Welcome to Club Hot Rod!  The premier site for everything to do with Hot Rod, Customs, Low Riders, Rat Rods, and more. 

  •  » Members from all over the US and the world!
  •  » Help from all over the world for your questions
  •  » Build logs for you and all members
  •  » Blogs
  •  » Image Gallery
  •  » Many thousands of members and hundreds of thousands of posts! 

YES! I want to register an account for free right now!  p.s.: For registered members this ad will NOT show

 

Thread: 350 chevy will not start
          
   
   

Reply To Thread
Results 1 to 12 of 12
  1. #1
    mykle is offline CHR Member Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    junction city
    Posts
    9

    350 chevy will not start

     



    I'm stumped and would appreciate some help, or even ideas of what to try next. I haven't worked on engines for several years, but once upon a time I had a general clue about them.

    The car is my sons, it's a performance enhanced 350 in a cutlass. Fairly old school stuff, just a carburated 350, no computer or anything. It wasn't running great the past 2 weeks, nothing bad, but would miss at high RPMs. 2 days ago he ran it in some heavy rain and hit some deep puddles. The car quit, refired a few times but quickly quit again.

    I went to look at it, lots of water on the engine, a puddle on the manifold, air cleaner was very wet etc. Removed air cleaner and it fired a few times and would run if I kept the RPMs up at 2k or so, it ran very rough with lots of white smoke from the exhaust. After a few times it quit starting.

    It had spark initially, but then it went away. The distributor had water inside, replaced the cap, the coil (HEI) the module and the capaciter the module plugs into. (basically everything electrical I could replace was replaced) Now we have spark again.

    The plugs were replaced, the old ones looked pretty bad, oily. The engine was spun over several times with the plugs removed, I was told water came from the plug holes. I wasn't there to see the details.

    It's appears to be getting fuel, and we tried some starter fliud as well just to be able to identify or eliminate fuel as the problem.

    The timing is gear driven, not a chain, leading me to not anticipate it being a skipped tooth or anything.

    I would apprecaite some ideas of what to try next,
    thankyou
    Mykle

  2. #2
    Sickcycles's Avatar
    Sickcycles is offline CHR Member Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    LONG ISLAND
    Posts
    20

    it sounds like you might have some water mixed in with the oil.
    MIKE

  3. #3
    mykle is offline CHR Member Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    junction city
    Posts
    9

    It's possible that it has become flooded from all of our playing around.

    What would I be checking the plugs for when I pull them? I've pulled a few to check for spark, I didn't notice anything unusual.

    Spinning the engine with the plugs removed was my attepmt at clearing any potential water in the cylinders, how would I go about checking further and removing water?

    I have a compression guage around here somewhere.

  4. #4
    mykle is offline CHR Member Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    junction city
    Posts
    9

    I agree it probably does have some water in the oil, it's not showing up on the dipstick yet, probably because it won't start so it's not getting mixed in yet. It's not sitting in the best spot to play mechanic, I had hoped to be able to limp it home before changing the oil.

  5. #5
    lt1s10's Avatar
    lt1s10 is offline CHR Member Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    rustburg,
    Car Year, Make, Model: 1997 CHEVY.S10 LT1-350
    Posts
    4,093

    Quote Originally Posted by mykle
    I agree it probably does have some water in the oil, it's not showing up on the dipstick yet, probably because it won't start so it's not getting mixed in yet. It's not sitting in the best spot to play mechanic, I had hoped to be able to limp it home before changing the oil.
    water in the oil want keep it from running. if you have spark, and gas it should run, unless you pulled the dist. out to replace cap and put it back in a few teeth off.
    Mike
    check my home page out!!!
    http://hometown.aol.com/kanhandco2/index.html




  6. #6
    southerner's Avatar
    southerner is offline CHR Member/Contributor Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Auckland
    Car Year, Make, Model: 69 Holden HT
    Posts
    818

    I agree with Mike recheck your timing and your firing order to the spark plugs. With te plugs in, does it sound like the engine is giving good compression ?
    "aerodynamics are for people who cant build engines"

    Enzo Ferrari

  7. #7
    mykle is offline CHR Member Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    junction city
    Posts
    9

    I didn't pull the distributer out, the wires were all marked before removal to ensure proper replacement. It appears to have good compression.

    So, it appears that if letting it sit overnight doesn't cure a potential flooded situation I should start troubleshooting it being a skipped tooth on the timing, I'm assuming that's where the compression comments are leading, correct?

