Howdy all,

So driving down the lonesome hwy and poof, car died. Thought maybe I ran out of gas so I nursed it to the gas station and filled her up. Couldn't get it started, just turned over.

I just bought this ride and had a 347 stroker installed, with new fuel pump etc. So after I couldn't get it started and towed it home. Since I'm a newbie at this, I'm kinda at a loss as to what to tear into first. Fuel line? Drain tank and...?, fuel pump? My first thought is that since it was sitting, the tank might be gummed up and TRYING to send "dirty" fuel through and plugging up somewhere? What should I attack first?

Thoughts? Ideas? Help?

Thanks!

 

Check to see if it has spark.

 

I think I know what happened!! My car was attacked by the same thing that attacked this site for 2 days!! j/k!

It has spark as it did actually idle for a second or 3. :/

 

It's been my experiance that when the engine just dies with no warning and won't re-start, it's ignition. When it sputters and dies, sort of restarts, but won't stay running, then it's fuel delivery.

 

check for both spark and fuel when the car wont start then you will know what direction to go.

 

you can check for fuel to the carb by removing the fuel line from the carb, placing the line in a glass jar and cranking the engine over for about 4 seconds. The Jar should be almost full

*This is for testing mechanical fuel pumps**

If you are getting good volume (full jar of gas) then you know you are golden at lest up the the carb....

-Gun

 

Not neccessarily. Ignition components can be funny that way. One time they will work, the next they won't. It all depends on what's gone wrong with them. First thing I would do is pull the coil wire up high enough off the distributer cap so that you can see if it has spark and have someone turn the motor over. You should get a nice, crisp, blue spark. If that checks out, do what Gun Jam said.

 

take off your aircleaner, engine off, open the choke butterfly if it's closed and open the throttle fully. you should see a healty spray of fuel coming from the nozzles at the top.
that tells you if the carb itself has fuel. if that works and you can keep the car running with pressing the throttle occasionally it might be dirt in carb. hard to troubleshoot from away ...

 

Ok, did al of the above: Had a nice blue spark, but no fuel was getting to carb. So I removed fuel filter and blew some air threw it and it didn't blow threw right away, but did eventually. stuck the line in a jar (should've done that before too, but...) and nice fuel stream. Cranked engine over and voila, it actually tried to start but then I noticed battery was low so put it on a charger and am letting it charge for a few hours.

So, my next question/thought is; It was a plugged fuel filter, so should I drain the tank, clean it out and replace fuel lines as I'm afraid this will be an on-going problem!

Thoughts?

Oh, and thanks for all the help guys! This site rocks. I've found lots of answers in past threads about a plethora of things!

 

if the tank is original yes replace it or it will be a source of constant headaches....