in view of everything else you've done, I'd look for a bad ignition coil (or
replace it anyway on principle.) I bought an old TR6, had it shipped from
Indiana, watched as the trucker drove it onto the driveway ... and
thereafter it refused to start. Problem turned out to be a bad coil that had
picked that occasion to quit (which was good, since the trucker would have
charged me a lot more money for dealing with a dead car that had to be
winched in and out.)
some other ideas:
--put a timing light on a spark plug wire to make sure you're getting a
spark as the engine cranks.
--double-check the dwell with a dwell meter as the engine cranks. if it's
way off, your points gap is off.
--sounds dumb but we've all done it ... are you sure you put the wires on
the correct distributor terminals when you replaced them?
--check all the secondary wires between the coil and the distibutor. they're
often loose/cracked/rotten.
--others on this list may STRONGLY disagree, but I have been know to use a
shot of ether-based starting fluid sprayed into the air cleaner to get my
LBCs started when all else fails, and have never suffered anything bad. The
trick is to use only a LITTLE bit, not enough to cause an explosion that
rips your engine in half. If you use starting fluid and the engine starts
and then will run, that suggests a carb problem (though it could still be a
wobbly dizzy or borderline spark). If you use fluid and it still won't start
or fire, that suggests a total lack of spark. (note: I would make sure the
spark plug wires are hooked up correctly BEFORE you try this, since you
would not want ignition with starting fluid occurring at the wrong place in
the cycle.)
--there's an old rule of auto repair that says, "When you're 99 percent sure
it's a carburetor problem, it's probably the ignition." So my vote continues
to be an ignition problem.
--Graham
-----Original Message-----
From: mbullard [mailto:mbullard@hawaii.rr.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 9:18 PM
To: 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: She no run...
Listers,
I am more than likely going to be calling on all of you often from this
point until I die, but that's the only way I going to learn right? I have to
tell you, I've never worked on cars before (woodworking has always been my
hobby)but I am determined and able to learn.
My car ('74 TR6) started acting funny (missing, backfiring and just sounding
bogged down) shortly after I got it back to Hawaii. I had a mechanic friend
come over and he adjusted the timing and all was fine for a day or so and it
started back up again.
I then sent the list a request a week and a half ago (it never went through
and I didn't resend) asking if it might be the carbs and if I should
rebuild. The car had been siting for some time, then driven 2500 miles and
then sat for three weeks until I got it in Hawaii.
I wanted to take it on so instead of asking the people who know, I rebuilt
the carbs. My rebuild stopped at replacing the needles while I wait for the
adjustment tool from TRF... but I am very proud of myself and think I did a
pretty good job but I have the same problem. The car won't start. It trys
real hard, even grabs sometimes but it sounds horrible. I'm hoping that
it's just because the carbs aren't fully sync'd and adjusted but it's
sounding the same as before the carbs were rebuilt so I'm looking for other
possibilities just in case.
Any thoughts will be appreciated.
Mahalo,
Mark Bullard
'74 TR6 (that's asking why she was brought all the way to Hawaii to sit in
the garage)
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