KALAWAY

After bragging about my trouble-free '75 for a year, now it won't start. It won't even cough a time or two. Sounds like it's getting no gas. I backed it out of the garage, down the driveway, and into the street. Put it into drive and went about 10 feet and it shut off. Hasn't started since. Not even a hint of starting.

All the folks who see this car being pampered every weekend are now seeing me push it back into the garage. It was a little embarrassing but I guess that's what you get with these 30 year old cars.

Anyway, does it sound like the fuel pump? No smell of gas when I turn the ignition and pump the gas. Thought it might be flooded but once again, no smell of gas. Fuel gauge says half a tank. If I can figure out which line is the fuel line to the carb, I can pull this off and see if I'm getting gas. Is this a good idea?

Thanks guys for your help.

allautomotive

take the air claener cover off and pour a small cup of fuel (100ml)down the carb ports.have someone turn the car over as you do this.keep your face clear of the engine bay.if it starts for a couple seconds you know its a fuel issue.

MoneyPit

If you have a volt meter see what kind of power the battery has. You may not have enough juice in the bat. If that is okay,
Pull the coil wire, and place a screw driver b/t the wire and distrib cap to check for spark. If you are getting spark, leave the coil wire unhooked and take the fuel supply line off the carb. Have a rag handy, and under the line, and have someone turn the engine over. You should get a lot of fuel quick if the pump is working.

mandm1200

Engine Basics 101

Sounds like one of two things. No fuel or no spark. Do the above and you eliminated 1/2 the probably causes.

ribilly

Ahh,,, just make sure that the coil wire you have off is not anywhere near that fuel supply line or anywhere else a spark and gas can occour or you will need a pack of marshmallows, some graham crackers and hershey bars to make the Smores over your Corvette Hi-Bachhi grill.

GasketDude

Ok, I got some quick checks for you.

First the gas in the carb is a good one. But instead of just pouring it, there's a float bowl vent tube just in front of the choke flap. Add gas here, this will fill the bowl and not cause any bad issues-your just manually filling the bowl. Unless there's a mechanical problem that causes it to back fire. Watch your face, etc just in case. If it runs shortly, problem is in the fuel delivery system, maybe carb related.

Next, using standard circuit tester, screwdriver type with bulb built in. Ground the clip to a good ground, probe the negative side of the coil (tach port on cap works too) and see if the tester flashes while someone cranks the engine (w/key). If it flashes this rules out both the module and the pick up assembly, so check/replace the coil. If it doesn't flash, check the module (parts store can test with machine), pick up assembly for broken wires or broken teeth-still can be bad inside, and finally check the cap and the coil isolator washer for lube. This washer if dried out, can cause all kinds of issues, so lube it will dielectric grease. While you have the tester, check for power to the HEI cap, sometimes the fusable link coming from the start can break resulting in no power to the distributor.

There's a bunch of other stuff, but try these first and see what you find. Keep your eyes open during all this, might find something totally different happened while your in there.

Had this same thing happen to my mother's (G-Ma's) '59 this spring. Thought it was fuel, it sort of was, the electric security fuel valve wasn't allowing fuel from the tank to the fuel pump/carb. Turned out a rusty fuse box/terminal was the cause and couldn't handle the current draw and would cut out = no fuel. Took me about 20 minutes to track down part of the problem, I used the "add fuel to the carb' trick also. Wasn't til I pulled the fuse box out, did I find all the corrosion. (See my pics, there's a picture of the fuse panel)

Happy hunting,
Later.

KALAWAY

Car is now fixed and running great. Bad ignition module, located under the distributor cap, for those not so mechanically inclined like myself. Part cost $14. I'm keeping a spare in the car from now on.

knkayotte

That will ensure you'll never have a problem with that part again.

jdmick

Good job and a good idea. I always keep a spare in these old Chevys. They'll fail at the worst times.