Crank but no start

[brianp]

Hi All,

I'm at work right now. This morning, driving to work, I had a plug wire come off the distributor. This has happened several times in the past, and I've been able to just stop and re attach it, and everything's fine. Today though, while I was driving on 3 cylinders looking for a safe place to pull off, the engine died (previous times it would just run rough, but not die) while I was still moving. And after I reattached the plug wire, the engine would crank, but it wouldn't start at all. It just stumbled a little. I thought the engine might have flooded, so I tried doing the starting procedure for that (gas pedal to the floor for 30 seconds), but it didn't make any difference. And then my battery died from all the cranking.

I got it towed to work, and I have my tools with me, so I'll work on it and hopefully get home. Any advice on what to look at? I'm thinking the distributor cap, and wires and plugs. I checked the carb, and I do get gas squirting in when I move the throttle manually.

Thanks!

[splatterdog]

The coil may have been pushed over the edge. 20 years is about the lifespan of our coils.

Luckily my 84's died in the driveway and the parts car died a little slower and I got home. Both happened at just over 20 years....

When a plug wire comes off, the coil responds by giving everything it's got. This would be my first check, provided it's a no spark situation and original coil.

Oh, and get some spark plug to cap clips!

[Neu]

Yeh, i use tape to keep my plug wires on..lol.

So do this little procedure, you need 3 things to get fire. Fuel, Air, Spark.

To test spark: pull a spark plug out, rest it on the valve cover (or any metal) and crank the engine. Do you have spark?

Fuel: Spray starter fluid in the carb, if it starts you know you aren't getting any fuel.

Air: well...there's pretty much no way you're not getting air. lol.

That usually would tell you some things.

[Petros]

It sounds like the coil was saturated and it burned out. It can sometimes still give a weak spark, hence the sputter that sounds like it might start. To check for spark, I like putting a screw driver in a spark plug wire and hold it near the drives side fender when I crank it to watch for spark. Hold it about 1/4-1/2" from metal fender and you should get a strong bluish/white spark that goes "snap, snap, snap"! IF you get a weak yellow spark, or a "tick, tick, tick" instead of the strong snapping, it is likely a bad coil, or could be bad cap, rotor and/or wires. IT is possible the igniter went bad too.

The easiest and cheapest way to fix it is to get a distributor assembly from a pull-a-part self service wrecking yard for about $10, and swap it out with yours. You will get a new coil, igniter and sensor all in one cheap used part. Then if it will not start, check the spark the same way.

Good luck.

[brianp]

Well, it wasn't the coil... I replaced that and still nothing. I should have had the guy who was helping me jump the car watch help see if I was getting any spark at all, but I didn't. Guess that is the next thing...

[Neu]

Make sure you're getting all the ingredients for it to run.

Also do a compression test.

[brianp]

Well, I did work over the weekend. I'm not getting spark. I do get power inside the distributor, but it's not coming out at all. I tested everything I knew to check, and it seemed fine, so I decided just to take it to the mechanic, and have him figure it out. Thanks though for your help!

[keith]

My experience with these distributors is that the center bushing wears out. When it wears out, the gap between the reluctor and the ignitor varies too much to get a reliable spark. Its best to get a reman distributor and be done with it.

[brianp]

Yeah, so they put another used distributor in it, and it works fine. I should have just done it myself. Oh well.

I'm still missing that one spark plug wire clip. Does anyone have any extras?

[Neu]

Yeah, so they put another used distributor in it, and it works fine. I should have just done it myself. Oh well.

I'm still missing that one spark plug wire clip. Does anyone have any extras?

i use electrical tape...works pretty well.

[brianp]

Yeah, so they put another used distributor in it, and it works fine. I should have just done it myself. Oh well.

I'm still missing that one spark plug wire clip. Does anyone have any extras?

i use electrical tape...works pretty well.

Yeah, I'm, going to do that...

[Neu]

Well, lol. I wrapped it around as a quick fix when we were doing a little mudding..and it's worked great for 3 months now. It's only popped off once since. I checked the distro and couldn't find any damage.

When I first did it i was like "Electrical tape..probably not a good idea on plug wires...but I'll do it, I kind of have to" and really it didn't cause any problems. I had my finger on the tape and revved the engine up, no sparking or anything...so it works fine. You could use duct tape too..lol.