Hey all,

First timer here. I have a '65 289 that just will not start. She'll crank but not get any ignition. We've got a good battery on her, new coil, just put fresh gas in (and gas is getting to the carb), carb is rebuilt...I just don't know where to go now.

The only thing I can think of is if the starter solenoid (which smokes when we try to start her) might be bad, or if we need new points on the distributor...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Pull a spark plug, reinstall the wire, ground the metal body of the plug and watch for spark at the plug gap when someone cranks the engine over. Have spark....issue is fuel or air. No spark, recheck wiring to coil for power.

The coil receives power from two different sources....one for normal running which goes thru the pink resistor wire and a second full 12 volts that is applied from the starter solenoid for starting only. This is with most standard coils.

 

What he said /\ Pull the dist cap and see what things look like under there as wll

 

if you dont have a test lite pull the wire off the plus (+) side of the coil and turn on the switch and touch the wire end to something metal and see if you get a spark ..if not then you need to find out why .. if so then pop the dizzy cap off and take a screw driver and manually open and close the points and see if there is a spark there as well ..is this a car you just bought and cant get running ?

 

Thanks for the responses!

First off, I replaced the solenoid today and still nothing. Tried to check for spark, and didn't see anything, but it's bright out today so maybe we wouldn't see anything anyway? Not sure if that could be an issue.

I also tried jumping the battery, which seemed to help a little bit (it seemed like the engine cranked more freely) but still nothing.

I'll try the coil wire and check the distributor. This is a car that I've had for a long time. I had the engine rebuilt/machined and I put her back together, but she's been sitting for quite some time since I've been at school. I've been trying to get her to start off and on for the past 4 years or so. This is the closest we've come thus far.

At this point I'm probably gonna get it towed to my mechanic and see if he can figure it out, at least point us in the right direction.

 

UPDATE: Points are good, there's definitely good spark coming off the coil and the plugs.

Like I said, at this point I'm probably just gonna bring it in cause I'm at a loss at this point.

 

If you've got spark, are you getting fuel to the carb? Maybe put some fuel directly in the carb and see is it runs briefly.

 

Sorry just reread your first post. Sounds like either air or timing being off.

 

Bring number one cylinder to top dead center on compression stroke. Then check to see if the rotor is pointing to wards the number one plug wire on the cap. Just to help verify the timing is close.

 

that is probably the best thing .. since it has been sitting and not run for 4 years it most likely has lost its oil pressure or oil pump prime ..then the lifters will not pump up and work the valves properly ..any good mechanic can get you fixed up ..