Iroc n roll

Ok, I just put the car back together after about 5-6 months of it not running (it ran great before I took it apart). I put everything back together, primed up the fuel lines (pressure read good on the gauge), fired it up, started cranking great.... never turned over. It try it a few times and got a random pop here and there. So I figure, maybe I got my rotor 180* in the wrong direction. I pull the distributer, turn in 180*, put it back in, go to fire it up.....no crank, all power goes out. Everything, gauges, floor lights, everything. So now I'm like "what the ****" I blew a fuse. Not so. I wait a couple seconds.... everything comes back on. What the hell is the deal here? Any ideas? I think the first thing I'm going to do is put the distributer back the way it was, or just try and set it again from scratch. Can maybe my coil be dead? I hope this is just something silly I must have ommitted. I'm using a 1987 HEI setup with a remote coil. Could I have missed a wire or a ground or something? There has to be some kind of fuel and spark, it gave me a pop or two sometimes. The crank will actually turn, its not siezed or anything. So....what do you guys think?

Vader

Start looking at the connections at the battery, engine ground, and starter fusible links. I wouldn't disturb the distributor any more unless you have to, since it probably isn't related to the loss of power.

Bort62

Sounds like a Big Short in the starter Circut to me.

Iroc n roll

Why did the engine crank fine when the distributer was 180*? How could it be short in the starter if it was fine before? Actually, another quick question, does anything ground to the headers on a stock car? I know the battery and engine ground is fine (strap that bolts to the firewall correct?) How many fuseible links are there?

Bort62

AFAIK, there are Two Fusible links At the starter, and one at the battery.

There are several things wich ground to the exhuast manifold bolts depending on what model you have.

My theory would be that while messing w/ the dist, you managed to short something. Inspect that wiring mess. If you have Power and ground at the starter, and power from the ignition to the solenoid, it will crank.

So something is wrong with one or more of those.

Iroc n roll

That makes sense. But it doesn't seem like anything shorted or blew... I have full power once I wait a few seconds. Do any of those wires related to the ignition ground to the headers? For some reason I have a feeling I probably missed a ground at the headers. Could that cause this problem?

RB83L69

Sounds like a bad connection at the battery, or at the other end of one of the battery cables; maybe the nut loose at the starter or something.

Iroc n roll

I'll start checking all my wires and grounds. In the meantime, let say I never touched my distributer. Why do you think the car wouldn't start and just kept cranking?

Bort62

Well if you have any little Loops hanging out of the Wiring harness, then there is a good chance you missed a ground.

But that wouldnt have anything to do with weather or not it cranked.

Rb is right too, Could also be a shotty connection at the battery, either on the ground or Hot Side. especially since it has sat for 5 months.

KISS

Iroc n roll

I had the battery out of the car. It's recently been charged and installed so it the connections there are good. I'll check the other end.

Iroc n roll

Ok, I went back to check out the wires. It turns out I did miss one ground on the passenger side (ring with 2 wires coming from it) I grounded this to the header and tried to start it again. Still no power. The connections to the battery are secure as well as the battery to starter cable. It must be since it cranked fine before. How can I have shorted something if all I did was turn the distributer, and with the negative battery cable disconnected anyway? I can't find any missed connections or burnt out wires. What can I do?

Bort62

Manually jumper the starter solenoid and see if it spins.

Just cause it cranked a few times dosent mean you have a good connection now.

Ive had the exact same thing happen to me as you describe. everything is powered then go to turn the key and blackout... comes back in a few seconds.

1 time was short in the starter circut, The other was Cause of Bad connections at the battery.

SHAGME

I Just had the same problem after putting my 350. it was a bad ground. I sanded the areas that the grounds had to go to. fixed my problem.

Iroc n roll

I think I'll just replace my positive battery cable. It's always looked like crap, just think its strange if it is the problem (just ****ting the bed all of a sudden after working and me not touching it, but stranger things have happened). I'll sand the grounds too to make sure of that. I'll check in and tell you how it goes. If I can manually jump the starter what will that tell me? That the solenoid is shot? Anyway, disregarding the whole power outage problem. Do you guys agree that it sounded like my distributer was 180* in the wrong direction before? Even if I do get this power problem solved, my car still didn't start before

Iroc n roll

Ok, here's the update. I took off both battery cables and sanded the **** out of them. I put them back on and try the car. It starts! But the timing is off so it dies after a few seconds. Now I pull the distributer and advance it a tooth since I'm sure the timing was pretty off. Now I get everything back together and try it again. Car cranks, stutters, power cuts out, comes back on, cranks a little more, then click click click click. WTF!!!!!!! This thing is so *** damned tempormental. I noticed that the battery cables on my car have four little protrusions coming from it. However my battery doesn't have little nitches for them (well it does now from it being screwed in). Can this have anything to do with the problem. What the hell is going on now. Now the car is cranking but then it clicks and power comes in and out in seconds.

Iroc n roll

Any ideas? Same problem?

Andy Bush

When a battery connection is on the way out due to corrosion, the first few cranks can be enough to lay down enough extra crud on the terminals to finnish the job. The corrosion is cause by the flow of electricity.

Unless you get the timing right, it may be silently backfiring, and preventing the starter turning the engine over. If you are too far advanced, the firing will occur on the compression stroke when the valves are closed, so you don't hear anything.

When you get this in combination with any battery problem the engine will not make it passed TDC. If the starter can still wrench the engine past TDC, you have lost too much power and interia for the engine to run.

You'd notice if you were hand cranking an old engine and this happened, the crank would reverse. This was such a danger, the hand cranked cars had to be retarded because even normal advance can backfire - turnig the engine backwards if the starter is not strong enough.

It sounds like the popping happened when the timing was retarded, and if you turned it a whole tooth you probably have ot too advanced.

You have to check the timing with a light.

Iroc n roll

Don't I have to get the car to run before I can use a timing light? Before I moved the distributer a tooth the car would start right up then die because it was loping too much. I assumed that timing was retarded so I advanced it a tooth. Sound reasonable? I replaced the negative battery cable and sanded the ground connection on the block. What else should I check for? Could it be a dead coil?

Andy Bush

The symptoms of engine dying after starting when retarded are normal. With the hand cranked engine, you had to run around to the drivers side to re-advance the ignition to stop it dying.

Get a marker pen and mark the distributer body where the number one HT lead is located in the cap. You can just start where the lead goes into the cap, and draw a line vertically down onto the distributer body.

Turn the engine to where the advance should be, say about 4 degrees. Make sure number one cylinder valves are closed. You can remove Number one plug and feel the compression if some one turns the engine with a wrench on the crank nut.

Take off the distributer cap and turn the distributer body until the rotor lines up with the mark on the body. That sets the rough timing.

Replace the plug and distributer cap, check none of the wires came off.

Set up your timing light and get some one to try to start the engine, while you watch the timing.

As soon as it fires up, or even if it does not fire but does turn over you can still see if it is advanced or retarded. You should be able to adjust it just by turning the distributer with teh engine running.

Don't spend any money until you have the timing right.

Iroc n roll

Thank you very much. It turns out that my timing was off and that was the cause of the problem. The second time I adjusted the distributer I must have gone too far. Thanks again.

Andy Bush

Ace.