Weird Starting Issue After Putting It Back Together

[Jerry phillion]

When you were ck ing tdc with the stick, you said the stick was
Starting back down. If that's the case, then you are checking
15degrees after top dead center. Also I don't think you are on #1
Exactly. Try again.

 

[yevgenievich]

Sometimes it is best to just start over on the timing. Pull spark plug and feel for when air pushes out. Then use something to stick in the hole and check when piston is all the way up. Take all of the wires off the distributor except #1 and lift the cap. Check rotor position, adjust as needed and repopulate one at the time following the fire order.

 

[mrburitto]

Pulled the cap and the rotor was pointing about to the #8 post so I moved all the wires over one spot, put it back on and still no start. Ive adjusted timing all the way in both directions and nothing so maybe i am 180 out. Also, the grinding happened once more... I would really like to know what that is. Its super loud and terrible sounding. Sounds kind of like teeth on something not quite biting and spinning really fast. But then I adjusted the distributor and tried it again and no grinding...

I am about to check if its 180 out again. A friend said that sometimes you will get air pushing out on the exhaust stroke too. Also going to play with the cap a bit and see if it needs to be adjusted a hair.

 

[mrburitto]

Sometimes it is best to just start over on the timing. Pull spark plug and feel for when air pushes out. Then use something to stick in the hole and check when piston is all the way up. Take all of the wires off the distributor except #1 and lift the cap. Check rotor position, adjust as needed and repopulate one at the time following the fire order.

I will be doing this if its not 180 out. A simple suggestion but easy to overlook when your frustrated. thanks.


Thanks to everyone. I don't know why anyone pays to go to automotive school when you can just join a forum...

 

[yevgenievich]

If it is 180 out it would not fire at all and likely blow back through the intake. If too far advance it will be very hard to start.

 

[Jerry phillion]

Are you sure you have dizzy all the way down. If not you are
Grinding tooth against tooth. That could be your grinding problem.
Otherwise, the only other grinding could be the dizzy rotor is
Hitting the inside of the cap. Ck for that.

 

[mrburitto]

If it is 180 out it would not fire at all and likely blow back through the intake. If too far advance it will be very hard to start.

last night it did spit out a bunch of gas out the carb once. But new problem, I was testing for spark and found i have none now. Tested two cylinders. wtf I feel like im going in circles lol. So im gonna do what you suggested and rip everything out and start over lol

 

[mrburitto]

Got it started!!!! thanks everyone for your input. Turns out the first issue was one that I fixed earlier, the distributor had moved a tooth or two and swapping the wires CW one spot fixed that. Then, I had spliced into the coil wire for my kill switch and the connectors i bought at walmart were ****. I took it off, connected the wires with a nice wire nut I use for running power to server rooms and it started right up!

Still dont know what the grinding was... could my flywheel be wore down and on the way out? Or maybe the starter gear? Ive never heard of them grinding loudly like that though. it definitely sounded like something with teeth not making enough contact and spinning really fast...

 

[K201979]

Did kill switch control switch power to starter too? Maybe intermittent disconect was making the starter not fully engage and grind some. U said it struggled and u smelled burned plastic. Maybe kill switch wiring arcing? Glad u got it running tho

 

[mrburitto]

Did kill switch control switch power to starter too? Maybe intermittent disconect was making the starter not fully engage and grind some. U said it struggled and u smelled burned plastic. Maybe kill switch wiring arcing? Glad u got it running tho

Ya that could make sense. It happened randomly and the only change was timing and me getting on and off the truck. Maybe the wiggling is what made it stop lol. Im gonna look into it tomorrow. It starts instantly now though. I don't even hear the starter, it just roars to life as soon as the key turns

 

[mrburitto]

Are you sure you have dizzy all the way down. If not you are
Grinding tooth against tooth. That could be your grinding problem.
Otherwise, the only other grinding could be the dizzy rotor is
Hitting the inside of the cap. Ck for that.

It wasn't coming from the cap for sure. The sound came from below. Its all the way in. I can see it seated on the gasket. Unless there is someway it could be seated and still not in properly.

 

[chengny]

Still dont know what the grinding was... could my flywheel be wore down and on the way out? Or maybe the starter gear? Ive never heard of them grinding loudly like that though. it definitely sounded like something with teeth not making enough contact and spinning really fast...

Heard that sound many times. With the timing set too far BTDC, when the engine fires, it kicks back (i.e. rotates backwards). The flex plate/ring gear momentarily drives the starter pinion in reverse and the overrunning clutch disengages from the ring gear teeth. But since you are still leaning on the ignition switch the pinion tries again to mesh with the ring gear. This cycle repeats and the result is an obnoxious grinding noise.

 

[mrburitto]

Heard that sound many times. With the timing set too far BTDC, when the engine fires, it kicks back (i.e. rotates backwards). The flex plate/ring gear momentarily drives the starter pinion in reverse and the overrunning clutch disengages from the ring gear teeth. But since you are still leaning on the ignition switch the pinion tries again to mesh with the ring gear. This cycle repeats and the result is an obnoxious grinding noise.

Awesome thanks for this. Puts me at ease and good to know. Crazy how I couldn't find this anywhere on the internet. Probably wasn't searching the right words but still. Would have made my troubleshooting go a lot faster lol.

 

[85 CUCV]

Just to clarify, I will be finding tdc with my stick again, and then I will take the dist cap off and probably find the rotor not pointing at #1 and I will need to turn it so that it does?

When you use your stick to find TDC are tyu sure you are on the compression stroke.
When you are finally sure your dist is in correctly right tooth etc.
Put your damper at 8-10 deg before TDC.
Then with the cap off and rotor pointing to #1 cyl you can rotate the dist watching the rotor to module alignment. When lined up your timing will be within a couple of degrees. Engine should fire right up and idle fairly smoothly.

 

[mrburitto]

Got everything running smoothly now. Thanks everyone