Quote Originally Posted by sapelo View Post
Yeah, its definitely a woman...
Electronic ignition, I think I follow you. How do I check for sure?
Lift your distributor cap and look under the rotor - it'll be clear if you have a set of breaker points in there. You say
Sometimes I can smell gas like its flooded even though I never touched the pedal, other times some enthusiastic pumping will get it to go.
In my experience, with a carburetor it's standard to get in, stab the throttle once or twice, depending on the engine, to get a shot of raw fuel in the intake, then crank it. It sounds to me like you may have a carb problem, and rebuilding it to get everything sealed up and a new accelerator pump in there may solve your problem. Of course, if you have no ignition power during crank, or an intermittent power during crank that will cause your fuel smell too. Next time it's not starting for you check for spark at the plugs - pull a plug wire, stick a Phillips head screw driver in the plug wire end and hold it about 1/8" from a good ground while a buddy cranks it - ought to have a nice blue/white spark and a healthy "POP, POP, POP" as it fires. If not check for 12V at the + terminal of the coil using a meter, ignition "ON" and also during Crank.