302 won't hot restart
04-19-2019, 10:40 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: SoCal
Posts: 2
302 won't hot restart
So my 1972 302 has been running fine for the last 3 years, it never starts very well but is a dream once running, however since it came out of winter storage it doesn't want to hot restart, it turns over but won't take. Leave it to cool and it fires up.straight away.
I thought it was an electrical issue as the spark doesn't seem very strong so I replaced the very cheap Chinese electronic distributor with an OEM points one and installed a flamethrower coil, now the beast starts up allot better and runs fine so I did a few short runs around town always driving home and parking when hot and it started up fine everytime I thought problem solved!
however on my way to a show today I stopped for some food and it happened again, I waited for it to cool and it started fineso carried on but I needed fuel so stopped again and this time not so good.
Engine is cool now and it will start but not very well, I'm a bit unsure of what to do next.
Although I haven't checked the pressure It appears to be getting fuel as when I look down the carb barrel (4 barrel edelbrock) I can see if vaporising and the filter is full so I assume that's good. It was also rolling road tubed last year so I'm unkeen to muck about with it.
The spark doesn't seem as fierce when it's hot but it's there still, the coil goes directly to the battery via a relay and it has correctly gapped points.
I took cold compression readings last week as follows:
1 - 120 psi
2 - 105 psi
3 - 130 psi
4 - 135 psi
5 - 145 psi
6 - 110 psi
7 - 120 psi
8 - 90psi
Obviously these are all over the place, could they be a reason for this? If so how can I improve the compression? Is there anything else to check?
Thanks guys.
Tim
I thought it was an electrical issue as the spark doesn't seem very strong so I replaced the very cheap Chinese electronic distributor with an OEM points one and installed a flamethrower coil, now the beast starts up allot better and runs fine so I did a few short runs around town always driving home and parking when hot and it started up fine everytime I thought problem solved!
however on my way to a show today I stopped for some food and it happened again, I waited for it to cool and it started fineso carried on but I needed fuel so stopped again and this time not so good.
Engine is cool now and it will start but not very well, I'm a bit unsure of what to do next.
Although I haven't checked the pressure It appears to be getting fuel as when I look down the carb barrel (4 barrel edelbrock) I can see if vaporising and the filter is full so I assume that's good. It was also rolling road tubed last year so I'm unkeen to muck about with it.
The spark doesn't seem as fierce when it's hot but it's there still, the coil goes directly to the battery via a relay and it has correctly gapped points.
I took cold compression readings last week as follows:
1 - 120 psi
2 - 105 psi
3 - 130 psi
4 - 135 psi
5 - 145 psi
6 - 110 psi
7 - 120 psi
8 - 90psi
Obviously these are all over the place, could they be a reason for this? If so how can I improve the compression? Is there anything else to check?
Thanks guys.
Tim
04-19-2019, 06:32 PM
#4
Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Hills of California
Posts: 5,208
not only are those numbers all over the place they are really low with the exception of 4 and 5
If you took those numbers cold its probably even lower when hot.
What did those plugs look like when you took them out? what is the gap? If the plugs are old and the gap is large you might want to run fresh plugs with like 30 tho gap
If you took those numbers cold its probably even lower when hot.
What did those plugs look like when you took them out? what is the gap? If the plugs are old and the gap is large you might want to run fresh plugs with like 30 tho gap
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