Hi all, Well I've searched and searched with google and the search on here using various terms and word combos but nothing seems to match my problem. So here goes: Started the car, backed it out of the garage, didn't wait for it to warm up really and it doesn't like that but I wasn't going very far. It died while backing up, I thought nothing of it. Until I went to take it out for the day. Turns over, doesn't start. I have a fuel pressure gague in the line and it shows I have pressure, and I can see fuel getting into the carb when pumping the gas. According to the book I have on troubleshooting, I checked the coil resistance (was 0.9 and I believe the book said from 0.6 to 0.86 and mine probably rounded up). But I don't know how to check the primary on this coil. Fuse under the dash is ok, is there another one I am missing? I do not recall a fuse being anywhere in the enginebay when I removed the wiring for painting and it ran fine after I put it all back. I have not done the spark plug check yet, I planned on it today but rain rain rain and I'm not strong enough to push the car back into the garage with the slope of our driveway hehe. Any ideas on what else to check would be greatly appreciated (See below for motor details)

Think I posted this in the wrong section, should be tech/general.

If you have spark at the plugs and you haven't jumped time you might have a bad injector ground.

Well, I have spark. And I have compression. I guess it's narrowed down to ECM.

Dunno if anyone is still reading this but thought I would post what happened.

Turns out the plugs were so fouled with carbon deposits that there wasn't enough spark to get up and running. I knew it was running rich but not THAT rich. So, new plugs in and runs fine - now I am just trying to lean out the fuel a bit.

I'm not sure if the float adjustment screws were set properly, as the back screw (closest to distributer) is practically all the way down and the front screw was quite high in comparison. I would say 2 threads showing on the back, and 4-5 showing up front.

The front adjustment seemed a bit high as fuel came out of the view plug immediately upon removal. So I adjusted it to the same height as the one at the back. Runs and starts much easier now, but I haven't taken it for a spin cause the gaskets/o-rings for the adjustment screws tore upon removal and are leaking fuel.

So! Now I am waiting for the gaskets, unless someone can tell me a good replacement that I can find in the auto store.

Your plugs were probably oil fouled. Pretty hard to foul them with gasoline. However, a rich mixture can wash the oil off the cylinder walls and burn it, which will foul plugs.

Sounds like you need to check your needle/seats. If you have to turn it way down to keep the float level proper, that probably means your needle/seat is leaking and needs more force on the float to get it to stop. Been there, done that.

Do you have both an in-line filter up to the carb, and the inlet filters behind the fuel bowl inlet nuts? If not, do it.

The floats should be set based on fuel level, not where the adjustment screw is. You should consider cleaning or replacing the needle/seat per above before you do that, though.

Is it a Holley carb? If so, have you had the engine backfire? Even with the anti-blow out device in the carb plate, the power valve could have a blown diaphram. If the motor continues to be rich, you can lower the fuel level, but kinda sounds like you new it was running rich anyway. i just rebuilt a holley that had the anti back fire valve in the base and it DID have a blown power valve (got a great deal off of ebay because of it). Also, you need to make sure you have a power vavle that has the correct vacuum to hold it closed at idle as the valve could be good but not closing because it isn't getting enough vacuum to hold it closed (usually on big cam motors). Do you know what kind of vacuum the engine holds at idle? Just another piece to the puzzle.

Thanks for the input.

I'll check out what Holley instructions i can find on that. I was following the ones they had for checking the float levels as I thought that would be a logical place to start. Still waiting for the gaskets though, going to be a week and a bit before I can get back at it :/ The plugs had some serious carbon build up on the end of the plug, at the end of the thread post. The center element and the spark arm were no where near as bad but I guess it was enough to weaken the spark. Was orange instead of bright blue.

No backfires Topless87, she was running fine once warmed up. Idle was another story...

Idle problems could be pointing at the power valve, although don't just go in that direction. I just wanted you to be aware of it possibly being that. If it is running rich at idle, it would point to it either being open because of low manifold vacuum or the diaphram possible ruptured or just bad so the carb is always running on the high speed circuit, not the idle circuit. Just some idea's for you, no critisim. :-)

Hey, after thinking on your message, that "orange" spark doesn't sound very good, it sounds weak. Make sure your coil is strong, it should be blueish in color not orange. Do ya have another car you could swap coils with just for a test? Just another idea. I have had weak spark give me problems that initial I thought was a different problem. good luck.

Surprising twist to this outcome, after thinking it was the plugs being fouled - which probably didn't help the situation - it was actually the battery itself. How did I determine this? Well... the battery went dead after leaving the door open a crack so I recharged it with my battery charger. Lo and behold, she fired right up. But I had also made adjustments to the carb so I thought I had fixed it carb side.

So it was running but the fumes were stinging my eyes so I backed the *** end out of the garage to help disapate while working on it, and turned it off. It started one more time, complained, and stopped. After fiddle farting around another couple of hours adjusting the float (which was nice to learn, regardless if it needed it or not) and have that set now.

Then it dawned on me, maybe the battery isn't holding full enough charge to spark the motor while starting. All the time trying to start the motor, it never once slowed down or even came close to the "dying" slow down while cranking. It felt like the battery was just fine and happily trying to get the motor started. I have never had this problem before, normally I've had the obvious battery trouble signs of the slowing crank while trying to start, or the "click" sound when you go to start which is probably followed by some sort of explatiff as you pop the hood.

So, new battery in - starts no problem. Now I just have to fine tune the carb and I'll be good to run around again. Hopefully

GREAT. Isn't it funny that the least likely thing is the problem - must be Murphy's Law. Glad its runnin' again, and you got to learn a thing or two. Hope you're cruisin' this weekend! Have fun.