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Benjamin F Cothran

Benjamin F Cothran

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Joined
Mar 9, 2022
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Location
Henrico , Virginia 23227
If I am on the wrong forum or wrong section , please DELETE and direct me to the proper place . My first time posting here .

I am 77 years old and bought a 1967 Barracuda fastback new , my first car at 19 years old . I am a retired machinist and a back yard mechanic at best . My car has the small 273 ci engine with the Carter 2 barrel carb . Not high performance by a long ways . Has solid lifters . Automatic in the floor console , power steering , manual brakes , 4 drums all around . Parked it at night a week ago & the next morning it would not start . Engine turns over but will not start . Change the fuel pump and neutral safety switch . Added new points & condenser in the distributer . New ballast resister . Swapped out a working older coil and voltage regulator . Fairly new plugs and wires . After a week , I have given up as to the cause of it not starting ????????? Not a whole lot of things to keep this car running . Must be something I am missing ? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated . Body has some rust issues as it has never been in a garage . Front and rear window trim is a Plymouth design disaster on this model ! Aftermarket A/C has been removed . Purchased on April 20 1967 . I might have to get it towed to a auto shop . Most do not want to even look at it & complain no parts available . I have not had any problem buying parts locally or on EBAY .

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Do you have spark at the spark plug wires? I would check that first. If no spark you might not be getting voltage to the + terminal on the coil due to a bad ignition switch or loose connection in the bulkhead connector. In that case you could jump a wire from +12v on the battery to the + terminal on the coil and see if it starts when you turn the key. Just don't leave the jumper wire connected for more than a few minutes or it could be hard on the coil. And don't get zapped testing for spark! Don't forget to check fuel too. Can you see fuel squirting when you manually open the throttle?
 
I put a new ballast resistor in as well as points & condenser .

Tried the jumper wire from the battery + side to the coil + side and it did not start , but the starter turned the engine over as before . Remove the #1 plug wire & got a spark when I turned the key on .

I installed a new fuel pump and I get fuel squirting into the carb when I move the throttle back . The gas line filter is clear & I can see it is full with gasoline .

Also , my battery tests at 13 volts & turns the engine over easily . I jumped my battery with my truck battery ( 13 volts ) & there was no difference .

Removed the battery negative cable & cleaned the ground on the engine & post . Cleaned the positive post as well . Swapped out the starter relay with another working one . Still no starting , only turning the engine over .
 
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Spit balling......Since you appear to be getting fuel and spark, and the car was running well when you shut it down the night before, could the timing chain have jumped?

Maybe a loose distributor hold down bolt?

Hand turn the engine to TDC and see where the rotor points. Should be at #1 or #6.
 
why does the engine looks brand new? does it ever runs since then? Dont spent a lot of money and parts, do a proper diagnose! Take assistance to turn the key. Spark at the dist? 1/2 " spark. spark at the plugs?
wet or dry spark plugs? all vacuum hoses installed?
 
Rotor points to the #1 cylinder when set at TDC . Distributer bolt is tight . #1 plug was dry . Odd that it goes from running great one night & fails to start the next morning . I am parking under a carport and the front end rarely gets much water from rain . Mostly the rear gets the brunt of the rain .

I cleaned and repainted the top of the engine with Por 15 Caliper red paint last year . ( not the correct color , to much orange in it . Plymouth red is closer to cherry red , not available ) . Engine was rebuilt in 1995 . Idiot painted Chevy orange . Has a total of 143xxx total miles on the engine .
 
Benjamin F Cothran said:
So , does that mean the ignition switch is bad ? It did not start with the jumper wire .
Click to expand...
12V to the coil and jump it off the starter relay and see if it runs.

that'll eliminate a whole bunch of items.

also, remember just because the parts are new doesn't mean they're any good. test each component individually.
 
so you have spark to the plug
enough spark ? a spark test plug is cheep enough and can load your ignition system
it only needs 4 things to run ...spark,fuel,compression,in time all are easy to check with minium tools
 
Welcome aboard from another 67 fb fish owner. I would suspect a wiring issue.
The folks here will help get it figured out.
 
Benjamin F Cothran said:
So , does that mean the ignition switch is bad ? It did not start with the jumper wire .
Click to expand...

You supplied power to the coil, it should have power out of the coil. You can check that pulling any plug wire, installing any spark plug, grounding the body of the plug and cranking it. If you have no spark, that coil is failed. If you do, you are now leaning towards fuel.
 
