Welded on chassis, now engine cranks, but wont start

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Crashmachine
Newbie
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:17 pm
My tercel:: 1987 Toyota tercel 4WD SR5 wagon; no mods needed. 1994 Toyota Tercel; 4efte 10psi
Location: Champaign, Illinois USA

Welded on chassis, now engine cranks, but wont start

Post by Crashmachine »

I did some welding on my wagon and i had welded for a couple of minutes before i realized that i forgot to disconnect the battery terminals. I was welding in a rear panard bar bracket, so i've had the gas tank out for a couple of weeks. i was just wondering if anyone else had made a similar stupid move and what they found the problem to be.
The wagon is completely STOCK

I'm pretty sure that i have fuel coming to the carb, i see gas coming out of the accelerator pump. I seem to have spark, but it looks weak. I haven't looked into it that much cuz i found this problem out at 1130 last night. Any info or thoughts would be great. Thanks in advance.
Its what you do when sh*t happens that makes you who you are.
kinda weird that i'm only one year older than my wagon..
xirdneh
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 2124
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:38 am
My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Welded on chassis, now engine cranks, but wont start

Post by xirdneh »

i did not know your supposed to dissconnet battery terminals for welding
i have welded on several differnt vehicles without a problem
i think i'll dissconnect from now on
just to be safe
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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splatterdog
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Posts: 1629
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:26 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: Welded on chassis, now engine cranks, but wont start

Post by splatterdog »

It is the safer thing to do. But I have done it thousands of times without a problem. Unless you ground your welder thru the cars electrical system or have the key on while welding maybe, the chances of damage are pretty slim. Keep your ground clamp close to your work. Make sure there is a clean spot for the clamp too.

Pretty sure about fuel and seems to have spark doesn't tell us much. Fuel can be observed thru the float window on the carb. If the spark is weak you will have to do some diagnosis or just slap in a distributor when you find one(I noticed your WTB). The only ignition failures for me so far are ignition coils. Had 2 go so far. Both right around 200k miles. First one totally dead(luckily in the driveway), second one wouldn't restart after gassing up but started after a 15 minute cooldown and made it home.
Crashmachine
Newbie
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:17 pm
My tercel:: 1987 Toyota tercel 4WD SR5 wagon; no mods needed. 1994 Toyota Tercel; 4efte 10psi
Location: Champaign, Illinois USA

Re: Welded on chassis, now engine cranks, but wont start

Post by Crashmachine »

Yeah i did have it right next to where i was working, but who knows if something just took a crap from sitting for 3 weeks or more. pretty sure the dist parts are original.(275k) I had pulled the plug wire from cylinder 1 and grounded it to the engine lift hook and it was a thin purple spark line. I'm just going to start with the dist then go from there.. We'll see once i get a good dist.

Thanks for the info, i know its going to be a stupid simple problem. i just havent wanted to waste my nights working on the car when i have no good parts to swap onto it.
Its what you do when sh*t happens that makes you who you are.
kinda weird that i'm only one year older than my wagon..
Crashmachine
Newbie
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:17 pm
My tercel:: 1987 Toyota tercel 4WD SR5 wagon; no mods needed. 1994 Toyota Tercel; 4efte 10psi
Location: Champaign, Illinois USA

Re: Welded on chassis, now engine cranks, but wont start

Post by Crashmachine »

Found It!

It was a stupid problem.. the fuel pump had lost its prime, the carb ran out of fuel, and then it got air locked.

I filled up the bowl in the carb, it started then i hooked up the inlet line to the fuel pump(after sucking the fuel up some) and it kept running. Been fine since..

They always say K.I.S.S. when fixing cars.

Keep It Simple Stupid
Its what you do when sh*t happens that makes you who you are.
kinda weird that i'm only one year older than my wagon..
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