please help...if it's not one thing it's another....

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pinkfuzzibunnies

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so we replaced the heater core on my car yesterday, tried to start it that night and it gave us a little trouble but when we finally got it going it ran great and heater worked great (very nice and hot, like new)

...but now today I go out to start it and it refuses....it cranks but never starts...thought maybe my choke was sticking or something so we tried opening it by hand several different ways (slightly...all the way...you know, see if it's the chokes fault) still won't start and after a little bit of messing with it like this then some air or fuel or something shoots out of the carb. everytime we quit cranking it. (i'm assuming fuel, you could see it and even feel it when in the car, like a loud puff)

So could there have been anything inside of the car, under the dash, that we might have pinched or unhooked or something that could cause this? just trying to figure out where to start looking for the problem....I swear...I can't afford another big fix, might have to part ways :(
 
Hard to say. Offhand, you might have bumped something loose in the bulkhead connector

WHAT model, year, etc, are we working on?

WHAT kind of ignition do you have, and do you know how or have you tried "hot wiring it," and.........

have you checked for and do you have spark?
 
sorry, I have a 75 dodge dart /6...points...don't know how to hot wire it...I do not know how to check it for spark, i'm a newbie...my dad said to shoot some starter fluid in it and see if it starts then that would mean I'm getting a spark so we were going to do that tomorrow. oh yeah, my car has ac so the heater core was in the middle of the dash
 
You should not have points in a 75 Dart. It should be electronic ignition. Of course someone may have changed it.

Several things you can do. Find the ballast resistor up on the cowling or fender. Take your meter, turn the key to run, and see if one side of the ballast is "same as battery" the other side low. If they are both "same as battery," then the points are open.

Move your meter from the coil neg terminal to ground. IF the points are open that should show battery voltage with key on.

Bump the engine until the voltage at coil NEG terminal goes very low. This shows the points are closed.

Now put one probe of your meter on the battery stud on the starter relay, and the other probe on the coil POS terminal. You are hoping here, for a very low reading, less than .4V. If you read MORE than .3--.4v (4 tenths of one volt) you have a bad connection between there, the ignition switch, and the battery.

If this does not look too bad, clip your meter from the coil + terminal to ground, and crank the engine USING THE KEY. While the engine is cranking, take a reading. You should read AT LEAST 10.5 V and in no case less than 10V

If this is OK, you may have bad points or condenser, or a bad coil. A bad condenser will cause the car to not run. Make sure the points are acually opening and closing.

See if you have an igniton box like this on the firewall:

http://www.slantsix.org/articles/leanburn-article/ecu.jpg

if so, either you do NOT have points, or someone left the box on the car and converted to points distirbutor

Does the distributor have one or two wires for the low voltage connection? If it has a two wire plug, it's a breakerless distributor.
 
Here are some quick easy steps.
take air filter off pour some gas down the carb , give it a good drink but not to much. Try to start it , also before you do this, move the part on the carb that the gas pedal moves, it will have springs attached to it -move it back and forth see if it squirts gas in the carb when you do this. If you do this and car still does not start probably not a fuel problem. Car may be flooded -hold the gas pedal to the floor and try to start it keep the pedal to floor the whole time and do not pump it at all, even if you stop turning engine over keep it to the floor and try again when you do this. If this does not work then check for spark. To check for spark take a star screwdriver unplug an easy to get to spark plug insert screwdriver in the wire where the spark plug goes. Important make sure you hold only the plastic part of the screw driver and then hold metal part of screw driver close to the spark plug where the wire came off ( quarter inch space at the most between top of plug and metal part of screw drive) have some one turn the engine over. You should see and hear the spark jump from the screw driver to the top of the spark plug. If this does not happen you have no spark. Be careful of the fan spinning around - dont let it hit you and do not do this wearing baggy lose clothing. cheers and good luck let us know what happens. P.S. do not check
for spark if you have spilt gas everywhere . Wait till gas is dry or wiped up.
 
Is it out of gas? I have had quite a few A bodies over the years that ran out at 1/4 or 1/8 tank showing on the gauge...... Like was already suggested - take off the air cleaner, hold the choke open and have someone pump the gas pedal - you should see gas squirt out of the accelerator pump nozzle in the carb. Next check - without any gas or anything flammable around, pull the center wire off the distributor cap and hold it 1/8" or so from a good ground. Use good, insulated pliers, and have someone crank the car over with the key. You should have a nice crisp, hot spark jumping the gap.
 
pinkfuzzibunnies said:
sorry, I have a 75 dodge dart /6...points...don't know how to hot wire it...I do not know how to check it for spark, i'm a newbie...my dad said to shoot some starter fluid in it and see if it starts then that would mean I'm getting a spark so we were going to do that tomorrow. oh yeah, my car has ac so the heater core was in the middle of the dash
Click to expand...

Don't bother with the starting fluid.
Run a wire from the battery pos to the + side of the coil. (hotwired)
Try it right away and don't leave it that way if it does start.

I have a feeling that since it puffs back when you let go of the key, that it may be a ballast or ignition switch problem.
The hot wire will bypass both of these temporarily.

Point is to try the easy stuff first.
Then go back to 67Dart273 (Del's) diagnostics if it does not start.
 
Pop the distributor cap and watch the rotor while you crank it. If the rotor doesn't move or is herky jerky, the distributor drive gear is in pieces in the oil pan.
 
For future problems, get an in-line spark tester ($4 at Harbor Freight) and put it in-line with the #1 spark plug when you have a problem. It is much simpler and better than trying to hold a spark plug wire near the block. Flashes a neon bulb each spark. If you see flashes and won't start, spray starter fluid down the carb barrel. If it doesn't fire on that, check the timing with a strobe light. You can get timing lights real cheap on craigslist or garage sales since most cars since ~1990's can't use them. Run a ground wire direct to the body of your ignition box (very common problem). As stated, very unlikely you have points in a 1975. Absurd if somebody downgraded to points. The Mopar electronic ignitions are problematic. It is easy, cheap, and better to upgrade to a GM HEI module and coil. Many posts on that.

Main thing is you need some simple diagnostics tools that cost <$20 total. I carry a kit in all my cars w/ alligator jumper clips, spark tester, starter fluid, ... It has saved me from a tow in several cars and gotten us back on the road in 5 minutes. As TrailBeast suggested, I hot-wired the coil after I bought my 64 Valiant slant to drive it home (ignition switch problem).
 
A great day indeed , I have bought bran new ones and they for some reason did not work with my old points system, the cap and rotor was not a match I guess. Glad you have it running know :cheers:
 
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