Car won't start! (UPDATE- RUNNING)

[Mitch//pa]

Re: Car won't start!

If it runs for a little bit, it's not an electrical problem.

It's running out of fuel. Can you unhook your fuel line from the carb, put a bucket or cup there, and then turn on the gas and see if you have a strong flow. If not, you have a chunk of crud in the gas tank that has blocked fuel delivery to the carb.

he said he did that post #12

 

[bogdonj]

Re: Car won't start!

I don't know about anyone else, but I have been following this thread with mounting interest. Such drama!

Others know far more than I about these things, but I am learning just by following along. If this were a mystery book I would be tempted to skip to the end to see how it turns out.

There will be great rejoicing when this problem is finally resolved.

hahaha yes we will get it resolved and conquer this beast.... the starter gets fixed tomorrow then we are goign to try a few things that everyone has mentioned.

 

[bogdonj]

Re: Car won't start!

he said he did that post #12

actually good thinking.. I will check the gas tomorrow.... it ran fine before with this gas but you never know... thanks

 

[Bruce Adams]

Re: Car won't start!

Do try checking the fuel out the carburator drain.
I keep harping that your new carb might have a fuel line pushed in too far to permit a full flow of gas.

 

[bogdonj]

Re: Car won't start! (UPDATE)

Sounds to Me, with all your Tries, and everything seems OK. Pull the Spark Plugs out, they are Probaly Wet by now or Fouled. With the plugs out, remove the coil wire and turn the engine over, let her air dry out, or install different plugs. Even if the Engine is New, and everything is in order. Probaly just Loaded up, clean her out.

Remember the Old School trick == Get a bunch of friends to push You, coast down a hill and try starting it in second gear, Key on, easying out the Clutch and turning her over, or have it towed.
Id bet it just needs to be cleaned out!!

FINALLY!!!!! took the advice of Jazzjr....then adjusted the the points gap and changed plugs & retimed.....after a few turnovers of engine and with some pursasion it finally started and after about 8 minutes it FINALLY smoothed out and ran properly but occasionly idle slows down and the speeds up??? could be an air leak somewhere ? check all gaskets around manifold and seem ok and no leaks. I still believe something is wrong with the carburator because the mixture control from inside the car is hard to turn left and right. I guess we have a ghost in the car! After more inspection we found that our water pump is cracked! please chime in on this one and let me know if anyone else has had this problem. looks like we gotta get a new one.. is it ok to drive a short distance?

Keep you guys updated when we take it for a longer run and thanks for all the help.

 

[Gary WA]

Are your plugs fouled! Simple things first! Change out your plugs and try!

 

[Gary WA]

looks like the fuel bowl is empty?Gas cap vented!

 

[Ron in Quincy]

Some time ago I had a simulsr problem; finally found the culpert, the flag terminal at the points was soldered good but flag terminal that crimps to hold the wire had been crimpted so hard it had almost cut the wire; when I would advance the spark rod it pulled the wire apart leaving only about 3 strands; the engine would die just like turning off the switch. The engine ran fine for a long time but each time I advanced the spark it would stress the wire which finally nearly broke into.

Ron

 

[bogdonj]

yeah we checked everything, still don't know what truly caused it not to fire. one of those weird scenarios! Just glad to hear it finally run again.. such a nice sound.

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

yeah we checked everything, still don't know what truly caused it not to fire. one of those weird scenarios! Just glad to hear it finally run again.. such a nice sound.

Did you replace the water pump? That was a bad spot for a crack, as the pumpcould break off and go through the radiator.

Looking at the fan belt in the 6th picture, it looks like the fan belt is tighter than it needs to be. Half way betweent the fan pulley and generator you shoud be able to easily push and pull the belt 1 1/2".

 

[bogdonj]

We are working on getting a new water pump soon. do you think it would be ok to drive it 2 min down the road to our garage? Was this a common spot for the cracks on the water pump?

I will see if I can adjust the belt, I remember putting it on and it was fairly tight to begin with. can problems occur if the belt is too tight?

 

[1928Pickuppain]

It will be fine I mean for all you know you could have drivin 100 miles on it like that 2 miles wont hurt or kill anything.

 

[bogdonj]

Re: Car won't start! (UPDATE- RUNNING....now not running)

UPDATE!!!!!! as many of you know I have been having troubles with getting this engine to fire again.. after getting a solid 2 months of running one day we couldn't get it to work. We have tried EVERYTHING and today we took it back to the re builder which happens to be a expert on model A's and comes highly recommended. We will update this thread when he figures out what is causes this and hopefully this thread can help us or anyone that is having the same problem. When the engine ran it ran beautiful so something went wrong somewhere!

here is a quick pic of the car being loaded and at the shop!

 

[Peter Pucak]

Had the same problem with my A. Took a jumper wire from one side of the ignition switch to the other side . Hit the starter and she fired up.Use a wire with alligator clips on each end.

 

[MikeK]

Had the same problem with my A. Took a jumper wire from one side of the ignition switch to the other side . Hit the starter and she fired up.Use a wire with alligator clips on each end.

There is no "other side" on the original popout switches. You must have some type of aftermarket switch that failed.

 

[Peter Pucak]

I had the original Ford switch with the original Ford key. The key number and the switch numbers matched plus the extra set of keys with matching numbers for the car. No pop-out. Made in Canada.