BuffaloBILL

Hello
After work I decided to take a quick drive to the auto parts store and started the Vett I admit I did not let her warm up Getting out the driveway the old girl stalled as I was giving gas and I could not get her to fire up again? The plugs have fire I have gas going into the carb I thought that she was flooded waited a few hours tried to start the car
The Vette is turning over getting fire and gas but will not start

I recently cahged the plugs and she was running great this weekend

Am I missing something? I guess I can check plugs for fowling other then that I havent a clue

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thank you
BuffaloBill
65 Vert

Bowtyeguy

Is it electronic ignition? What color is the spark? I would check the points, cap and coil if you didnt do this. Where are you getting spark at? Pull a plug and see if its gas soaked .

BuffaloBILL

The spark is bluish white/yellow ( Weak) Yes Electronic ignition
I will pull a couple of plugs this evening after I attempt to start up agian

Thanks
Bill

Coves4me

Before you try to re-fire the engine, pop the hood and remove the aircleaner assembly. It probably flooded and you don't want it to backfire and damage the hood. If it's flooded, floor the accelerator (wide open) and crank it until it fires up. Then let it warm up normally. If your choke is closing up too far, the engine could have starved for air. Check your choke setting before doing anything. Could be as simple as a screw adjustment on the high step of the choke cam.

BuffaloBILL

Did that last night No resaults

Thank you
Bill

MasterDave

Very possibly you've washed the cylinders with so much fuel that your compression is now too low for it to fire. Hood open, air cleaner off, throttle to the floor and choke open, crank while using starting fluid. If still no fire you will probably need to oil the cylinders a little by removing the plugs.

OC-1

When you changed plugs did you change the brand or heat range?
If so put the old plugs back in and see if that works.

Weak coil ?
Ground wire broken in the distributer?

66L72

what about that white ceramic electrical thing ...... does this car have one......... they used to break at the weirest times on my old mopars.........cant remember what their called ......ballust resistor or something........mounted on the firewall......

iveym5

Could be a stuck float in the carb not allowing gas to refill the fuel bowl. I've had this happen before. The fuel bowl in the carb has enough gas to let you run for 15 to 30 seconds before the engine dies and won't restart if it is stuck. Take of the air cleaner and see if the accelerator pump squirts gas in when you work the throttle. If it doesn't squirt, try rapping on the carb with a rubber mallet where the gas line enters the carb to see if it fixes it.

Olustee bus

I would check the coil, especially if it is old. A weak coil will do that. I know because I pushed a 63 coupe about a quarter of a mile to get it home.

kidvette

I would check the coil for enough spark or the distributor cap for a small crack or worn contact points. Any of these things will give you too weak of a spark.

Good luck!

BuffaloBILL

Well I got home this evening and did some more investigating It appears the the ballast resistor was pulling 12 Volts out from coil and sending 12 volts to the Petronix I guess I fried the Petronix and the coil was sending out very weak spark I went to the Parts store they do not carry a ballast resistor that converts 12 V to 6 V or the Petronixs So I will try the internet unless someone can refer a Distributor

Thanks for all the advice

Bill

62Jeff

Here are the accepted ways for wiring the Pertronix II module on a mid-year, depending on the type of coil you have.

BuffaloBILL

Now I am confused My wiring was Like the middle drawing If I wire up the petronix like the bottom drawing will the Ballast resistor have a continuous 12 Volts

JEFF 62 Please call me at my cell should you have a moment
Thank you
Bill
281-686-8095

MikeM

But you said it was getting spark to the plugs??????????????

If it is, I'd suspect you have gas fouled the plugs. When they get gas fouled, they'll spark outside the engine sometimes but when you put them back in the cylinder under pressure, they won't fire. If you pull a couple of plugs and they're wet, replace all of them and see if it doesn't fire right off.

62Jeff

Hi Bill,
Nice chatting with you. To respond to this thread - the middle wiring diagram is for a Pertronix II with a Stock rated coil, the idea being to drop the voltage to the ignition system to keep things from getting fried.

The bottom diagram includes the different coil with the different rating which does not require the voltage to be dropped to the coil.

If I got all that wrong, surely someone will step in and help me out.

Jeff

Dannoman

I'm with Mike....install a new set of plugs and I bet it fires up.

Danno

BuffaloBILL

That was exacactly what it was The Coil was VERYVERY weak I purchased the Flame Thrower Coil stuck it on the car fired right up for about 30 seconds then died again Checking for spark after the 2nd occurance HAd No Spark When checking the Ballaest resistor it had 12 volts going too it and 12 Volts coming out the buttom Telling me that it was bad and the Ballast resistor Probably FRIED THE PETRONIX due to the greater amount of volts going to it
I will call Petronix tech line to ask if there is a possibilty that my Petronix is still good If not I will purcahse a new one.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Bill

wmf62

it will be a lot cheaper to go back to points than to replace the Petronix...

but, it's interesting that you have 12 volts in and 12 volts out of the ballast. it is a resistor, and if it fails, it should fail open (no voltage out); unless it is somehow bridged from end-to-end across its resistor coil.
Bill

JohnZ

Disconnect the wires from both ends of the resistor and check across the terminals with a VOM set on "ohms" and tell us what you see; it should be between 1.5-2.5 ohms.