Well after finding out that my first starter fried and chipped a tooth on my flywheel and a flooded carb on Monday. I had a new starter put on,tried to start the car,it cranks for ages comes ever so close but never starts, I would give my battery a boost from trying to start every hour or so,tried with the choke all the way open and still nothing.The fuel pump works cause the carb got flooded twice,and if I press and hold the gas pedal down and crank it, it almost fools you that its about to start right up but never does.What could this be, Im out of money and patience and it is my daily driver ride so someone please help me.I think its flooded but I have no clue how to get it started at all I tried all I can HELP.

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305 LG4 all stock......for now.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you're still having trouble getting it started. It is frustrating isn't it?

If the starter sounds like it is spinning like normal, then your battery is probably o.k.. If in doubt, you can always have the parts store do a load test on it.

Since you are getting fuel to the carb, fuel delivery is probably not the problem. Air delivery shouldn't be a problem. Is your air filter clean?

The other area to look at is the ignition system. You had mentioned before that you had new spark plugs put in; were they gapped to spec.. If the gap is too large, the spark may not be able to cross the gap. Also when pulling on stubborn plug wire boots(to get to the plugs), there's a chance that the metal connectors inside the boots may have come off the wires. That could prevent the spark from getting to the plug(s). Are the wire boots secured firmly on the plugs? Are the wires going to the correct cylinders? Of course if you drove the car after the plugs were put in, that's probably not the problem. Check the plug wires for any kind of cuts, or burns. Also, plug wires may look good on the outside, but on the inside may be bad(especially if they are old). There's a tool that I bought for a few bucks that has a groove that you run along the plug wires and it checks to see if you have spark going through(it has a little bulb that lights).

When the car was running did you have the "check engine" light come on? If someone else replaced the spark plugs, ask the mechanic what the old ones looked like(were some sooty, oily, etc.).

The problem could be any number of things; and I don't want to say that it is something if I'm not sure. It could be the plugs, the wires, an ignition coil, cap & rotor, or something completely different. It is a high mileage car, and that makes troubleshooting a little harder. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.

[This message has been edited by coach (edited November 24, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by coach (edited November 24, 2001).]

 

What happened immediately before you started having this problem? How many miles does the engine have on it? When it tries to start, does it seem like it's just about to catch for a second or 2, then start sounding funny, then quit trying to catch altogether, then sound like it's spinning too fast (like it has no compression), then spit back through the carb, then start trying to run again, and keep doing that?

An engine needs 3 things to run: reasonably correct fuel-air mixture (it should at least run somewhat over a very wide range); correctly timed sprak; and compression. Rather than try cooking up all kinds of theories or just taking wild guesses, try to identify which one or ones your engine has trouble with.

If it's behaving as I described above, then it's not a fuel or spark problem.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

Well I tried to start'er up again this morning and, my father who thinks he is an expert on starting carb cars goes and sprays a **** load of quick start down the carb.I turn the key press and hold the gas and it almost catches but doesnt several times.After 10 secs Id stop let the starter cool and try again and at times boost the battery.Then I started to smell gas so I know I just reflooded the damn thing.This is my guess,I have fuel obviously enough it works,the starter is brand new,changed oil and air filter, and now Im thinking of doing my distributor since the spark plugs are only a week old why would they need to be replaced.Tell me what you think I should try next?

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305 LG4 all stock......for now.