I just bought an 85 Trans Am 305 with an 700r4 trans 3 weeks ago. It came without a carb and my neighbor sold me her edelbrock 1406 carb for $50. I have everything hooked up but no vacuume advance because of the stock
distributor. I just want the engine to start so I know everything in the engine is fine. I am currently looking for a Q jet because they are better then any aftermarket 600 cfm carb. Anyways when I go to start the car the engine cranks over really slow. It never starts. The engine turn over 3 rotations then kills my battery. I charge it up and try again. same problem the engine cranks over slowly and never starts. I took the starter off and bench tested it. It passed without any problems. If any one has any ideas let me know. Thank for your help

 

id check your battery because even if the motor wouoldnt start it should still crank fine check the connections and all that good stuff because somthing isnt adding up

 

I've used an Edelbrock 600 cfm carb and a factory Q Jet in the past and I would easily choose the Edelbrock due to their easy installation, reliability, and they are virtually maintenance free.

I'm not pushing Edelbrock - this is just my 2 cents.

 

So I checked the battery terminals and tighten them. I also checked the POS wire to the starter and the NEG cable to the block both were tight. The engine turned over a little faster then before but still slower then normal. I unpluged each spark plug and spark plug wire and tested them. They all sparked fine. The carb was getting fuel to it and spraying fuel without a problem. Engine still wont start. I am still at a lost.

 

it sounds like a battery.

might try jump starting the car while cranking it, asking a parts store to bench test your battery, swap a known good battery from another car, or try replacing the terminal nuts on the cables >$2 each and can really improve a battery connection.

 

I have a jumppack on the battery the whole time and the engine still wont start. I also used my jeep battery and my friends Chevy truck battery. Still the same result. I have also tested each battery with my DMM. The T/A still wont start.

 

get your alt tested. take it up to advance auto and they will run it on a belt and test the output. thats my bet (assuming battery is fine).

 

I tested the alt and it was fine. The engine still cranks but dosent start.

 

try turning the crank pulley or the flywheel with a screw driver, if the motor has a bearing thats trashed and bunched up in there it would cause a hard turnover

 

Thats is what I am worried about. I have put off turning the engine over by hand in hopes that the crank and bearings are fine. I will try that tomorrow.

 

Ok so I turned the engine over by hand and it took the same amount of torque for all 4 full rotations.( so crank and bearings are fine) I replaced my battery with a 865 cranking amp battery instead of the stock 750 cranking amps. I also replaced my spark plugs.(The spark plugs I took out werent even close to the right gap) The engine turned over at a normal speed finally but still wont start. I was wondering If the edelbrock 1406 with vacuume advance would not let my car start because I dont have a vacuume advance distributor. I just want the car to start and not run for very long or drive it. I just want to make sure my engine Is fine, or will I need to get a new engine. I should have the stock Q-jet at my house by wednesday.

 

it should start if the carb is giving it fuel, the vacuum advance not hooked up wouldnt stop it, just keep it from running decent. have you tried pouring some gas down inside the carb (not much just a fluid ounce should do) and keeping the throttle open while turning it over? if you try that and you get a flame coming from the carb then the distributor might be off 180*

 

I know the carb is getting fuel. I have poured gas and starter fluid through the carb. (not at the same time) It started for 3 seconds but the engine was hesitating like timing was off big time or like it had a massive cam. I cant get it to start again. As soon as I let off the gas the engine died. The previous owner said he never moved the distributor. I dont know how timing could be off. What vacuume lines should be connected to the edelbrock 1406 carb? I have a lot of unconnected vacuume lines and have no clue what to do with them. Should I plug them off? I bought the car without a carb and it has a lot of disconnected vacuume lines. Does any one have pictures or a diagram of where the vacuume lines should go on an 85 trans am with an ebelbrock 1406.

 

get a timing gun and have someone crank the motor, what color was the spark at the plugs, blue or orange... its an air pump simply put, fuel, spark, and air so either the timing is super advanced or retarded or your not getting enough fuel.

 

and yes plug all the vacuum lines, if you just need it to start then none are truly important and having them all open is not going to allow much fuel to get to the combustion chamber

 

Do you know that you have compression? I'm not sure that that would cause your problem as I've never tried to start a motor with bad compression, but it's usually one of the first things that I check. Other than that, spark fuel and air should do it as long as the timing is anywhere near where it has to be. Is the carb choked when you try to start it? That wouldn't probably cause your problem but it would aid in getting the thing started.

 

Wow...nothing is worse than reading an entire forum that is about EXACTLY what your problem is and then at the end there is no answer. On almost every single forum I read. Little ridiculous. Sorry...but it's true.

 

The slow cranking speed could be several things. Test for voltage drop on each of the battery leads between the battery and the starter or engine block. With the engine cranking, there should be less than 1 volt loss on each wire. Watch battery voltage with the engine cranking. It should stay above 10 volts. If these tests pass okay, you really need to check the starter using a high current amp clamp. The starter should spike to about 350 or so amps on engagement then settle down to about 200 with the engine cranking. If it's much lower that this, the starter's no good. If it much higher, you should see low battery voltage while cranking.

I would recommend a compression check to be sure. It needs to be at least 120 to start and run it should be more like 180 to be a healthy motor.

How old is the fuel? Even if timing was off, you should get some sign of firing, like a pop out the exhaust or intake. Also, just because the plug will fire laying against the engine doesn't meam it will support combustion. Verify that the spark will jump at least a 1/2" gap. HEI should jump 1" no problem.

 

I also wish that when a car is fixed, the OP would come back with what the fix was. Most times they do. Sometimes not. Again, that doesn't mean your car has the same problem. Even if the symptoms sound similar, there are several things that could cause this. You need to test and verify the cause, or your just guessing and throwing parts at the problem.