68 RR Still won't start

I haven't had any time until this week to work on getting the car started since the issue I had with it dying on the road a fe w onths back.

Things I have done so far to try and fix it are,

Bulkhead connections checked, cleaned no visible signs of overheated terminals or melting wires. A few pins had light corrosion starting, but not bad.

Ammeter bypass at dash, again terminals and posts looked fine.

New MSD 6 A and blaster 2 coil installed and just verified system is in working order and providing spark.

Cap, rotor plugs and plug wires are new with less than 200 miles on them.

Distributor cap off, rotor turns when cranking.

Grounds checked and cleaned and reconnected.

Fuel pump working fine, fuel squirts with accelerator.

Battery tested and fully charged

Car turns over but still will not start. I have searched this issue on FBBO and think I have tried most of the past common issues that others have experienced, but I still feel I am overlooking something simple. I did just notice that the yellow wire coming from the starter relay isn't in great shape, so I will try to replace that this afternoon when I get back home.

I am open to any other suggestions as to what else I should be looking for, thanks in advance.

Mark

Are you out of gas?

I know you said the fuel pump is working fine and fuel squirts with the accelerator, but I would check your fuel pump with a gauge to make sure you are getting the correct fuel pressure while the motor is turning over. You said it was dying on the road a few months ago, it could be a fuel problem. At least if you check the fuel pressure it will tell you if your fuel pump is working right and you can eliminate that as a problem.

Check it from top dead center make sure the timing is right. You know piston one up, rotor button pointing to number one wire. Rotor button turning.. So its not a timing chain issue. Maybe pull a valve cover off and make sure the valves are opening up.

You have fuel,Spark only 2 things left air and exhaust. Also check your spark plugs and wires. I worked on a chevy with accel spark plugs and could not believe all 8 plugs were bad. But alas they were all junk.

If you have spark and fuel it should fire. Get some starting fluid and spray a good shot in the carb with the pedal depressed. Try to start it and It should get a reaction. It will either start for a few seconds and die pointing to a fuel delivery issue or it will back fire indicating a timing issue. If it does neither then look at spark delivery. That' how I would start. Good luck

Check the fuel filter(s). There may be one in the carb and an inline too; a small bit of gunk could be enough.

RT K_line said:

If you have spark and fuel it should fire. Get some starting fluid and spray a good shot in the carb with the pedal depressed. Try to start it and It should get a reaction. It will either start for a few seconds and die pointing to a fuel delivery issue or it will back fire indicating a timing issue. If it does neither then look at spark delivery. That' how I would start. Good luck

Click to expand...

Agreed. This is where you begin. If it doesn’t fire right off with starter fluid, has to be timing or spark.

Just because the carb squirts with the accelerator doesn’t mean the fuel pump is moving enough fuel to keep it running. It just means the carb has fuel in the bowl.

Have you pulled a valve cover to be sure the cam is turning & in the correct cam timing ( both valves closed with #1 at TDC in firing position)?

Also, please describe what happens when it "won't start". Does it sputter like it wants to start, but doesn't fire up? Does it cough fire out of the carb? Does it crank & crank & crank with absolutely no sign of even wanting to fire up?

Also, is there a chance that you might have flooded it now trying to start it so much? I had an engine once where that happened & all I really did was pull the plugs out for a day, re-install them (put new ones in while I was at it) and it fired up. Also, holding the pedal to the floor while cranking & all of a sudden it starts to sound a little bit like it wants to start when it had been cranking & cranking with nothing at all before that is a sign of being flooded.

IF the car died while cruising down the road & you're still fixing that problem, then a car just dying while going 40mph points to:
1. Ignition (module or ballast resistor usually) --> you tested the coil, but are you getting spark to the plugs? CAREFULLY (not touching car body AT ALL) pull one plug wire, put in a plug (new or one from the motor), ground the threads of the plug to a good ground (intake bolt, exhaust manifold stud, etc.) and have a buddy crank the motor. If the entire ignition is good, you should see a spark jump in that plug. The only thing this doesn't test is if you're getting power to the blue ignition wire leading to the ballast resistor (cranking voltage comes through the brown wire). To check the blue wire, just turn the key to "on" & check for voltage coming out of the ballast resistor where the blue wire connects.
2. Fuel pump --> Accelerator pump is a decent test & if you have "squirt", then you should get at least a sputter while starting. You "could" very carefully disconnect the fuel line & run a hose into a gas can while someone cranks to see if you have a river or a trickle coming out.
3. Timing chain --> rotor is turning, so the timing chain isn't broken, BUT it could have "jumped a tooth". Put your motor at top dead center with #1 cylinder firing and see if the rotor is actually pointing at #1 spark plug tower on the cap or if it's off. It should be pointing just about right at the #1 tower. Remember, two times past TDC to get one time firing at #1 since at one TDC #1 piston is at the top of the exhaust stroke & the other time it's at the top of the firing stroke.

Hope This Helps

You're getting spark from the coil. Are you getting spark at the plugs? Are the plugs so fouled they won't fire?

Cracked distributor cap or bad rotor?

Do you have an extra set of hands to turn the car over while you apply starting fluid and check for spark? That helps immensely

Ok, just got home and first thing I did was check for spark at the plugs.........nothing with a brand new plug to the engine block ground.

So I went to the distributor and tried a new rotor, still nothing. I was told in a previous post to check the reluctor and pickup gap at the distributor, is there a trick to getting them to line up close enough to check? I was told the gap should be .08-.12? Which looks close to what I see without being able to line it up and use the gage.

Is there any thing else in the distributor that could fail, and cause the car to just die and not start again?

Mstone68440RR said:

Ok, just got home and first thing I did was check for spark at the plugs.........nothing with a brand new plug to the engine block ground.

So I went to the distributor and tried a new rotor, still nothing. I was told in a previous post to check the reluctor and pickup gap at the distributor, is there a trick to getting them to line up close enough to check? I was told the gap should be .08-.12? Which looks close to what I see without being able to line it up and use the gage.

Is there any thing else in the distributor that could fail, and cause the car to just die and not start again?

Click to expand...

starter relay switch?

Need to put a socket 1.25"on harmonic balancer bolt and turn engine to get they lined in distributor. .008 brass feeler gauge to measure. you could bump it with starter but tough by yourself.

Bad coil?

Ok, borrowed a socket and set the reluctor to .10 ( smallest gap my feeler gauge has) tried at again and still no spark at the plugs.

BeeKool said:

Bad coil?

Click to expand...

New MSD Blaster 2, provided spark using the MSD troubleshooting guide.

moparjohnny said:

starter relay switch?

Click to expand...

If this was bad, it wouldn't try to turn over at all would it?

Mstone68440RR said:

New MSD Blaster 2, provided spark using the MSD troubleshooting guide.

Click to expand...

So your getting spark from coil? If so your problem is cap, rotor or wires.