram for it with the firing order and plug locations, as well as the intake has the dist rotating direction, firing order, and plug location on it. #1 cyl... front drivers side.

here is what I have done latest:

got to thinking I may have screwed something up by welding on the dash with the battery hooked up. (Duh)

I had replaced the corroded ground wire at the back of the block(to the firewall), but I did not have a very heavy guage wire, so the one I installed was smaller, and the connections weren't that great, so last night I bought a battery cable and replaced that ground with it....

I was just about to start the process again (verify spark from coil, verify spark from dist, verify spark thru plug, etc,) when I fried the starter solenoid.

I'm going to be out of town on business for a few days, and I'm going to put a mini starter (for headers later, hey I'm optimistic) when I get back, and keep troubleshooting.
 
I think once you a few days from it to clear your mind some and start from the begining. You replaced quite a bit at once so you know it has something to do with the new stuff.

It never fails though when you start doing something to your ride, some thing else is gonna break. Just Murphys Law

Keep us posted, I know what a downer it can be.
 
WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

she runs. thank you all very, very much for all the advice and patient support.

put the new starter on (summit mini starter 149$) and the engine cranks at least three times faster than it did, which was nice, and then I go back to troubleshooting with a clear head.

pulled off all the plug wires, and start installing them one at a time again. I have one of those laminated wiring diagrams with the firing order on it from www.classiccarwiring.com
which has been very helpfull, by the way... I installed a wiring harnes out of another old dart using it

to make a long story shorter, I had misread the rotation direction. It says:
8cylinder firing order
273,318,340
(clockwise)
383,426,440
(counter-clockwise)
1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2

so, I saw 8cyl, then 318, then skipped to the bottom of the list to the firing order and read:"counter-clockwise, 1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2"

and wired up my plug wires counter clockwise..... ON MY SMALL BLOCK.

...which does not work


the moral of this story?

take your time, read things thoroughly, especially if you are an idiot, like me!

I'm sure I'll be on here again soon, with some stupid problem that you will all help me fix, but until then, I hope someone can benefit from this thread.

clockwise on small blocks, clockwise on small blocks, clockwise on small blocks.....
 
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