Engine Trouble

Rusty67 said:

You should have tried gas into the carb, not the seafoam.

Keep this in mind, an engine needs 3 things in order to run: fuel, air and spark (4 if you count compression). What that means is that you either have an ignition problem or a fuel delivery problem. I doubt you are having an issue with air.

Try pouring some gas into the carb directly if you think that is the problem. Do you have a clear fuel filer that you can look into and see if fuel is actually moving ? Your fuel pump might have a problem at low speeds (mine does).

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I'll try putting gas in the carb this afternoon and let you know what happens.

No, unfortunately the fuel filter isn't clear.

hotcobra03 said:

Sea foam could have loosened some crap and your not getting.try pulling fuel line at filter crank and see if thiers fuel.ck for spark at coil and plugs.what about points and condenser are you still old school yes?

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What's the best way to check for a spark without screwing anything up or shocking myself?

still old school.

68dustin said:

get one of ur friends drunk and say hold onto this.....lol...

first check to see if ur getting gas to your carburator...unplug hose from carb and put hose into coffee can and turn motor over

then check to see if your getting gas to carb (pull linkage to fully open and look down the carburator to see if you can see gas comming out of the acc. squirters.

make sure ur choke is open.

make sure power is going to ur coil..( use tester light on postive side of coil with igntion on postion)

then check ur coil with pulling off coil wire and put tester light in and turn motor over. if it flashes then its good.

pull out #1 spark plug wire and repeat last step. (keep away from all fuel)

now are you getting the motor to fire at all???

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hahaha. the first option seems the easiest.

The engine isn't firing at all. It just turns and turns but never fires up. I've patted the gas to send some up to the carbs but not enough to flood it, and the results were the same. I'll try your advice as soon as I get home.

Thanks!!!!

fixed!

I figured it out. The owner before me had incorrectly labeled the battery cables. He put a piece of tape with the charges on each one, but he someone got them backwards, and I didn't pay any attention when I unhooked the battery and then hooked up the new one. But today when I was working on it, I checked the battery cables and noticed the positive was grounded on the engine. Wow. I switched the cables, and she fired right up.

Still running rough from the carb being partially stopped up, so I'm going to strip it down and soak it in carb cleaner. (removing the rubber and plastic, of course).

the freaking hood hinge broke today. I guess from opening and closing the hood so much lately.

Thanks for everyone's help. I'll have more questions in the future, especially about electrics.

68dustin said:

how did it run before???? at least you figured it out... its always something stupid you miss....

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When I first picked it up a week ago, it ran fine for a forty minute drive to get it home. Then it cut off with me at a red light. I had to hold the brake and constantly give it gas to get it to stay running. I took it to a trustworthy shop where they fixed 18 vacuum hose leaks, put new plugs on it, changed the oil, and adjusted the carb. They told me there was something stopped up inside the carb that they couldn't get out and recommended I find a Holley carb somewhere to put on it (the guy is bias against Edelbrock). In the mean time, he adjusted the carb so it'll stay running while at idle, but it's a very high idle.

Before I get a new carb I'm going to try to get that blockage out by dissassembling the Edelbrock and soaking it in carb dip.

Then there's a matter of fixing the inside door handle, the speedometer, the lights for the instrument guages, the cd player (that worked until I put a new battery on, so I'm hoping it just needs to be reset), and the wipers. Then bondo the minimal rust damage, sand off the ribbets from the fake hood scope, and paint her up!

Gailahan said:

I wouldn't recommend bondoing rust damage...

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What would you reccomend? I know the standard procedure is to cut it out and weld new metal in or to replace the whole area with a new part. In this case, it's minor bubbling in the rear quarter and lower door. It's not rusted all the way through, that's why I figured I could sand it down really well and patch it up the low-cost way.

Any other relatively cheap suggestions? I'm not trying to recreate a $25,000 or higher show car. Just a nice Mustang I can enjoy.