Got spark, fuel and compression, but wont start.

[madbrad]

So a few weeks ago I screwed up and fried my Malloy ignition box. Got the new one in a few days ago and want to get the car running agian. Right now it just turns over but dosent sound like its even trying to start. I have a malloy Hyfire VI ignition box, coil and a unilite dist.

It's getting spark at the plugs, and I jsut put in fresh gas. I've also advanced/retarded the timming but it doesnt make a differance. I pulled all the plugs and they were a little wet and black. I cleaned them all and put them back in. Still nothing.

If its getting sprak at the plugs, then the moduel in the distributor should be okay right?

Any thing I have over looked?

 

[rbohm]

are you sure you are getting spark to the plugs? best to pull one and hook it up to a plug wire and ground the case and crank the engine. if you get a nice fat sparl then your fuel mix is likely too rich. or the timing is off.

 

[gtss]

If you do have a good spark at the plug as mentioned above, and in fact the timing is correct
there is at least some chance that with trying to start it repeatedly, you may have flooded the thing severely which will wash down the cylinder walls resulting in not enough compression to start,
if that is the case then cleaning the plugs would have been temporary as they will now have gotten wet again.
check the oil, if it smells like fuel it is royally flooded.
if so clean the plugs again, change the oil and while the plugs are out, give each cylinder a small shot of oil, crank over then reinstall plugs
hope it helps
gtss

 

[2nd Mustang]

A couple of other things to check:

Is the choke stuck in the closed position?

Don't laugh, I heard that this happened to someone else. Is the air filter too dirty?

 

[krash kendall]

180 out, perhaps? We've all done it at least once.

 

[madbrad]

I havent taken the dist out since the last time it was running. So i "THINK" that is okay.


Im going to get a new set of plugs and see if that help, Gtss might be right and that I fouled out the plugs too much. The car was running pretty rich the last time it was going. I'll check the oil too and see if it smells of gas. Probably time for an oil change any way.

Thanks!

 

[madbrad]

UPDATE

I installed new plugs with no luck. Still wont start. So I thought it had to be a timming issue. I took the valve colver off and made sure it the #1 piston was at the top of the compression stroke and then check to see where the rotor was on the dist. It was at the #1 plug. So im thinking that is okay, but not really sure what else can be wrong.

Can a ignition box cause timing issues? I think Im going to run it with out the box next and see what it does.

Right now it turns over but dosent sound like it's even trying to fire. I've advanced the timing and retarted it with no change. If you got and idea let me know, i'll try it.

Thanks!

 

[2nd Mustang]

Yup, I've had aftermarket ignition boxes cause an intermittent no start condition.

 

[rbohm]

if you are getting spark to the plug, and you dont have too much fuel, then you might have slipped the timing chain.

 

[PAzYearazzUP]

I do not wanna ear about your thumb over the plug hole, then say, "Yeah, it has compression" (but I didn't tell you my finger nail only read 90 pea yes I did not really check the compression)... Say it! Do you have numbers over 120psi... Pee yes I am about to wet my pants is you chasing your tail... No Start is not checking compression very-very first thing is lift the hood...

I have to agree, you took the cover off, checked #1 is lined her up with that cylinder. I sorta agree, being either you have low compression or you would have backfired out of time being you have spark?

So, what are your cylinder numbers? And before you take any... Take a timing light to any plug wire, crank the engine over and if the light stays on, she is sparking fine and not shutting off as if a module is on the blink... YOu are pulling gas being the plugs are wet.... But how much pull you have to make some pressure, let alone some kinetic?

It's either compression or spark being she is not coughing or anything is she? Hard to diagnose over the net.

 

[2nd Mustang]

Maybe you need to back up a little. What caused the ignition box to get fried?

I would think after playing with the timing, it should still cough and hiccup like it would want to start if the ignition is good. Air, fuel and spark is all that's needed to start the motor. Even a distributor that is 180 out the engine will still sometimes try to start, even if it is on the wrong stoke.

 

[57fairlane]

What caused the ignition box to get fried?

No kidding . . .

I had a "Reputable" shop weld in subframe connectors for me but forgot to unplug/remove the battery (was in the trunk and the ground mounting point was on the rear frame rail).

The car had weird electrical gremlins from that day on.

 

[madbrad]

Thanks every one for the help. It was a beautiful sound when it roared to life again.
My only guess is to what was wrong is mostly user error, and that it was not getting enough gas at the start. Out of frustration I pumped the pedal a lot more than I normally do and it coughed a couple times then fired up!