Engine won't start please help!

[gumby66]

Hello i'm new to the board here so please bear with me. I'm finally ready to start the engine on my rebuild ( going on about 3.5 years now) and it's trying but it won't light off. For a little background the whole engine has been gone thru, has the stock 2barrel with rebuild by myself (went smoothly but not real good with carbs or tuning them), msd 6al box and coil, new electronic dist., new starter, red top optima battery, holley elect. fuel pump, starter solenoid, voltage regulator, and wiring. Like I said the engine cranks fine, has fuel, pump runs can verify fuel to carb by opening butterflys, and its trying to light so i'm guessing it has spark, have checked the firing order, and that the distributor is installed at the proper location. I think it has something to do with carb adjustment/ not enough fuel. Any help is greatly appricatied thanks

 

[Dave]

It could be a bunch of things from as simple as wet plugs from oil or gas to incorrect valve timing. Verify that you are looking at the correct firing order and that the timing is correctly set. It might be flooding due to float level, mixture setting etc. Bad routing on plug wires can cause some cross firing issues. I think that 2 and 3 - 7 and 8 can not run paralell without a twist etc.

 

[gumby66]

Thanks for the quick reply, I will have to check the routing of the plug wires when I get home. While I was trying to start the engine I had the plug out of the #1 cyl. to verify TDC and the plug was dry. As for float level and mixture i'm not sure how to check. The firing order is the non-HO order i got out of my mustang manual.

 

[broncnaz]

Have you tried turning the dist. a little while cranking you might have it installed a tooth or two off and need to turn it to get the timing back to where it will start. Since this is the stock 2 barrel I doubt its a carb issue. If you crack the throttle blades does gas squirt into the throttle bores? if so you are getting fuel it should have enough to idle. You can look down the throttle bores when the fuel pump is on if nothing is leaking into the carb then you should be good there also. About the only thing I can suggest is to make sure that the 2 idle mixture screws are about 2 turns out from the fully seated position.

 

[73azbronco]

If you think it's not getting gas, not firing, you could try a squirt of starter fluid to see if that gets it to spin a little, if that works, then you have a fuel problem. If not, triple check the electrical, timing, firing order, etc

 

[gumby66]

I have been turning the dist. while cranking and have set the dist. at tdc 3 or 4 times and am pretty certain the dist. is clocked correctly. I do have a squirt of fuel when I open the throttle blades initially then it stops is that correct, and as far as I can see there are no internal or external fuel leaks. I know that the mixture srcews are not in that far i'll have to adjust those. Thanks for the tips

 

[gumby66]

was just at the auto parts store and forgot to get starter fluid I guess i'm making another trip

 

[br0nc0xrapt0r]

call msd, did you get the dist too or is it stock.

 

[broncnaz]

If your getting fuel to squirt when the throttle is cracked and you have no other leaks when the pump is on then you are good. I doubt starting fluid is going to help much you should be able to just push the gas pedal down a couple times and get enough fuel for it to fire up. How close is it to wanting to start? Is it back firing? You could be 180 off with the timing.

 

[gumby66]

The way that the dist. is now it cranks fine and does try to start if I repeatadly open and close the throttle, no backfires, no cough out of the carb. I have tried moving the dist. a tooth fwd and back and had it backfire once and cough thru the carb quite a few times. When you say 180 out could I just rotate the dist. 180 from where it is know or should I verify #1 cyl. at tdc again. Do you think that the mixture being off would cause this, i really feel this is a fuel issue but am willing to check anything. Thanks

 

[gumby66]

It has tried to start and stumbled for a few seconds then just quits.

 

[gumby66]

The dist. is just a stock replacment from o'reillys

 

[broncnaz]

If your getting it to start then die then I'd say your dist. is correct or at least close enough. Now part of the problem maybe mixture or idle speed might not be high enough try turning the screw on the throttle shaft (driver side of carb) in a few turns that will hold the throttle open slightly and allow you to make adjustments. Also check all vacuum lines and ports on the carb and intake manifold make sure they are all blocked a vacuum leak will cause hard starting and dying. If you get it started and running allow it to warm up then you can begin adjusting thetiming and carb.

 

[Dave]

Is the positive crank case vent system hooked up or blocked off?

 

[gumby66]

pcv valves are installed, gonna check for vaccum leaks, also the idle screw.

 

[Dave]

When we fired up the $75 71, I couldn't get it to start decent or idle with the PVC blocked off. After hooking it up, I was able to adjust the idle jets and tune it up.

 

[NMWILLY]

Fuel, Fire, all at the right time, and the engine will at least run. Focus on these three things and you will get it going. 1. You have fuel going in. 2. Fire, make sure when you crank it your getting spark on the plug wire. Hold it off the block a little and see if it snaps while your cranking. 3. Timing, If you just replaced the distributor and you turned the crank while the dist was out, it's easy to get TDC on the top of the exaust stroke and not the compression stroke "180 out". If you have the valve covers off make sure no valves are open on #1 when you are at TDC. You can also swap the wires straight across the distributor cap (180 out) and see if it starts or at least tries better.

Good luck!

 

[gumby66]

Thanks for all the help guys when I got home I tried again to start engine after checking all the things you pointed out. i didn't find any leak, but adjusted the idle mixture screws. The engine started but only ran for about 40 seconds to a minute then just stoped. When the engine quit I opened the throttle plates by hand and no fuel squirted, after about 30-40 seconds with the fuel pump on or off it started to squirt and the engine would fire and run for about a minute and quit again. Any new ideas

 

[scodge]

Electric fuel pump circuit? Is it wired with the oil pressure shut-off switch? The switch should have 3 wires, and one needs to go to the starter, so that the fuel pump works when you hit the starter, because otherwise, the fuel pump won't operate when you try to start the engine.

 

[broncnaz]

Hows the filters? are all the gas lines good any cracks? Could even have crap in the tank clogging the screen on the pickup tube. Might want to blow through the lines back to the tank to ensure they are clear. Where is the fuel pump mounted close to the tank or in the engine compartment most electric pumps need to be mounted close to the tank as they dont pull fuel as well as they push it.