    I was kind of locked in on the water being at the core of the problem, maybe it's time to expand the box I'm thinking in. I also was under the impression that gear drives were fairly immune to skipping.

  8. #8
    southerner's Avatar
    southerner is offline CHR Member/Contributor Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Auckland
    Car Year, Make, Model: 69 Holden HT
    Posts
    818

    Check for vacume leaks then, any vacume hoses knocked off by the water carb float bowl full of water.

    Say......just how deep was this puddle ? did he wet it or drown it ?
    "aerodynamics are for people who cant build engines"

    Enzo Ferrari

  9. #9
    31 5w is offline CHR Member Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    mt. dora
    Car Year, Make, Model: 31 ford 5window
    Posts
    72

    compression test, VERY POSSIBLE HYDRO-LOCK very disasterous!!!!!!! as any Jeeper or Hydo plane racer, you can compress fuel/air but water bends rods /holes in weakened pistons ,blows head gaskets . when you stated water from plug holes I must say " This cannot end well " 31 5w

  10. #10
    judasPriest is offline Registered User Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Rochester
    Car Year, Make, Model: 1987 cutlass supreme
    Posts
    1

    ummmmmmmmm is this using an H.E.I. distributer???if not i suggest takink the coil off the firewall and drying the trapped water behind it thats preventing the coil from grounding.. experienced this same problem on a 1969 camero this guy had all done up pretty as can be except the rust behind the coil on the fire wall...i flat bedded it to this shop and told them everything i had checked(which didnt inclued removing brandy new chrome M.S.D.coil on the fire wall) kid younger and less experienced than me walked over to the car and began taking off the coil after listening to me tell all this to his boss..took a screwdriver too the rust spot then re attached the coil and started the car... wanna talk about pissed off and embarrassed....hope i helped

  11. #11
    MadMax's Avatar
    MadMax is offline CHR Member Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Munich
    Car Year, Make, Model: 1983 Chevy 5,7l G20
    Posts
    213

    For an engine not to start due to Hydro-locking you really have to drown it in water, a few splashes won't do that. I would pull off the carb and rebuild it. In anycase run a good lot of carb cleaner through it to make sure you have no water sitting in any passageways. water is heavier than fuel and the passages in the carb are low down, so water that got through the bowl vents would accumulate in the passageways. And first of all water doesn't burn and secondly a carb isn't made to pull water through it's passages. Quite apart from that I don't guess the puddles were completely clean water, so there's bound to be some dirt in the carb, too. Pulling the carb only takes a minute and you can repair it at home.
    If your timing gear has skipped a tooth most probably you will have wrecked you engine anyway by valves hitting the pistons, you would have heard that
    Be sure to cure your water problem soon, water sitting in a cylinder can create rust buildup very soon and that would break your ring seal very quickly.
    I would guess it's dirt and/or water in the carb. If you have a compressed air source use it to clean the carb, then you don't need carb cleaner. be sure to take out the four jets (primary and secondary) and get the passages under them really clean. Always rebuild with new gaskets.
    But as always, that's just what I would do...
    Wish you luck,
    Max
    Harharhar...

  12. #12
    lt1s10's Avatar
    lt1s10 is offline CHR Member Visit my Photo Gallery
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    rustburg,
    Car Year, Make, Model: 1997 CHEVY.S10 LT1-350
    Posts
    4,093

    Quote Originally Posted by judasPriest
    ummmmmmmmm is this using an H.E.I. distributer???if not i suggest takink the coil off the firewall and drying the trapped water behind it thats preventing the coil from grounding.. experienced this same problem on a 1969 camero this guy had all done up pretty as can be except the rust behind the coil on the fire wall...i flat bedded it to this shop and told them everything i had checked(which didnt inclued removing brandy new chrome M.S.D.coil on the fire wall) kid younger and less experienced than me walked over to the car and began taking off the coil after listening to me tell all this to his boss..took a screwdriver too the rust spot then re attached the coil and started the car... wanna talk about pissed off and embarrassed....hope i helped
    I believe somebody is pulling your leg juda, all he did was clean the rust off your firewall. you don't need to ground a coil. the points is the ground that makes the coil work.
    Mike
    check my home page out!!!
    http://hometown.aol.com/kanhandco2/index.html




Reply To Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
Links monetized by VigLink