Starter problems?

['73bird]

So im trying to check my carb and if its letting gas into it. I was cranking it without my coil wire on as i didn't want it to turn over cause i had taken out the bottom fuel bowl screw to see if there was gas in it and some spilt over the manifold. Waited for it to dry and replaced tbd screw. The idea was to crank it and then take the screw out again to see how much gas came out. Well cranked it and then it did nothing. Replaced the coil wire and tried nothing. Took the battery out and used my tester and the battery has 12.5 volts. Any ideas about the problem? Its a stock 1973 dodge 440 motorhome engine.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Your post is very confusing. I suggest that if you want to see if gas is getting into your carburetor that you don't do what your doing. If the coil wire finds a ground & you've got gas all over the engine you are going to have a bad day. IMO, the best way to check for gas in the carburetor is to just look down the throat of the carburetor (engine off), pull the throttle lever back a few times & see if your "squirters" are working in the front barrels of the carburetor. No gas to squirters = no gas to carburetor (in almost all cases).

Your quote: "Well cranked it and then it did nothing. Replaced the coil wire and tried nothing." What do you mean? "did nothing" "tried nothing"? Are you saying that your starter did not turn over the engine after you removed the coil wire for your test & that your battery has 12.5V?

If the engine does not turn over: Your starter is in a completely different circuit than your ignition coil, so the two issues are not related. Check for 12V at the starter at the big connection. Check the small yellow wire for 12V on your starter relay (coming from neutral safety switch). Check for resistance (ohms/ground) between the starter body itself & the negative post of your battery. check for 12V at the small terminal of the starter while someone turns the key to "start" for you.

If the engine turns over, but does not start: I bet your loose coil wire did find ground & you fried something in your ignition. I would first check for continuity (ohms resistance) end-to-end on your ballast resistor with the wires disconnected. Second, have a friend crank the engine while you CAREFULLY have an extra spark plug in one plug wire & ground the thread part of the plug to a GOOD ground... engine bolt for example. If your ignition is OK, you should see a spark jumping in the spark plug in your hand while the engine is turning over. If no spark, you have an ignition problem. If you do have a spark, pour 1/4 cup of gasoline down the throat of the carburetor & crank the engine over. If it starts & runs for about 30 seconds and then dies, you're not getting fuel into the carburetor & you should check your fuel pump, fuel filter(s) and general state of the carburetor.

 

['73bird]

Your post is very confusing. I suggest that if you want to see if gas is getting into your carburetor that you don't do what your doing. If the coil wire finds a ground & you've got gas all over the engine you are going to have a bad day. IMO, the best way to check for gas in the carburetor is to just look down the throat of the carburetor (engine off), pull the throttle lever back a few times & see if your "squirters" are working in the front barrels of the carburetor. No gas to squirters = no gas to carburetor (in almost all cases).

Your quote: "Well cranked it and then it did nothing. Replaced the coil wire and tried nothing." What do you mean? "did nothing" "tried nothing"? Are you saying that your starter did not turn over the engine after you removed the coil wire for your test & that your battery has 12.5V?

If the engine does not turn over: Your starter is in a completely different circuit than your ignition coil, so the two issues are not related. Check for 12V at the starter at the big connection. Check the small yellow wire for 12V on your starter relay (coming from neutral safety switch). Check for resistance (ohms/ground) between the starter body itself & the negative post of your battery. check for 12V at the small terminal of the starter while someone turns the key to "start" for you.

If the engine turns over, but does not start: I bet your loose coil wire did find ground & you fried something in your ignition. I would first check for continuity (ohms resistance) end-to-end on your ballast resistor with the wires disconnected. Second, have a friend crank the engine while you CAREFULLY have an extra spark plug in one plug wire & ground the thread part of the plug to a GOOD ground... engine bolt for example. If your ignition is OK, you should see a spark jumping in the spark plug in your hand while the engine is turning over. If no spark, you have an ignition problem. If you do have a spark, pour 1/4 cup of gasoline down the throat of the carburetor & crank the engine over. If it starts & runs for about 30 seconds and then dies, you're not getting fuel into the carburetor & you should check your fuel pump, fuel filter(s) and general state of the carburetor.

Ok sorry for confusion

I pulled the coil wire all the way off from the coil to the distributor in order to avoid a spark getting close to any possible gas that might have been left on the manifold from removing the screw from the carb.

The starter cranked once and then stopped. There was no noise from the starter or any noise at all.
I put the coil wire back and tried cranking and still no noise or anything

PS very hard for me to see the squirters in my carb (Im vertically challenged)