Hard Starting: Looking for possile leads...

OK....an update from my very frustrating no-start saga.

Previously on "Hard Starting"....

Last weekend I hopped in my car after a couple days of no-starts and it started right up first time. So, after concluding that the engine was getting flooded, I decided to release the electric choke all together leaving the choke open at all times. Ironically, and in retrospect unsurprisingly, this is how the electric choke was set from the very beginning. It never closed. It may have been like that since I bought the car in 2003. In any case, although the mustang had been running well all those years, it seems odd that my choke was never in play. Granted, I live in California and whoever disengaged that choke may have assumed it would never get cold enough to matter. I dunno.

So, the original problem was stalling in the mornings until after ten minutes or so of being warmed up. When I saw the choke was not in use, naturally I figured I found a clear solution. The choke itself actually works fine. When the engine warms, the choke releases. I suppose I should have been smarter about it and considered that the car had been running fine before, even with the choke always open, but I probably convinced myself engading the choke would do the trick. It seemed to, for a few weeks at least until I had problems starting the engine at all for the first time ever.

I may have gone right back to the choke to see if this was a factor, but it just so happens that I also had the problem of a leaking radiator which wreaked havok on my air filter/carb. Boy was it black and messy. I remember fuel not coming out of one of my carb accelerator nozzles, so I was convinced that I clogged parts of my carb with crud and so I rebuilt the carb. I was very meticulous. It took a whole weekend and it was, indeed, pretty dirty inside. On a hobby level, I always wanted to rebuild a carb to see exactly how they work. By the way, this is a pretty cool book if anyone else is doing it for the first time: "How to Rebuild and Modify Carter/Edelbrock Carburetors".

Where am I? Oh yeah...so after doing all that I still had problems starting the car and after a couple weeks of troubleshooting I decided to post to this forum for ideas.

Some suggested the distributor, some the choke. I was banking on the choke because that's what I had been futzing with. As stated earlier, I disengaged the electric choke all together leaving the choke always open. The car has been starting up fine all week. It's been running fine with no stalling at all. It even rained a couple days this week (no garage). BUT!!!!! I went out to drive it last night, Saturday, about 9pm and it would not start. Just cranking no firing. Dammit! The last time I drove it was Friday night. It was about 55 and little damp out last night, but it had actually been a bit worse during the week.

Today, I decided to give it another go. It was about noon today, sunny. It started up immediately without hesitation.

So, I think I am going to take D.Hearne's advice and switch to an electronic system. I'm going to buy and install a pertronix ignitor conversion. I'll let you know how it goes!

If anybody has any tips for doing the conversion that would be great. I'm assuming since it's a "conversion" kit, it will come with clear instructions, but you never know.

Well, I feel like a moron. The dist has already been converted to a pertronix ignitor. I just didn't know what I was looking at before. Damn.

Why on earth did my engine not start last night, but start right up first try today? With the electronic distributor the dampness shouldn't really be an issue, right? What's the difference between last night and today? Boy is this frustrating.

Grrrr...
New update. Car did not start this morning. It was a little cool and damp outside. Still don't know if weather is a factor, but it may be. Seems like it's starting up every other time I try it. When it starts, it starts right up. When it doesn't, it doesn't misfire or hesitate, stall out -just cranking the engine and no firing at all. My choke is permanently open now and it still hasn't seemed to fix the problem. Now that I'm not even choking the intake, I can't see how I could be flooding my engine. What's probably been happening is that something else is causing my no-start and as a result I end up with flooding because of repeated tries. After a couple tries, I sprayed a bit of started fluid again this morning to no effect.

I have actually cleaned the inside of the distributor cap a couple of times. Any residue from the radiator fiasco should be long gone.

D.Hearne, could it really be the ignition switch? If so , wouldn't that mean no starter motor, too?

Could an ignition coil go bad or be intermittent?

This is still a mystery. As JDS68Stang suggested, I think I have to start from square one now. The choke and radiator problems may have been red herrings. I guess I need to evaluate everything in more detail. Of course, the fact that this problem is intermittent is a huge challenge as far as diagnotics.