Started up my 327/Holley 650DP after a few months of sitting. It was running fine when I parked it. Now it runs like crap, won't idle, popping and lots of blue smoke out the tail pipes. Shut it down and started pondering what could be wrong. I touched the headers and noted that number 3, 2 and 6 pipes were cold. Pulled the plugs on those cylinders and they were wet. Plug wires/boots appear okay and they are all routed properly. Running an HEI. What to check next? <!--POLLS--><!--FILES--><!--SIGNATURE-->
Shouldn't be mechanical after only a few months sitting. Ground the three plugs to the engine and crank it and confirm spark or not. That would be my first step
Plugs are fouled from sitting, most likely. Even with today's "good" gas letting one sit for a "few" months is risky. peace
DO a dry and Wet compression to rule out valve sticking, or other debri sucked in..... Check the cap, rotor, and wire for any issues..... These 2 things should be enough to tell you whats up?
"Wet" with oil or gas? If your valve guides/seals are sloppy, oil may have coasted down the valves while sitting and fouled the plugs on startup.
I would suggest pulling all the spark plugs, cleaning them up real good, dump a teaspoon of ATF, motor oil, marvel mystery oil etc down each spark plug hole....hit the key a few times to spin the motor over a few revolutions, re-install spark plugs, and (assuming you have spark to those dead holes) it should regain compression and fire normally. Sitting for a few months the oil has drained off of the piston rings thus giving you no compression thus no fire and fuel fouled spark plugs. My advice to you, the next time you plan to store the vehicle for any length of time....grab a can of WD-40 and with the engine idling spray it down the carb until the engine stalls. This will coat the intake runners, combustion chambers, and cylinder walls to 1) prevent rust buildup 2) prevent compression loss. I stored my 66 Chrysler for an entire year while I was gone to Afghanistan and I did that when I put it in storage...a year later when I came home all I did was hook up the battery, and pump the pedal once or twice and she fired right up and ran like I just shut it down the day before. Jon
I can agree with the gas going bad,but that would not affect only 3 cylinders,do an Ohm reading on the plug wires and run a compression test.
The popping and no idle would point to some stuck valves. Bad plugs or wires generally just won't fire, not pop. Run a compression test while also checking spark while cranking.
Could be a needle and seat issue on one side, depending on carb and intake. I'm guessing AFB and a dual plane? Was 5 a little dirty too?
Another possibility is a bad vacuum modulator sucking fluid. Could affect only that one half as well depending on where its plumbed.
Sounds more like a combination of wet plugs and stuck lifters. Oil condition? Spark? Take off the valve covers, fire it up and see if all the valves are operating. Blue smoke is oil burning, perhaps an intake valve is stuck open, who knows? Investigate and report, please.
just hold it against the block while turning it over and the plug should fire. Best to use an insulated set of pliers to protect from getting a jolt.
Just lay the plug anywhere on the engine where the plugs metal base is contacting the engine metal, plugged into it's lead of course, crank it over on the starter and watch for a spark on the plug. Or if you don't like someone say "hey hold this for a second will ya!"
So, I hooked up my remote starter and cranked the engine over a few times. Then pulled the boots and plugs on the cold tubes, 3, 4 and 8 to check for spark. When I removed number 8 plug gas started pouring out of the hole. At that point I removed all of the plugs. After sitting for a while I cranked the engine over and gas started shooting out the 8 hole, like a geyser. Freaked me out, so I stopped. Now it needs to dry out. I am sure the cylinder wall is washed and the oil pan is full of gas. The oil will need to be dumped and changed. Why is number 8 shooting so much gas out the hole? So, if #8 is full of gas but it didn't hydrolock when I initially cranked it over (before removing the plugs) can I assume the intake valve on that cylinder is hung up? Jeez this sucks...
when encountering these types of problems ,do a compression check ,each cylinder . and with a quality compression tester. I had similar issues this spring. compression turned out fine, though I found a broken valve spring,changed it out,and still ran like crap. changed the hei cap. BAM! RAN LIKE A CHAMP. good luck
clean/dry/air it out. check plugs wires and cap. repair any uglys throwin new plugs fire it up. proceed with caution
Number 8 is right above the starter ! Chance of big fire so let it air out awhile and keep a fire extinguisher handy. Sounds like the float is sticking on carb.
If gas is accumulating in #8, you may have a leaky carb, possibly a stuck float. The gas will run to the lowest place (#8) and sit there until someone tries to fire it up. This is especially problematic if you have an electric fuel pump, which will happily fill any cylinder with fuel if there is no line back pressure created by the float valve. You may have other problems, but your carb is one of them.
First off.... I am glad you didn't Hydro lock it..... That could have been catastrophic.... Second.... If that much gas came out, its surprising it didn't hydro lock.... You may have bigger issues in that cylinder..... Bad valve, Stuck valve, really bad rings..... All I can say is your lucky...... I have seen rods break and ventilate the block, Blocks crack, and heads crack..... You may put an air chuck with the air blow attachment and a rag in the spark plug hole. If Air comes out the oil filler, you have a piston / ring issue. If it comes out the carb or exhaust, rotate the engine, if it still does it, your problem will be isolated to intake or exhaust valve issue....Make sure the other plugs are in..... Only use 70 psi or less air
Had a Volvo that sat for a couple of years until I felt like swapping transmissions. Went to start it, and it made half a turn and stopped. Don;t recall if the oil was thin or smelled of gas. Took out the plugs and cranked it and one or 2 cylinders geysered gasoline. Continued to crank until there was no spray or fog, installed the plugs, and it ran great for a year or so until it saved my daughters when the were struck in a T-bone accident. The fuel injection system maintains a certain volume of fuel under pressure in an accumulator. I believe one or 2 of the injectors leaked a little, so over an extended period the residual pressure pushed a volume of fuel into a cylinder or 2. The leak was too small to affect the idle or keep it from passing emissions here in Massachusetts. Not sure how a carbureted engine would get very full of gasoline.
Your float sounds like it's stuck so remove all your plugs blow out the cylinders then squirt some oil in the cylinders and install 8 new plugs and see if your engine will run. Good luck.
The Jalopy Journal
