I've got spark, we put 3 gallons of gas in, there is a slow gas line leak, starting fluid won't get car running, thought it was a flooding problem but spark plugs weren't saturated, mice have chewed on spark plug wires but the car had started several times before, we recently cleaned out the blower motor of a mouse nest and now it won't start...

Could it be the chewed wires? Did something possibly happen after cleaning & reinstalling the blower motor? Seems to me there was a ground wire on the blower motor housing..could that be the problem? Also there was a green plug near the blower motor that seemed to go to nowhere..could it be that? Could all the gas already be gone? Or maybe there is another possible problem to consider?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

I would replace those wires first, and then see whether or not you still have a problem. If you aren't sure about your electrical connections, you should probably glance at a diagram and make sure they aren't going to something important. If it was plugged in before you worked on it, and it isn't plugged in now, that might be a contributor.

Just because the plugs aren't soaked in gas doesn't mean that you aren't flooded. It isn't a problem with being out of gas if you can't start it with starter fluid.

 

Good advice, I'll work with that. I figured the wires probably needed to be changed even though the car had been starting with them chewed on. I mean it's not like they chewed through them, but I'm sure it has to be affecting them somehow. How could it not? On some areas of the chewed wiring I can see a little of the silver inside the wire. It's gotta be messing it up a little if not a lot.

I'll look for some diagrams and pictures of the blower motor area. I'm pretty sure I ave that ground wire on right..maybe not though? And I've gotta figure out what's up with that green plug in. It must go somewhere, right?

My Dad thinks the car is flooded..how else can I tell if the thing is just flooded or not? Maybe check the fuel filter or can there be an indicator from the carburetor?

I appreciate the help. I know these are sort of common sense problems, but I'm sort of new at fixing cars and have been going in circles and going nowhere fast thinking what to do. If anyone has any more advice to offer I'm all ears.

 

Well, if it isn't severely flooded sometimes you can hold the pedal to the floor and get it to fire up... Usually your best bet is to take out all your plugs and crank the engine over several times to blow out all the extra fuel. It probably doesn't help if you sprayed a bunch of starting fluid into it in addition to the gas that was in there.

If the plugs aren't wet, it probably didn't get into your oil, but just to be sure pull out your dipstick and see if your oil smells like gas.

Having the wires chewed through would probably have made them unreliable, if nothing else. It might not be generating a strong enough spark to ignite the fuel.