BriannaSue

Hey, MF!

Bear with me...

So I recently added a 1990 5.0 to the family, but haven't gotten her started yet. The car is worth it's weight in mods and is almost completely redone. When turning over you can tell she wants to go but somethings cutting it. You can visibly see fuel spitting in the air so I know she's getting juice. I think I've narrowed it down to two possible situations. Either there's no physical spark or timings off. But, I honestly have no clue at this point. Any thoughts?

mattdel

Checking for spark is pretty easy. While someone spins the motor with the key, take the plug wire off the coil, and hold it a half inch away. If you have spark, it should visibly jump from the coil to the wire, assuming it's close enough. It sounds scary but if your plug wires are in good shape you won't get an arc.

BriannaSue

I actually tried that and couldn't visibly see anything, I thought maybe I just couldn't see it. I'll try it again, this time closer! Thanks!

mjr46

just use a old spark plug, pull a wire, insert it and ground electrode keeping your hand on the rubber boot so you don't get a little tingle.

BriannaSue

Car has officially been started!

tinman

Ok, what did the problem turn out to be?

petrock

BriannaSue, glad to hear its fixed. What was the problem? and what was the solution? Inquiring minds want to know...

Hmmm... It also seems like a few posts of mine & others have gone missing in this thread.

BriannaSue

We assume the timing was a tad off, we simply rotated the distributer and found er sweet spot and she went. She starts right up but cuts herself off. If you allow her to run she revs real high and cuts. Any ideas what that may be? She builds up pressure but can't keep it...

And yes, where did the other posts go??

LCBlackDep183

Did you actually bring it into time with a timing light? I'd say start there and get it into a correct timing position to rule that out.

BriannaSue

In the process of timing it 100%, having trouble getting an accurate reading with the light though...