78 caprice turns over but won't start.
March 29th, 2009, 2:51 AM
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78 caprice turns over but won't start.
I have a 78 caprice with a 350 and a dbl bbl carb. Everything is stock except the radio. I have had it about a week it ran perfect then last night would not start. It cranked up for a couple seconds then died, after that it will turn over and seems to try to start but will not. I replaced the distrib. Cap and rotor, and had the coil and ignition module checked (both were fine) it STILL will not start. It IS getting fuel as I can smell it and see it squirt with the air cleaner off. Please help!!!
Tied Of Wrenching In The Cold
Tied Of Wrenching In The Cold
March 29th, 2009, 8:44 AM
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I know you said it's squirting fuel but is it getting enough fuel? It is possible that it is not. Have you changed the fuel filter? If not give that a go. It could be clogged. Also when you crank the car remove the distributor cap & see if the distributor is rotating. It's possible there could be a timing issue. How many miles on it?
March 29th, 2009, 1:18 PM
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The car has 17000 miles on it so it has probably been turned over at least once. Today I retrace all the spark plug wires and put them in the correct order(they were pretty jacked, I don't know how it managed to run before) I removed the dist cap and cranked it , it is turning. I have not checked the fuel filter but I did pour a little gas in the carb and even tried some engine start...nothing. If there is a timing issue, how do I diagnose that and fix it?
March 29th, 2009, 6:41 PM
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Put the batt back in and pulled out the three little plugs that plug into the coil. Had a friend turn the ignition while I held a screwdriver to each of the leads on each of the plugs...nothing, no sparks, is that my problem, no power to the coil and how do I fix that? Or does that even matter since the rotor is still turning?
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March 30th, 2009, 3:40 PM
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I'll be honest with you Gary, it was big, and my only thought was to let go of it as quickly as possible 
I have to head to work now n my helper is gone so I will update with spark color tomorrow. Btw, what is the significance of the spark color and is there a safer way to check that?
I have to head to work now n my helper is gone so I will update with spark color tomorrow. Btw, what is the significance of the spark color and is there a safer way to check that?
March 30th, 2009, 8:25 PM
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Well I went ahead and sucked it up and did it again, and in the split second between my pinky going numb and me dropping the screwdriver, the spark looked a whitish yellow. How do I fix, and is this enough to keep the car from firing up?
April 3rd, 2009, 9:02 AM
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sorry gang, I figured out what it is( with the help of a bud)
...... It's jumping time. I cranked it to get the hash mark on the balancer to zero, then took off the dust cap and the rotor was pointing at a different cylinder every time. So now I'm just looking for a friend with space in their shop, b'cause I can't change a timing chain in my apt parking lot.
...... It's jumping time. I cranked it to get the hash mark on the balancer to zero, then took off the dust cap and the rotor was pointing at a different cylinder every time. So now I'm just looking for a friend with space in their shop, b'cause I can't change a timing chain in my apt parking lot.