Slant 6 won’t start after 4 months

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standup303

standup303

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Trying to get this car done and sold so I can start on the new one. 74 Swinger 225. Ran fine no issues before. I pulled the motor to paint the bay and now it won’t start. I have spark to the spark plugs. Have fuel now after blowing out the lines and priming. Tank was almost on empty and I poured 2.5 gallons of fresh 91 octane in, can see fuel spraying in with throttle applied. Wouldn’t start. Even tried to bottle feed the carb with starting fluid as the ole lady cranked it. Wouldn’t start. Spark plugs do look wet so I’m assuming I’ve flooded it but not sure why it wouldn’t start if I have spark and fuel? If plugs look wet then it should be getting fuel through the carb right? As in jets shouldn’t be gunked up? All I can think of is to check timing. Any other ideas?
 
standup303 said:
Trying to get this car done and sold so I can start on the new one. 74 Swinger 225. Ran fine no issues before. I pulled the motor to paint the bay and now it won’t start. I have spark to the spark plugs. Have fuel now after blowing out the lines and priming. Tank was almost on empty and I poured 2.5 gallons of fresh 91 octane in, can see fuel spraying in with throttle applied. Wouldn’t start. Even tried to bottle feed the carb with starting fluid as the ole lady cranked it. Wouldn’t start. Spark plugs do look wet so I’m assuming I’ve flooded it but not sure why it wouldn’t start if I have spark and fuel? If plugs look wet then it should be getting fuel through the carb right? As in jets shouldn’t be gunked up? All I can think of is to check timing. Any other ideas?
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Do you have spark? Check and see if the ballast resistors burn out if you don't have spark. One way to test without a voltmeter is just to take a jumper wire from the side from the feed side of ballast and connect it to positive side of coil then try and start it. From the sounds of it you've pulled the motor and maybe have some other things going on but let's start with the basic and pretend like you have the distributor and everything else right
 
Check the timing. You can check timing "on the starter." Also HOW DID (exactly) you check the spark?

EG: If you jumper the start relay under the hood to check spark, THAT DOES NOT give you a clear picture, because the ignition switch circuit CHANGES from run to start.

You need to "rig" a WIRE core wire, even a low voltage piece hung "in the air" and to a spar gap. Crank it USING THE KEY. You should get a nice blue "snappy" spark at least 3/8" and typically 1/2" long

Clean or replace the plugs and RUN A leakdown/ compression check. It may have DRY CYLINDER walls and low compression, and running gas in there did not help., Try squirting a few shots of oil in each cylinder.
 
67Dart273 said:
Check the timing. You can check timing "on the starter." Also HOW DID (exactly) you check the spark?

EG: If you jumper the start relay under the hood to check spark, THAT DOES NOT give you a clear picture, because the ignition switch circuit CHANGES from run to start.

You need to "rig" a WIRE core wire, even a low voltage piece hung "in the air" and to a spar gap. Crank it USING THE KEY. You should get a nice blue "snappy" spark at least 3/8" and typically 1/2" long

Clean or replace the plugs and RUN A leakdown/ compression check. It may have DRY CYLINDER walls and low compression, and running gas in there did not help., Try squirting a few shots of oil in each cylinder.
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So I pulled the wire from the coil off the distributor and held it 1/4” from the block and got a spark then reattached it and pulled plug #2, held it against the block while still plugged in and it fired.
 
Did you remove the distributor? If so then it sounds like you need to restab it.. so you need to find TDC compression stroke.. you can use your finger or..well, with one person you can still use your finger on a slant LOL but otherwise I like to hook up a compression tester and it doesn't take much just finding that compression stroke when you push that button it still gives a little tiny puff and tells you Yep this is the compression stroke. I work 99.9% solo mostly. Then pull the cap off the distributor and see which way the rotor is pointing in relation to number one terminal on the cap
 
If y saturated the plugs no amount of cleaning will fix them. Replace the plugs and try again.
 
An engine needs three things to run. Fuel, fire and to have both at the right time. SOMETHING is missing.
 
standup303 said:
So I pulled the wire from the coil off the distributor and held it 1/4” from the block and got a spark then reattached it and pulled plug #2, held it against the block while still plugged in and it fired.
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How did you do this and crank it with the key? I bet you did not.

Again. Using the key to crank, and jumpering the start relay is DIFFERENT. The run and start circuits of the key are two different electrical conditions.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Did you remove the distributor? If so then it sounds like you need to restab it.. so you need to find TDC compression stroke.. you can use your finger or..well, with one person you can still use your finger on a slant LOL but otherwise I like to hook up a compression tester and it doesn't take much just finding that compression stroke when you push that button it still gives a little tiny puff and tells you Yep this is the compression stroke. I work 99.9% solo mostly. Then pull the cap off the distributor and see which way the rotor is pointing in relation to number one terminal on the cap
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That’s gotta be it. I did remove the distributor! I’ll try re setting timing tomorrow
 
Set timing this morning and still nothing. The plugs reaked of fuel and were pretty wet tho so I have a new set waiting at O Reillys I’ll pick up later today and try.
 

standup303 said:
Set timing this morning and still nothing. The plugs reaked of fuel and were pretty wet tho so I have a new set waiting at O Reillys I’ll pick up later today and try.
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Just dry them off, brake clean works fast.
You said you have spark with the key cranking...so its probably timing now ..and or did you change the valve adjustment ..?
Have somebody turn the distributor back and forth as you crank it over as to catch the spark timing... or better yet.. put an adjustable/dial back timing light on it and then have a friend turn the motor 'with key in run' .. by hand tillthe light flashes and see where its timed now before tryingto start it. It could be retarded... let's say it's not even fighting the comp and just cranking with zero resistance... advance the distributor till it starts licking back/firing.
 
The slant 6 is sorta tough to get the distributor back in right. It's taken me two or three tries on occasion. Since it can install any direction, unlike a big or small block, all you have as a reference are the distributor gears and there are a lot of them, so it's easy to get it in wrong. What I would do is get the engine on TDC for #1 and try the distributor stab again. The rotor should be pointing to about the 5 o'clock position when installed correctly.
 
RustyRatRod said:
The slant 6 is sorta tough to get the distributor back in right. It's taken me two or three tries on occasion. Since it can install any direction, unlike a big or small block, all you have as a reference are the distributor gears and there are a lot of them, so it's easy to get it in wrong. What I would do is get the engine on TDC for #1 and try the distributor stab again. The rotor should be pointing to about the 5 o'clock position when installed correctly.
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True and you might have to pull it and move it a tooth to get the kind of Advance you want out of it without hitting the block or having to adjust the tab on the other side, which is a good idea on Chryslers part. 'Adjustable tab'
 
That post basically said to stab the distributor in and out a tooth at a time until you got activity:D holy **** that's foolproof for the deaf dumb and blind to even pull off lol,come on... really?
 
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