On Mon, 10 Feb 1997, Paul M. Schwerdt wrote:
> Ok, here is how it all started. I pulled the distributor out of my car
> about a month ago to replace the cap, points, etc. I ended up replacing
> all of the following, points, cap, condensor, terminal, plugs, plug wires,
> and the coil. When I reasembled everything the car started, and I drove
> it around the block, it ran very poorly (lots of hesitating) but it ran.
> The next day I went to start it again, and it failed to fire. And it has
> not run since. Does anyone have a clue as to what's wrong? I tried to
> time the car, but the timing marks are gone, and besides the car won't
> start. (some people said screwed up timing will not cause the car to not
> start). I thought for the longest time that the points were shorting, and
> I am now not sure. With a test light connected to the terminal, the light
> will light only when the points are seperated. Is this correct? Or
> should it always light?
It should light only when the points are separated.
> I have two other possibilities, someone mentioned a flooded engine. Could
> that be it? And if so, how do I remedy that? The other is the plug wire
> might not be correst, they didn't fit really well inside the cap, but I do
> still get a spark at the plugs.
I'm sure we'd all like to help, but I don't think you are giving people
enough info for them to diagnose the problem. The fact that you have a
spark at the plugs is really critical info, not something to mention
casually at the end. You may have said originally what car you have, but
with 100 messages per day, most will not remember. Odds are it's a B.
Did the car run well before you started the tune up? If so, it's
unlikely the carburetor or fuel pump picked this moment to fail, though
it might have happened, or you might have run out of gas at the end of
your test drive. All pretty unlikely.
So assuming your fuel system is in decent shape, you may have flooded the
engine, and that might by now be part of the problem even if it wasn't
originally. Remove the spark plugs, put them in your kitchen oven, and
bake them at 200 degrees for an hour. Before you put them back in, turn
over your engine with the plugs out for several revolutions. That should
reduce any flooding problems to a manageable level.
As to why it ran badly after the tuneup, there are any number of
possibilities. You may have mixed up the wires; it is easy enough to do.
Check the order with great care. If you got a bad distributor cap,
especially one of those with the pointed screws that are supposed to dig
into the wires, there is a possibility that one or more wires is not
connected effectively inside the cap. I bought one from the local parts
store that did not have the threads deep enough; none of the pointed
screws actually penetrated the wires. Remove the cap and check the
resistance between each inside terminal and the spark plug connector on
each wire, and between the inside terminal and coil connection on the coil
wire. If the wire is radio suppression wire, there should be about 1000
ohms per foot of wire. You are looking to see if any have infinite
resistance. If those connections are all good, put the cap back on.
Get a manual and follow the static timing procedure. Then see if it starts.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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