F-Body Europe

Truck ran great all day Friday. Had a hard time starting it that morning though. Had to play with the timing but didn't think anything of it. Got it set where it ran the best and left it at that. Kept starting back up without problems afterwards all day. Here's the problem. Damn thing wouldn't start today. After it sits overnight, it won't start back up. It's not the carb (electric choke) as you can smell the gas after cranking it for a bit. Pull the plugs and they're wet. (They are gapped to .045".) WTF??? I should not have to play with the timing just to start the truck. Any ideas on what's going on? FYI, there is no resistor wire to the dist.(HEI), it's getting a full 12 volts. I don't have time for this crap, it's gotta go (on the boat back to the states) this week.
DAMN YOU MURPHY!!!

You getting spark at the wires? could be intermitant coil.

Mav

Ditto what Mav said

hAD THE SAME PROB WITH MY cAMARO . iT HAD A HAIR LINE CRACK IN THE COIL.

Dang it. The parts are supposed to be new. I'll try to check it out tommorow. Hate to have to put the old points dist. back in, but whatever it takes.
Thanx for the info, keep it coming.

My 70 Chevelle had the same problem. Did you convert the ignition from Points to HEI? If so, did you change the diameter of the wire running from the starter solenoid to the HEI coil? It needs to be two sizes bigger. The old wire will still read 12 volts but the resistance is two high to provide the power for the HEI. One more thing to check. If you are running a Quadrajet see if the fuel bowl in the carb is empty in the morning. If so give me a call at 01786996831 and I will explain to you how to fix it.

Had a q-jet. Know what you're talking about. A little epoxy works. The wire is 14 guage. Could try a 8 guage that I have left over from an old stereo install. Like I said earlier, After the truck finally starts up for the first time, it's good for the rest of the day. I just hate having to play with the dist. just to get it started. After it starts, the dist. is in the same position as when I started. It's not like the timing changed. I guess that it's possible that the coil needs more "juice" for starting a cold engine.

Anyone got a spare Mallory HEI coil? Before I jump to conclusions, here's what happened tonight. After going over the wiring and seeing that all looks good, I checked the coil. Looks good (it should, it's brand new!). After turning the dist. clockwise, it fired up. But only for a second at the most. Played with the dist. a bit and it ran. I revved it up over 3K and it died. The tach (is wired to the dist. @ the coil) dropped to 0 rpm just before the engine died. Got it started again after a couple of minutes of messing with it. Then the same thing happened. Revved it up and the tach started bouncing and it died again. WTF?!?! I really don't want to put the old (ugly) points dist. back in.
The really f-d up part about all of this is - I'm supposed to be a mechanic. I can fix everything but my own crap.

Try the bigger gauge wire we spoke about. To use it as a quick diagnosis you can run it from the Hot on the alternator to the coil. The only thing is that the car won't shut off until you remove this wire.

Try the bigger gauge wire we spoke about. To use it as a quick diagnosis you can run it from the Hot on the alternator to the coil. The only thing is that the car won't shut off until you remove this wire.

Tried it, didn't work. Said the hell with it and put in the old points dist back in. Fired up within 1 second. Battery was just about dead. Starter went whirrr...whi-vroom. (There was a pause before it started.) Don't ask me how I got the timing just about perfect from the get go, I'm just glad that it runs again. Hopefully it won't die tommorow. Now I got to send the dist. to Mallory so they can tell me what happened and give me a new one.
Thanx for all of the input.

Glad you got it running again. Send that other crap back.

Mav