Jump to content
HybridZ

New cap and wires, now it won't start....


Recommended Posts

 

  Backfires thru the exhaust which tells me it's not firing at the right times.  What the heck did I screw up???
 

Did you write down or draw what the firing order was before you replaced the wires?  Many many people have been on here describing how they got their oil pumps installed wrong, then taking advice to just move the wires over one position.  Could be that yours was wrong to begin and you just need to make it wrong again.  Lift the distributor cap and see where the rotor points with the timing mark on about 10 degree, compression stroke.

 

You may have said in your video but two minutes is too long to watch a video about spark plug wires.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you replace the wires one at a time? I mean as you removed one wire, you replaced it, OR did you take off all the wires and then replaced them.

 

It may sound strange to some, but NewZed is right. I always replaced wires one at a time so I did not change a firing order that worked.

 

Other than that, is the new rotor bad or does the new cap have a crack.... stranger things have happened....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, didn't swap them one at a time since I had diagrams to make sure I put them on right.  So to answer NewZed, yes.  

 

I went to look at my other 240 this morning and the wires are right.   Tried old cap & rotor, same problem.   Checked the gap on all of the plugs before installing them, all were snug at .034 which is in spec.   Put the old plugs back in, still no fire.   Tomorrow if time allows I'll pull the Pertronix and put the points back in to test that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, didn't swap them one at a time since I had diagrams to make sure I put them on right.  So to answer NewZed, yes.  

 

I went to look at my other 240 this morning and the wires are right.   Tried old cap & rotor, same problem.   Checked the gap on all of the plugs before installing them, all were snug at .034 which is in spec.   Put the old plugs back in, still no fire.   Tomorrow if time allows I'll pull the Pertronix and put the points back in to test that.

You missed the point.  Your wires may have been in the "wrong" position before you changed them  Wrong by the diagrams (that show the "right" way) but right by the distributor drive tang position.  Which can be "wrong" yet still give an engine that runs.  If you move the plug wires to the right spot.

 

But it's looking like you did many things at one time.  not even clear that the engine has ever run for you.  So, checking the rotor position is a basic step that you should do.  It needs to point at #1 when #1 is supposed to fire.  You haven't confirmed that.  You said that you checked it but didn't sya that you checked where it was pointing.

 

Also, if you installed a new triggering unit (the Pertronix), it may not be triggering at the same spot as the points.  Think in terms of trigger position, and rotor position when the trigger happens.

 

Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, the more I think about it the more I think the distro may be 180 off....  backfire thru the exhaust (I think) means it's firing while the exhaust valve is open which if I understand the sequence properly it is firing on the opposite stroke from what it should be...   and I did not look at the wires before disconnecting the old stuff, my bad, I just assumed they were in the proper order...   I have no idea what was done to make the dual-point distro run on only one set of points...  thanks for making me step outside the box and think about it...

 

Oh, that's an important piece of the puzzle not posted here.....   when I got the car it had some kind of dual-point to single-point conversion not.   Not a distro swap, the dual was somehow made to run on one set of points.   I subsequently installed the Euro-curve true single-point distro from my other car.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Put a timing light on it to check where #1 is firing.  Based on that alone, you will be able to correct the problem.  At worst it will be 120* off if you are off by 1 terminal on the cap.  If you move them over 1 and it still wont start, you have one other option (2 in the opposite direction)

 

And lastly, did you verify the direction the rotor is traveling while cranking? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

153624...   Point your crank at 0 degrees, and then pull the cap.  it should be pointing at Cyl # 1.  Pull off the oil cap, and you should be able to look in with a flashlight and see the lobes on Cyl 1 both pointing up.  That's TDC for Cyl 1,  then replace wires in the firing order and it should start right up.  it's not brain surgery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FIXED... distro is 180 degrees off....   moved wires 180 degrees and the car fired right off.   And that makes sense now...   with that funky swap the dual distro was using the points on the right, a true single point has them on the left, therefore 180 degrees different.    Thanks for the help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FIXED... distro is 180 degrees off....   moved wires 180 degrees and the car fired right off.   And that makes sense now...   with that funky swap the dual distro was using the points on the right, a true single point has them on the left, therefore 180 degrees different.    Thanks for the help.

The second set of points isn't 180 off.  Dual point distributor has nothing to do with your problem, it was just a distraction for you.  You had the fairly common 180 off issue.  A quick check under the distributor cap would have cleared things up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...