craigh4575

I have a 67 mustang with a 289 that i recently purchased as a project. It has definitly been that The previous owner installed an electric fuel pump which is wired to the on position of the ignition switch. When i turn the ignition to start it kills the fuel pump and also does not start or even attempt to start. its almost like its going to ground. I have become extremely frustrated with tracing out wiring and everything. I have replaced the headlight harness which also goes to the starter relay, as well as the battery harness and checked the starter cable as well. I replace the coil and changed the points style to a petronix. The car will turn over if you jump the terminal on the starter relay Any help would be great appreciated before i pull what hair i have left out of my head.

scottyboy1

got spark ? plug wires correct order? distributer off.is the fuel pump getting fuel to the carb. electrical problems always a pain in the butt. when you say it doesn' even attempt to start do you mean it doen't turn over.

fastbackford351

So the car won't turn over with the key?

When you are chasing demons like this, especially when working alone, a remote starter and test light are invaluable.

What kind of shape is the rest of the ignition wiring in? If it's been spliced, diced and cobbled together, you will be money, time and aggravation ahead unscrewing that mess by either running new wires yourself or kiss the ugly baby and buy a replacement harness before delving deeper.

movielover40

Agree with scotty. Check for fuel at the carburator and check for spark on one the plugs.

Old cars are fairly simple.

scottyboy1

what if you pull 1 fuse at a time and see if it turns over. pull 1 if nothing put it back in ,pull the next 1 try again. I am just thinking try easy things 1st. am I understanding correctly that when you turn key on the fuel pump comes on like it should but when you turn the key to start, the fuel pump stops and the motor is dead and won't turn over or does the motor still turn?

socal57chevy

If the solenoid has two small posts, make sure that the correct wire is on the correct post of the solenoid. One should come from your ign switch to energize the coil for crank mode. Make sure that wire is attached to the correct terminal on the coil. Make sure it has 12v with the ign switch in the crank position. You may need a buddy to hold the test light for this.

craigh4575

thanks for all the response guys. I do have fuel at the carb and i am getting spark from the new petronix coil to the cap, but i am not getting spark. I confirmed the firing order and had to move some of the wires as they were not correct according to the distributor location starting at 1. I am still trying to figure out why no spark when the cap is basically brand new but not sending spark It has the petronix 2 ignition module to replace the points as well now. i am about to change the neutral safety switch out as well.

craigh4575

yes that is correct scott. there are two fuses missing that i need to get replaced I am finding lots of things that are noy correct so i am starting with the obvious stuff first

SteveL

See if I understand correctly, the fuel pump stops pumping when the key is turned to the start position? That tells me that the pump just needs to be connected to another circuit, or have another wire added to give it power when the key is in the start position.
The spark, it sounds like your saying that your getting spark from the coil but not out of the distributor? Verify that the coil wire is good from the coil to the distributor first. I have had coil wires that fail internally, causing the coil to spark fine but no spark getting to the coil. If you have spark going from the coil end of the coil wire, but no spark at the spark plugs it has to be the distributor cap or rotor. Possibly the wrong cap? I have also seen a couple of times where the rotor was not making contact with the coil contact point under the cap.
The no spark condition should not have anything to do with fuses if you have spark from the coil when cranking the engine.
I am curious about how the firing order was off. Did someone pull all of the plug wires? Typically if you have spark but the firing order is off you can tell. It will do a few things, either backfire through the exhaust or the intake or it will try to fire on the wrong stroke causing it to act like the starter is catching or the battery is low.
If the engine is turning over with the starter, you get spark from the distributor end of the coil wire as it is turning over but get no spark at the spark plugs then your distributor cap or rotor has to be messed up somehow.
On a side note, if the fuel pump is filling the float bowl, and pumps enough fuel when the key is in the run position, but wont pump fuel when the key is turned to the start position the car should still start. There should be enough fuel in the float bowls to start the engine and keep it running several seconds before it uses the fuel and dies.

barrylink

the most important is a spark at plug ,and fuel. if you take a plug any plug that you have laying around and remove the boot from one in the motor ,then attach it to the loose plug and ground it to the block or anywhere on the motor you should see a spark .If not then the distributor is the problem or coil possibly .I would switch out coil first then distributor next if switching out coil has no effect. The pick up in distributor could easily be faulty,its happened to me ...