QuestionQUESTION: Mr Benjamin I am not an amateur mechanic, but this 235 is kickin my behind all over the garage. It is out of a 57 Chevy. It has new distributor cap, new points, new condenser,new plug wires, new plugs,a rebuilt carburetor,and I know how to align TDC with the little flywheel circle in the back. I know the firing sequence is 153624. The point gap is set to .019. There is a new 550 amp battery turning the engine over. Is there a certain speed these engines need to achieve while they are cranking before they will turn over? Is 89 Octane gasoline not good enough for those old engines? I can't even get the thing to turn over with starting fluid.
ANSWER: Have you checked for spark at the plugs? If not, take one of the spark plugs out of the engine and lay it against the engine so it is held in contact with the engine block, then have a helper crank the engine while you watch the end of the spark plug. If you see a spark, most likely the distributor isn't timed right (180 out).
Try this - put a tuft of kleenex in the front spark plug hole, with most of it hanging out of the hole, then bump the starter a tiny bit at a time until the kleenex blows out of the hole. Now you know you are on the compression stroke. Now, by pulling on the belts or with a wrench on the front of the crankshaft, slowly turn the engine clockwise viewed from the front to the point where the timing ball in the flywheel is visible. Now, take the distributor cap off and see which plug wire the rotor is pointed at. If it is pointing at #6, the distributor has to come out and be re-installed with the rotor positioned so that it will be pointing at #1 plug wire. This should get it running.
If you DID NOT see any spark from the plug in the first test, get your meter or test light and check for voltage on the + terminal of the coil with the key on - if there is 12 volts there, check on the - terminal of the coil. If there is 12 volts there, take the distributor cap off and verify that the points are closed. There should NOT be voltage on the - terminal of the coil if the points are closed (you may have to turn the engine slightly to close the points). If the points are closed and there is still 12 volts at the - terminal of the coil, the wiring isn't making contact from the coil to the points - just check all the connections and wires.
If there is NO 12 volts on the + terminal of the coil, run a temporary wire from the battery + terminal to the + terminal of the coil - if that makes the engine run, your problem is in the wiring of the ignition switch - the power isn't getting to the coil. Just track it down with a meter until you find it - there is no easy way.
Dick
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: To answer your question Mr. Benjamin, yes I have checked the plugs for spark. I even went as far as holding the plugs against the intake rocker arm so that I can see the plug firing after the intake valve closes. the distributor cap is not marked with numbers, I indicate No. 1 by lining up the timing ball and putting the No.1 plugwire on the closest terminal to the rotorbutton the next wire in the disributor sequence is No. 5 then No.3 and so on. I even went as far as putting a dropper full of gas down the No. 1 sparkplug hole at TDC, quickly screwing in the sparkplug, attaching the plugwire, and manually firing the plug by having the switch on and rotating a loose distributor around to the no. 1 wire with my hand. That may be a little dangerous and I wouldn't recommend that anyone do that, but nothing happens Mr. Benjamin. You would think that if the No.1 cylendar would fire it would rotate the engine an inch or so and let me know I am getting somewhere with it. Your input is greatly appreciated.
AnswerOK, then just ignore everything I typed about checking the coil, ignition wiring and points.
But I think you are overlooking the fact that the engine is a 4 stroke - in other words, the fact that the timing mark is visible does NOT mean it is ready to fire #1. It could also be #6 that is ready to fire. The crankshaft goes around twice for each revolution of the camshaft and distributor.
I still recommend you do the tuft of kleenex trick or if you want to try a shortcut, skip that, and just swap all the plug wires in the cap around 180 degrees. But the proper location for # 1 plug wire is directly toward the right side of the car.
If that doesn't make it run, then carefully do the kleenex trick - it is possible that the distributor is off by some other angle, that will be the way to straighten all this out.
The bottom line is: if you have spark and fuel, the engine will run unless the compression is very low - so after all the above, if it still won't run, do a compression test.
Dick
