HI
well our starting problems havent been solved yet..
we went out and started the vette today, fired off beautifully. let it go, came back and started it again in hopes that it wasnt a fluke and again it fired off beautifully.

HOWEVER now, it wont fireoff and just turns over and over without an ocasional sputter.
(timing cant be off because it ran perfectly before)

it seems like after the engien has heated up, then some component fails preventing it from starting.
does anybody know of anything to look for or check??

thanks!
JIM

 

Sounds like your car has the same bug as mine. However it won't even start cold. As soon as I swap back to the old distributor I'm going to report back. I hope it's that simple. I've only had my car back on the road for three weeks with the new motor and I ain't real happy about it right now!

 

Jim,

In a nut shell, it can only be one of two things… Fuel or Fire!

The car is a 1974 so it should have a pointed distributor (unless you have changed it) If you have changed it, and are running a HEI distributor you will need to supply a power to the distributor from a source other than the yellow with black speckled wire. This wire is a resistance wire and it will drop the resistance to the ignition when it heats up. Once heated, this wire will not supply enough power to the distributor. GM used a resistance wire to drop voltage to the points which made the points last longer! This is not something that you would want to use on an HEI Powered car. If you have a Pertronix system installed or a new GM style distributor.. You’ll need to power it up with a direct 12 volt power supply. If this is the case you can pick up a switched 12 volt power from the starter.

I would suspect you have checked to make sure you have fuel and a good set of points if not changed to an HEI style. If not, take the air cleaner off and crack the throttle open by hand while looking in the carb throat. You should see fuel squirt in to the carb. If you don’t see fuel the check the fuel filter in the side of the carb where the line bolts to the carb… (Based on what carb you have) If all this checks out ok, then proceed.

Check the fuel pressure between the carb and the pump. To do this you’ll need to make you an adapter fitting to screw on to the main fuel line if you have the original fuel line. If your car has a splice in it, then you should not have any problem hooking a pressure gauge to it. Check the pressure when the car is in the no start mode. Good fuel pumps should show between 6 – 8 lbs of pressure. Actually between 5.25 and 6.5 is enough to run the engine!

When you are done with the fuel test, check the plug wires at the spark plug for fire, again when the car is in the no start mode. If you don’t have fire at the plugs then check them at the distributor cap. If no fire at the cap, check the coil!

Have you tested the resistance of the coil to see if it’s dumping on you? A coil has two resistance fields. Primary and Secondary. To test the coil, the primary resistance should read 1.0-1.16 ohms and the secondary resistance should read 7500-10500 ohms. You can test the continuity of the primary and secondary windings with an ohm meter. The primary windings can be tested by taking an ohms reading between the two small terminals on top of the coil. To test the secondary windings take an ohms reading from the center coil wire to the side of the coil. Basically testing it from the coil wire hole to the outside of the coil. If there is no reading present on either the primary or the secondary when the car will not start, we’ll you then you need a coil…

If you have fuel, and you have spark the engine should run.

Good luck…. It has to be one or the other…

My two cents worth and I hope it helps you...

Willcox Inc.

 

Thanks for the reply,
we were able to get it to fire off yesterday however in comming back to it today..
it decided to just click at us..

the car has run perfectly before on HEI
this has only started after we replaced all the brake lines and the car sat for about a month. Then when all teh brakes were done, we turned the key and it just clicked at as. we replaced the starter because we were told it was bad and it started but ran rough. after adjustign the timing for a our new remanufactured quadrajet it ran perfectly yesterday until TODAY when again, it just clicked at us..
now the battery was slightly low again although i dont know why but it doesnt seem low enough to cause it to click at us.is there anythign that could be causing teh battery to drain like this???

thanks again

JIM

 

You have a battery that is down when it clicks at you.

 

Jim,

Have you checked where you getting power for the HEI? It might have worked for a while, but it might be have fried…

Also check the fuse link at the starter..

You might want to check the trigger wire for the alternator, and/or the output of the alternator! The alternator has a 12 volt wire that runs from the back to the starter… But it also has a trigger wire that plugs in to it. If the trigger is not supplying power to the alternator, it will not induce output to the battery! If you have a low or bad battery, and a trigger wire that is not supplying power to the alternator, you will have issues. I’m not sure what the color of the wire is, on older c2 cars the trigger wire was a black with a white stripe.

Have you cleaned the terminals to the battery too! Clicking as suggested by “womb” can be low battery. But it can also be corrosion on either of the battery terminals, a loose wire on the starter,

The main question here is did you do the test as suggested in my earlier post… “In a non start mode”..

You said that you changed the starter.. Are you sure you have it wired correctly. Also, have you checked the grond to the back of the block...

Willcox Inc

 

This problem had me scratching my head more than once.
The wires were not fully seated in the plastic plug which still allowed the headlights to look bright along with everything else working but it would not turn over
Pushed the wires firmly into the plug and all was fine

 

WILLCOX --- when you say
"you can pick up a switched 12 volt power from the starter"
are you suggesting a 10ga wire directly from the started to the + side of the distributor? if so ...hooked-up where on the starter? On the "R" terminal?
Thanks

 

Has anyone checked a starter by un-bolting it (droping it down from the flywheel) but leaving the wires connected and then turning the key?

 

yea you might be able to do that but it will need a ground. Whats the problem? what does it do when you hit the key?

 

When I hit the key (started attached) I get the clicking/clicking turns a little bit dance....battery is charged, starter is new..
Seems to do a start one time and then not start the next time thing...
wondering if there is some type of relay or switch somewhere that is going out?

 

Jim, It is the battery or the connections to it. Just how do you know for sure it is good?

 

well... when I check it with my meter it shows good, and when I put my charger on it it shows charged......

 

If it continues to click like you've mentioned you may want to jump the car from the starter directly.. Just a thought... It could be a bad ground or something like that.. But if you use this method it will bypass all of that.

 

Looks to me like the starter solenoid might be on the fritz.

 

HI
thanks - but neg ground to the frame is tight as it gets, only goes from battery neg to frame, so its not the neg (no corrosion at all on the terminal) pos is the same...starter was returned last week to be checked, they said it was a litte weak but OK, I questioned it and they gave me another one!

 

ok, lets see if we can get this figured out.
So it just clicks when you hit the key? That means the solenoid is picking up, thats what the click is. That means you have 12v to the starter (don't know about good or not yet) So you need a test light. You can make one out of a brake light bulb and a piece of wire, just solder the wire to one contact on the bulb and another piece to the ground shell on the bulb. This is handy tool as it will tell you if the power connections and grounds are good and solid.
With the key off, connect one leg of the light to the big cable on the starter and ground the other one to the starter case, light should be nice and bright. Next hit the key with the light connected as above (this requires 2 people) the light should dim a very little bit. If it dims a lot there is a problem between the battery and starter (battery, cable connections, cable) If the light stays bright but the starter just clicks, the problem is in the solenoid. It is basically a relay, inside there is a large contact and that usually causes the problem.

 

When you say no corrosion-you mean at the battery probably.Have you checked where it bolts to the frame-this is a common place to find a bad connection.The terminal that bolts to the frame sometimes looks swollen.Use one lead of your jumper cable----attach one end to neg. term.of battery and other end to frame.

 

A battery can read 12+ volts on a meter and still be bad, It can also show a full charge when charging and still be bad. When put under load it fails to supply the amps necessary to start the car. Its a very common thing, especially these days with the new thin plate technology.

 

Guys - Many Thanks for all the suggestions!