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View Full Version : Car won't start!! Maybe ignition??



Bishop73
10-24-2008, 02:17 PM
I'm a complete novice with ignitions and I believe I am having an issue with mine. I tried to start the car last night and it wouldn't turn over, it would however spew gas out of the carb (stuck float I think, not doing it now after a few taps).

I am looking at it again now, checked all my connections and fuses and they all look fine. All of my plug connections are good too. The car cranks but will not start, I am hearing a slight ticking noise coming from the area of my MSD box. I have a 7AL unit with a Propower 2 coil. Taylor wires, motor is a 454 running a Holley 850 dp. Not sure of the cam or compression. Not sure what other info you experts may need. Any help would be SUPER as I'm trying to get to a cruise in tonight. Thanks in advance for any help.

Rob

David Pozzi
10-25-2008, 12:49 PM
Pull the coil wire out of the distributor cap, connect it to an old spark plug and lay the plug on a good ground. NOT near the car or any fuel!

Crank the engine and look for spark, it should be a nice healthy red/orange buzzing spark if you have an MSD. If you have spark there, then pull off a plug wire and check it the same way there.

If no spark, connect a test light to the negative terminal on the coil, other end to ground, crank the engine and look for the test light to flash, it won't go completely off, but will go bright and dim. If you have a constant light or no light it will lead you to either a bad trigger or power failure respectively . It's not unheard of for a distributor drive gear to fail, the rotor would not turn in that case, and you'd get no flicker of the light and no spark. Check that power is getting to the MSD from your ign switch.

NEVER crank your engine with no coil wire plugged into the coil! The high voltage will jump to the primary circuit and blow out the MSD.
David

Bishop73
10-25-2008, 02:34 PM
Thank you very much for the help. I'll try that. After some attempts last night I was able to get it to start but only while pumping the gas. So now I'm back to thinking it's a fuel pump/filter/line or pressure regulator. :(