Describe the process you are using to start the car.

Like...

Pump gas 2 times, turn key to start, engine cranks over but doesn't start.

2 more pumps and turn key to crank etc.


You need to do some more sleuthing

Get a helper

With key off measure voltage at the ignition side of the ballast and the dust side of the ballast. You should have 0 volts.

With the key in the run position measure the same points. You should have 12v (battery voltage) to the ignition side of the ballast and 7 to 11 volts on the coil side of the ballast

Remove the yellow wire from the starter relay.
With the key in the start position measure the same points. You should have 12v (battery voltage) to the ignition side of the ballast and 12v (battery voltage) on the coil side of the ballast.

And report back your findings.

This problem is a process. You shotgunned all the parts but still have the problem.

So now let's go through the systems one at a time verifying their function.
 
Benjamin F Cothran said:
Rotor points to the #1 cylinder when set at TDC . Distributer bolt is tight . #1 plug was dry . Odd that it goes from running great one night & fails to start the next morning . I am parking under a carport and the front end rarely gets much water from rain . Mostly the rear gets the brunt of the rain .

I cleaned and repainted the top of the engine with Por 15 Caliper red paint last year . ( not the correct color , to much orange in it . Plymouth red is closer to cherry red , not available ) . Engine was rebuilt in 1995 . Idiot painted Chevy orange . Has a total of 143xxx total miles on the engine .
Click to expand...

You say you have spark and fuel. Are you sure your at TDC on the compression stroke? Could you possibly have the distributor 180 degrees out? Easy to do if you removed the distrubutor to replace points.
 
sam69sat said:
You say you have spark and fuel. Are you sure your at TDC on the compression stroke? Could you possibly have the distributor 180 degrees out? Easy to do if you removed the distrubutor to replace points
Click to expand...
Good point. Also just changing the points changes the timing.

Also check the firing order, more than I e of us has inadvertantly mixed up a wire or gone Cw vs Ccw
 
Dana67Dart said:
Good point. Also just changing the points changes the timing.

Also check the firing order, more than I e of us has inadvertantly mixed up a wire or gone Cw vs Ccw
Click to expand...
I thought he did all the work after the problem presented itself.......At least that's the way I read it.
 
I did nothing before the problem . Car was running fine with no noticeable problems . Everything done was after it failed to start .
I changed the points & condenser without removing the distributor , just lifted the cap off .
Tomorrow is another day & I will try the advice mentioned above .
 
Bad gas? I've been working on my car for two years, ran great but one day wouldn't start. If I pored fresh fuel down the carb would run but then stall. I had to put fresh fuel in the tank, and bottle feed the carb while reving the engine to get the bad gas out of the fuel line. Runs great again
 
[1] Check the rotor & cap for carbon tracking. Very had to see if both are black.
[2] Unlikely but possible: new points or cond are faulty. One quick way to check the points: put some paper between the points. Ign on, with a voltmeter, measure from coil [-] terminal & grd. You shoud read close to 12v. Zero volts means the points/cond are shorted.
 
Dana67Dart said:
Describe the process you are using to start the car.

Like...

Pump gas 2 times, turn key to start, engine cranks over but doesn't start.

2 more pumps and turn key to crank etc.


You need to do some more sleuthing

Get a helper

With key off measure voltage at the ignition side of the ballast and the dust side of the ballast. You should have 0 volts.

With the key in the run position measure the same points. You should have 12v (battery voltage) to the ignition side of the ballast and 7 to 11 volts on the coil side of the ballast

Remove the yellow wire from the starter relay.
With the key in the start position measure the same points. You should have 12v (battery voltage) to the ignition side of the ballast and 12v (battery voltage) on the coil side of the ballast.

And report back your findings.

This problem is a process. You shotgunned all the parts but still have the problem.

So now let's go through the systems one at a time verifying their function.
Click to expand...
With the key on , the ballast resistor is so hot I cannot hold onto it . I am not an electrical guy !!!!!!!!! When standing in front of the car & looking at the ballast , which side is ignition and which is the coil side ? The wires go together in a wrap & I cannot see where they go to ?????????? Where do I connect the 2nd wire of the volt meter ?

I tried poring gas from my lawn mower can into the carb and it still did not start . I have run about half a tank of gas without any starting or running problem until the night I parked the car .
 
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