Ran fine last night, wouldn't start this morning

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Fishercuda

Fishercuda

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Tried starting the car this morning after driving all day yesterday and had no luck.

The lights and radio come on, car cranks, gas flows into the carburetor, but car doesn't fire. It was raining last night, but the car had no problem starting then.

It could be a spark issue, but because it was running less than 24 hours ago I don't see how it sitting overnight would keep it from turning over.

Any help would be incredibly appreciated. Engine is a 74 225 /6 in a 65 barracuda, electric ignition and electric fan.
 
Iwould pull dist. cap check for moisture. Make sure rotor is turning maybe plastic gear broken. Last if condenser on coil it could be grounded out.
 
Very first thing to do is check the spark at the coil, using the key to crank the engine.

As above, check rotor, cap.

Then check at one or two plug wires.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I really appreciate it!

Pulled all the spark plugs and cleaned them, none of them seemed to be fouled, but I'll pick up new plugs tomorrow to try out. Pulled distributor cap, everything looked dry, rotor is turning.

The electronic ignition is the Pertronix Ignitor II with the Flamethrower II coil. I went ahead and ordered the Flamethrower III coil in case that's the issue. I wasn't able to check for spark as I didn't have anyone around to turn the key while I checked.

I'll have to get a second set of hands or inspector gadget arms.
 
ive always jumped it at the relay with coil wire off (away from fuel) and the key in the run position. it only takes a good bump to see a spark
 
Mine did the same thing and after checking everything else, turned out to be the ignition itself (key in the collum).
 
73AbodEE, I'm still new to all of this so can you elaborate when you say "jumped it at the relay"?

Hang10Mike, did you have to replace the whole key setup, or rewire the ignition from the key to the firewall?
 
I'd like to also know what the problem was at the ignition with the key in it? I think I might have a problem with my ignition? How did you sort out the problem with the ignition?

Carl
 
A Volt Ohm Meter (VOM) will enable one to check continuity (ability to pass electrons) and measure voltage among other readings. They are inexpensive devices, and needed to diagnose automotive electrical problems. With a VOM you will be able to easily test switches, wire, connections, coils, etc., and are less expensive than throwing parts at it.
 
4spdragtop said:
With elec ign could it still be the ballast resistor??
Click to expand...

Yep, they fail without warning. A simple jumper wire over it will tell the tale there.
I've seen cases where the engine rolled backward a bit when shut down allowing the timing chain to jump too. I hope thats not the case here.
 
73ABODEE (Lance) means jump across these two terminals and the car will crank.
It's usually on the inner fender on the drivers side.

It's easy to chk for spark if you have a timing light (No spark, no flash of the light)
If you don't have a timing light, grab an extra spark plug and hook one of your plug wires to it.
Then ground the plug to the engine and kick it over for a couple of seconds and you should see a spark.

There are two wires that go to the distributor that have a rubber plug to connect the distibutor to the ignition system.
Take that plug apart and squeeze the female side of it closed a little, plug it back in and try starting it.
More than once I have seen that plug cause intermittent starting.

I wouldn't buy plugs as it ran yesterday and youd just be wasting money.

When you jump across this to chk for spark make sure you car is NOT in gear and the key is in the run position.











Fishercuda said:
73AbodEE, I'm still new to all of this so can you elaborate when you say "jumped it at the relay"?

Hang10Mike, did you have to replace the whole key setup, or rewire the ignition from the key to the firewall?
Click to expand...
 

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Need the spark chk first then we can go from there.
Betcha theres no spark, and I'll bet it's not the Ballast or timing jump.

My money is on the plug for the distr/coil connection or ECU.


RedFish said:
Yep, they fail without warning. A simple jumper wire over it will tell the tale there.
I've seen cases where the engine rolled backward a bit when shut down allowing the timing chain to jump too. I hope thats not the case here.
Click to expand...
 
Check your glove box , see if there is a ballast resistor there , if not there should be , i always keep one in every car i ever had , it will turn over and just when you let the key back seems like it wants to start , but doesn,t .
 
73AbodEE said:
ive always jumped it at the relay with coil wire off (away from fuel) and the key in the run position. it only takes a good bump to see a spark
Click to expand...

This is not a legitimate test, because it ..............ready............? "bypasses" the start "bypass" circuit.

What I mean is, if the car has no start and the reason is the start / bypass circuit, you have hid the problem by jumpering the start relay. The ignition system will be getting power from "ignition run" which is COLD in "crank."

Worse, with any system using a ballast resistor, when you test by jumpering the resistor, you FURTHER lower the voltage to the ignition because..............

the battery voltage is dropped by the starter,

and the ballast resistor is still in the circuit.

That means that you might see a fairly weak spark, and conclude that you have a weak component, like a bad coil.


If you don't have 10' long arms, get a clip on "spark tester" or "rig" a spark plug so you can see it while operating the switch
 
So, finally got around to looking into it. Work has been crazy lately; one of our shows got picked up for a second season on Discovery ID.

Turns out in all of this, it was the spark plugs. They had all failed, luckily once I was already home. I had decided to try the pulstar plugs and they ran great for a few months until last weekend. Pulled them all, put in some old NGK plugs that I found in the trunk and the car started right up. I'm going to pick up some newer Iridium NGKs tomorrow.

Thanks for all of the help though!
 
Fishercuda said:
So, finally got around to looking into it. Work has been crazy lately; one of our shows got picked up for a second season on Discovery ID.

Turns out in all of this, it was the spark plugs. They had all failed, luckily once I was already home. I had decided to try the pulstar plugs and they ran great for a few months until last weekend. Pulled them all, put in some old NGK plugs that I found in the trunk and the car started right up. I'm going to pick up some newer Iridium NGKs tomorrow.

Thanks for all of the help though!
Click to expand...

Sometimes I wonder if Walter P. Chrysler was catholic and they put a bit of holy water in the radiator. That's a far fetched explanation I know but there has to be some reason the mopar always fails in the driveway. LOL
Iridium plugs ? Must be some reason for that too.
8 of those will cost as much as a whole case of OEM type spraklers.
But anyway.... happy moparing
 
I'd be curious to know if he tried to start it again with the old plugs in it before he changed them.

Get where I'm going with this?
 
All the plugs failed?? That is just odd to me, but Im a joker short of a full deck anyway.....hey what show just got picked up by the Discovery channel??
 
all the plugs failed at one time? in my 30 years of this , i have NEVER heard of such a thing. they failed because the coil/distributor or ecu failed to deliver spark to them
 
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