Well was about to take first trip around town in the pickup jus put new tires on and ready to roll fired it up and it stalls out? now it turns but will not fire or even attempt to start. Driving me nuts I have been through everything twice maybe I am missing something. Truck is a 49 chevy 3100 with 6cyl 216 . Just converted it to 12volt last week everything seemed to work fine then. New -ignition, coil, points, condensor, plugs, alternator, re-wired everything. Checked so far -with ignition on there is 12v to coil, points, condensor, ignition switch, coil drops to about 9v when engine turns. I pulled out distrib. cleaned it up made sure no oil or crud anywhere re- adjusted points to .019, filled fuel tank cleaned fuel pump and lines, disasembled carb cleaned out made sure needle cut off was working correct there was plenty fuel in the bowl so I know its getting fuel. I tried spraying starter fluid down carb still no fire, ran a wire from batt to + side of coil, also pulled spark plug out held against fender had a nice bright spark, opened distrib everything is turning correct can see the points spark so idono what else to check its killing me lol?? Anybody have any ideas?
Did you adjust the points with the rubbing block on one high points of the dist cam? I've seen guys adjust them on the flat part more than once and not have a rig start. From reading the post again it looks like they should be set right.
thanks for th reply, yes adjusted them correct. Last time it did this i re adjusted the points it fired right up again now it is doing the same thing again so I was leaning towards a distributor issue I bought new stock points and condensor and nothing, when I converted to 12v I didn't upgrade anything in the distributor jus bought stock parts and ran a new wire from nut on side of distributor to new 12v coil? I was pretty sure points and condensor would be no different. I was leaning towards carb issues maybe a flooding problem but I have been through it with no problems I am rebuilding it again as we speak.
Go back and make sure that you have everything that is between the wire from the coil and the points and condenser in it's correct place. I fought my 51 Merc for a day and a half when I was 16 because I installed the condenser wire in the wrong spot. Also make sure that the condenser is tight in it's holder. Some times especially on the six cylinders going from one brand of points to another can cause the timing to change a bit too as the rubbing block may be in a slightly different position. And you do have the hot wire to the + side of the coil and the dist wire hooked to the - side?
Well lets see, spark, fuel and compression. If you dont have one of these... Sounds like the float could be the deal. Let us know!
if you have spark at the plugs,fuel is the issue. get small container and fill carb through vent and pour a little in carb. if that doesn't work change plugs (not clean) as they are probably gas fouled.
Thanks going to finish putting this carb together toss it back on see what happens. Will check compression next. the points and condensor both just slide onto the block on inside of distributor so dont see how that could have gone wrong. I did hear somewhere there might be a upgraded block that conects the coil wire and points condensor together?
You didn't say it, but is it sparking at the plugs? bad coil secondary? Does the timing check out OK? crank it over and see what the timing light shows you. The camshaft may have slid back out of the gear, which would throw off the timing. If it was a carb or fuel pump problem, I should think that the shot of starter fluid would have caused it to fire anyway. Make sure you get a pump shot of gas inside the carb when you work the throttle.
Check compression, if it is low, pull the valve cover and see if the valves are sticking open (common on 216 with sludge).
.After reading this post I did not read anything about the "RESISTOR BLOCK".....It is my understandering if you don't have a resistor the points (when new) will start the motor but in a very short time will burn up and the motor will stop and not restart........see attached wiring diagram...Miller
Doi you have a ballast resistor before the coil? Make sure your are not arcing the points to the point of shorting the ignition out.
nevermind lol I looked it up my local parts store has one I will give it a try tommorow after work see what happens. Should I go ahead and replace points and condensor again and should I get a condensor for a later model 12v truck or will the stock work? Thanks again everyone this is a life saver!!
Make sure you put the resistor in the proper place in the wiring..It should be in series with the wire that feeds the coil when the motor is in the run/idle position... but not in series with the wire which is needed for the start up...look at the wiring diagram..attached...Miller
Do you have fire at the spark plugs when they are out of the cylinder? Does the rotor rotate with the dist cap off when you spin the engine?
Ok put the new resistor block in still have nothing but a backfire!! thats atleast a new sound lol. I think that the resistor was the orig. prob but have a bad feeling that when I took the distributor out to clean it up may have put it back in the wrong position? How do I check and make sure I didn't set it in the wrong position and correct it?
Watch for #1 intake valve to close. When it does, start looking for the flywheel ball to appear in the bellhousing "window". When it's there, look to see that the rotor is pointing to the #1 plug wire. Firing order is 153624 clockwise.
ok got it to start tonight looks like i did install distributor wrong turned to top center was off so instead of pulling distributor back out jus swaped them all one place over. it fired up but ran like crap stalled out. Figgured timing was off so turned to top dead center again loosened up distributor turned it till i heard points snap tightned it down. tried to fire it up and same thing wants to start but insn't happening. I also checked compression cyl 1=60, cyl 2=85, cyl 3=85, cyl 4=110, cyl 5=65, cyl 6=100
You swapped the plugs all over one spot? That's not going to work...go back, get the distributor set right, hook it all up, should be good to go.
Here's a link to the proper procedure for reinstalling the distributor and getting it lined up correctly. http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1948_51truck/51ctsm1229.htm
dont take a short cut and move the wires around instead of useing the home position. do it right and you dont have to remember what was done.
ok well i figured out yes I had indeed set the distributor set off fixed everything she fired right up ran for a couple then stalled lol bout to give up lol then got reading into engine numbers lol well seems that I have a 235 out of a 61 chevy so not orig motor and after cross ref points seems I have installed the wrong ones. and also guessing that by 61 all chevys were 12volt? prob why things keep messing up. So if indeed i am running wrong points and that distributor was set up for 12volt then I really didn't need to install the resister? lol this is all new to me but quickly figuring out how it all works!! I have been playing with vw's for the last 12 years had to learn them the same way. Well shall see what happens tommorow. Thanks again everyone for all the help!!
If a 6 volt era vehicle is converted to 12 volts, and is still running points, you need to run a ballast resistor. The reason you don't see a ballast resistor on post '54 Chevies is that they used a resistor wire instead. Or you can use a coil with a built in resistor and delete the ballast resistor.
Just came in from the snow lol installed new set of correct points and new plug wires and reset the distributor and she fired right up!! Runs super again. it pops here and there but thats all in fine tuning lol i hope to take it for a first drive tommorow night. I found a fuel leak under the cab where the rubber line and metal line meet up should be a easy fix.
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