I'm thinking the cylinders might be washed. It ran for a while, but wasn't getting gas. I dropped the tank and repaired it, and now it won't catch at all. The plugs were wet, so i pulled them before vacation. I figured 2 weeks was enough time to air the cylinders out. If i try to crank it and put my hand over the carb, there is still a ton of suction. Should I just blow the cylinders out thoroughly with an air gun and try the ATF trick??
The additives in today's pump fuel can permanently gag plugs. Air drying won't do it. A propane torch is the only way to clean cold fouled plugs. Pull all eight, squirt some ATF into the cylinders, cover each side with an old bath towel weighted down with a couple of wrenches. Crank over the engine a dozen times to distribute the ATF and blow out any excess. Reinstall the plugs. Should fire up. jack vines
What did you do to the tank? Not getting gas with wet plugs doesn't add up. Is the spark blue or yellow? Blue is a good hot spark, yellow is a weak spark.
Cylinder wash down from excess gas? Squirt some oil down the spark plug holes and twirl it over with the starter. If plugs are fouled, sand blast them. Never tried the propane torch, it might work.
I had to cut the tank in half, rebuild the pickup, and weld everything back together. The wet plugs happened after I reinstalled everything. I've got good blue spark...I'll try torching them and adding some ATF. Hopefully that will remedy things!! Thanks guys!
Remember to do as PackardV8 suggested in post #7 and crank the engine over several times with all the plugs out after you squirt the atf or motor oil in the cylinders. Also You only want to put enough in to put a slight film on the cylinder walls.
At the risk of starting something; It's an old joke here in western Canada where old Dodges were known for tempramental starting in cold weather. We would joke if a Dodge (mopar) wouldn't start that someone walk by with an ice cream cone and it chilled the Dodge so much it wouldn't start. It was funny for the pre gear reduction starter days.
M-boy, that sounds like some of my Great Uncle Bill's stories! He was a veteran of the Calif Dry Lakes, and had some great anecdotes from the pre-war era. Love the ice cream cone app.
Yes it is true that the old Mopars did not like to start in cool and damp weather. The distributer was almost sealed and promoted condensation inside. The "fix" was to drill some holes for ventilation in the dizzy base- problem fixed!
Is there a "too long" or "not long enough" point with the ATF? Can I pour it in there and leave it for a bit while I prep some other things? Or should I do it as soon as I'm ready to restart it?
If this is an old engine that been sitting for a while & may have stuck rings I'd let it soak for a week or so. But, you said the engine has plenty of suction so I'm not sure what the point of putting a little in for a short period. Did you do a compression check?
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