I went to start up my 67 today. I hadn't started it in about a month. Battery was dead. I put a jumper on it, and it started cranking on its own. It then started and ran at an RPM of about a million, with the starter still engaged. It stayed on for maybe 15-20 seconds before dying on its own.

Now I can't get it started. I can crank it, and it seems to try to catch every once in a while. However, when it tries it doesn't sound the right. The bummer is the jumper's to low and runs out of juice. Tried jumping from van, but same problem. Get some cranks in, then the charge gets to low. I have the jumper charging overnight so hopefully i can get a good try in tomorrow.

Anyway, has anyone else had an engine kick the bucket in this manner? It was a great running engine (302). Started up fine if I ran it regularly. Really bummed out.

 

This is just a guess but I wonder if something in the carb is gummed up, maybe something with the throttle. If it were going to die, I think it would just do so without revving at high RPMs first. That could also explain it not starting afterwards.

On a side note, a battery charger/tender might be a good investment. You can get them at auto parts/hardware stores.

 

Check and or the carb, it's messed up. The only reason it does that RPM thing is that the carb was asking for the car do to that. Linkage, broken internals, gummed up, whatever, that is your first item of business.

Second, that the battery is not able to turn things easily, well... new battery. And also ensure all main cables are good, uncorroded/not rusted. I had a draggy starter in the '66 Tbird, and it turned out the ground strap bolt had rusted everything out. Removed, sanded everything down to pretty shiny, new bolt, greased up... all is well. We even tried using 24 volts to start the thing once (two batteries chained together... that was *awesome*... and also didn't work. Not enough ground. )

Third, perhaps the starter, while engaged at one million RPMS (pinky to corner of mouth) might have said "screw you guys, I'm goin' home" like Cartman and decided it is not ever doing that again, no matter what. So maybe pull it and check it out/replace it.

Now, given that a 302 is not really spec'd to run at one million RPMS (pinky to corner of mouth) there may have been some other damage that might have occurred. The best thing to do is to take the time to do a compresson check, just to ensure a ring or two weren't blown out or a valve or whatever. If you have good compression on all 8 cylinders, then you dodged a bullet.

You might also pull the distributor cap and ensure the rotor is turning. It is entirely possible that the timing chain might have been hurt, or the oil pump/distributor shaft sheared off.

Past that... Well, tune up time. Coil, condenser, points, rotor, cap, wires, plugs.

It's a '67 so you also have the ignition box to look at, I think...? I don't rightly recall, and if there is a box, then that would eliminate the points, right? But the pickup maybe a problem?

Anyway. Just the things off the top of my head it *could* be. Hopefully it's just a draggy starter or the battery is just that done.

Good luck to ya!

 

Well goods news. I got it running. I changed the plugs and wires. I tried to check the compression, but the universal compression kit I have apparently isn't too universal after all. I did have someone crank it with the plugs out and could feel good pressured air coming out of the holes. So I assume its good. I Then put a decent charge on the battery. I'm pretty sure the battery is fairly new, but I have to check my receipts. No stamp on it. After a month sitting with the alarm armed it might have done it in.

I think i was fighting it being flooded with trying to start it with weak battery power. I finally got it started with a good charge and my foot to the floor on the gas pedal. Drove it around for a little while to put a charge on the battery and give it a run. It doesn't sound any different, so that good.
I'm going to take it out again tonight to spindle check it.

It did freak me out when it cranked and started without the key. I pulled my jump starter off quickly, but could still here the starter cranking while it was running high. I think the solenoid might have stuck or something. Never had that happen before. Got me a little nervous.

I did check the carb. Looks pretty clean. It's probably less than a year old.


Thanks for all the input.

Dan

 

Great! Yeah it sound like you might need a new solenoid.

 

I replaced the solenoid last summer, but maybe I went too cheap.

 

In my '69, I used to replace the solenoid regularly. The aftermarket ones were generally not great.

 

Killing the battery often will shorten its life a great deal

 

Yeah. I need to keep on it a little better. It's hard during the winter.