duster will not start after storage

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beerboy

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its 54 degrees here in Rochester ny. wow. any how I been in my garage all day trying to start my 73 340 duster. has not been started since November, oil pressure is good battery was on tender the whole time. carb is an edelbrock with no choke on it. put fuel in carb throat, gas tank is full, with stabil, keep crankin = no fire up. bought the car in September, any suggestions?????? thanks much
 
beerboy said:
its 54 degrees here in Rochester ny. wow. any how I been in my garage all day trying to start my 73 340 duster. has not been started since November, oil pressure is good battery was on tender the whole time. carb is an edelbrock with no choke on it. put fuel in carb throat, gas tank is full, with stabil, keep crankin = no fire up. bought the car in September, any suggestions?????? thanks much
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It seems that the only thing you have not looked at is the spark. Was the coil wire pulled?
 
all wires are connected, did not change any thing before storing, seems like these edelbrock carbs with no choke are hard starting
 
well if you poured gas down the carb and it didn't want to fire start looking at the ign. system ,check to make sure you have battery voltage at the coil and all sides of blaster resistor unplug the 2 pin connector at the dist and check for corrosion ,remove the bolts holding the ign, module to the inner fender and check for a ground ,you may have to sand the mounting holes to get a good ground. good luck.
 
Nonsense. I used to start and drive my 67 down into the 20s with an Ed here in Idaho, parked under the carport. No choke, nothing but an electric pump and a breakerless distributor and 4 pin HEI module. Pump it about 4 times, start and "feather" the throttle might have to restart twice

I didin't drive it in the snow like this, I'd drive it on nice dry days.

vcuclz.jpg
 
car started when put away, absolutely nothing was messed with, it just seems even before storing you had to pump the pedal 5 or 6 times before it started. wouldn,t be easier starting the car it had a choke on it? should I try starting fluid?
 
Pull the plugs and see if you fuel fouled them. Pull the dist wire and check the spark

Take some good fresh fuel and go from there, down the carb throat.


Hell I used to have a 340, then a 318 in my old Landcruiser FJ-40. That thing would literally sit for MONTHS. Sometimes 4 months at a time. I'd go out there, let the pump rattle for 30 seconds to prime the carb, pump it maybe 4 pumps and crank it 10 seconds, pump it maybe 4 more times, and it would be RUNNING. This would be anywhere from 25--40 degrees F. Sometimes, there's be a foot of snow on the hood.

It had a Mopar breakerless distributor and factory ECU part of the time, and part of the time it had (forget the model) MSD 5? that plugged directly in in place of the Mopar ECU
 
beerboy said:
car started when put away, absolutely nothing was messed with, it just seems even before storing you had to pump the pedal 5 or 6 times before it started. wouldn,t be easier starting the car it had a choke on it? should I try starting fluid?
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Not unless you know how to use it. Fuel down the carb as stated is the best way.
 
I can smell gas getting to carb, so must be spark problem, I just wonder what could go bad just from sitting for 4 months or so , every thing on the car has been done in the last few years by a mopar mechanic that I bought it from
 
test your connections as stated above...you never know what kind of cridders decided to eat at your wires...im willing to bet its your spark
 
to be honest I have been away from hot rods for a long time.i know with spark it could be a lot of stuff, I will start by pulling coil wire from distributor and see if I get spark, and work from there.if I got spark there what should I look at next? spark to plugs?
 
beerboy said:
to be honest I have been away from hot rods for a long time.i know with spark it could be a lot of stuff, I will start by pulling coil wire from distributor and see if I get spark, and work from there.if I got spark there what should I look at next? spark to plugs?
Click to expand...

Well yeah, I would take a quick gander under the distributor cap and see if the contacts didn't get severely corroded during it's hibernation.

Is the place you store it damp at all?
 
If you find you are getting a spark... Maybe the float/needle is stuck open after the fuel evaporated and its now flooded.
 
Just had to replace the ballist resistor on my Duster. It will crank but won't fire when this goes bad.
 
Don't know if this will help. I bought a remote starting switch and anytime it does not start right off. I open the hood and remove the air filter so I can see what the heck is going on. (sometimes I turn the key to on and other times I jumper the + side of the coil to +12dc).
At my age and body condition getting in and out of the car is not so easy
 
okay , I just got off the phone with the guy I bought the car from. he had the car since 1983, did a complete restomod. he thinks the carb is not getting enough gas, says it evaporates quick in the bowl, and to pump the pedal more, but not go crazy on it, so the cylinders do not wash out. also squirt some more gas in the carb, guess I will try that on the next warm day here
 
...inclined to agree with posters saying spark is the culprit unless you've already verified that. Even a small amount of fuel will let it fire off at least for a couple seconds.
 
well I am definitely getting fuel into the carb, looks like no spark, I am not getting any kind or near a fire up. changed the ballast resistor, still nothing.decided to bite the bullet and have a pro look at it. don,t have the time right now to mess with it as we all know there are a lot little things that can screw up - esu , coil , this wire that wire. I am pretty handy but electrical / egnition can be a major pain in the ***.
 
ECU gone bad maybe?? Check for a good clean ground to it, also. Posted before, but deserves restating. Winter can play havoc on grounds, connections, etc. A peek under the dist cap would be in order.
 
Well, I was going to suggest you break out the multimeter and check for voltage to the coil and module, but...
 
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