Thread: 302 wont fire PLZ HELP

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First of all, welcome to CHR. Secondly, we need more info:

1) Did you ever have the car running?

2) If so, why did it stop or what changes did you make?

3) Year? Carb or Fuel Injection?

With some exceptions, all an engine needs to fire is fuel and spark. Have you checked to see if you have spark to the plugs. One of those $ 5 inline spark checkers can tell you that. If it lights up, you have spark.

If you have spark, try a little shot of starting fluid.

Give us the whole story so we have something to go on, otherwise all you are going to get is a lot of guesses.

Don

the guy who sold it to me said he had it running real strong im not sure of the year of the motor but it has just been rebuilt and its got a holly double pumper mds distributer and coil...4 barrel carb,there are a lot of dead end wires...i cant find a fuse box to save my life lol...i put a light tester on the battery and it lit up but then i put i on the coil and i got nothing...the guy who set up the timingon the distributer had it to where it was barely touching the outside of it dont know if that would be the prolem cause i can see where it had been catching...also a mechanic i had spoken to said not to use starting fluid because it was to dry...i dont know if any of this helps or not im new to muscle but i appreciate the help...im open to any ideas thanks guys

whats a brain box by the way

Ok, now we have something to go on. Fords are wired through a starter solenoid that is remotely mounted from the starter (unlike Chevy who puts the solenoid on the starter). It is a black plastic affair that has two large terminals on it (one in from battery + and another cable to the one post on the starter.

There are two other little terminals on the solenoid. One is the one that you put juice to to get the solenoid to kick in, and the other one is "I" for ignition. Run a wire from that terminal to the + side of your coil. Put your test light on it after that and you should have 12 volts to the coil. Bet it starts then.

BTW, starting fluid if used sparingly is ok, you just don't want to use too much of it. Lots of controversy about that, but I have used it for years and it has gotten me out of some jams.

With your Holley carb you should be able to look down the throat while pumping the gas and watch it squirt though. (engine off )

Don

but i think that the solenoid is in the starter on this specific starter,would i still be able to pull that off?

Not unless there is something specific to this one that I don't know about....virtually every Ford I have seen has no solenoid on the starter, it is mounted on the passenger side fender well generally. Anything is possible, but I don't think so.

In any event, simply track your fat positive battery cable from the battery. Where does it go on your car? Have you been able to turn the key to start and get it to crank? If possible, post some good pictures, but if not, we can still get through this.

Don

i might be able to post pics tomorrow.it cranks but no smoke,cough or backfire at all,the positive cable on my battery is hooked up to the starter and everything else electric runs off the same cable going up to the starter.the person who did all the wireing is obviously wasnt a professional,there are so manydead end wires that i cant tell what goes to what...if i hook up the coil to the battery do i risk shorting anything?

Originally Posted by treese13

....i put a light tester on the battery and it lit up but then i put i on the coil and i got nothing...

(I'm assuming you probed the + terminal on the coil with the key in the run position and the ground lead of the test light had a good ground)

Does it have a ballast resistor? Most old engines either use a ballast resistor or a resistor wire between the ignition switch and the ignition coil to reduce the voltage to the coil.

If you have a ballast resistor, you can check it using your test light.
- if there's power on one side but not the other, it's a bad resistor.
- If there's power on both sides, the wire from the resistor to the coil is bad.
- If there's no power to the resistor, it's either a bad wire to the ignition switch, a faulty ignition switch, or just plain miswired.

I would not recommend running a coil directly off the battery for an extended period of time unless you know for sure that it's a 12v coil (most stock coils are 6v - many 12v coils are just 6v coils with an internal ballast resistor). I blew-up a coil once because I overheated it with too much voltage - no firey explosion or anything, the can just ruptured and spewed oil everywhere.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck.

ive seem to mislead you guys...the solenoid is not in the starter

the one circled on the far left is the starter solenoid, Its not mine, I just pulled a picture up from the net. And unless its a chevy powered ford the solenoid is on the right fender inner skirt.

thanks for the pic but how am i supposed to tell the difference between the + and the - on the solenoid?{my solenoid is is on the right next to my transmission,cant really tell}

thanks for the pic but how am i supposed to tell the difference between the + and the - on the solenoid?{my solenoid is is on the right next to my transmission,cant really tell}

Be real careful of what starter and off starter solenoid set up that you have. The new starters have the solenoid built into the can on top of the starter with the one on the firewall being merely a relay for the start signal - and I don't have a clue when these were installed - mid '90s maybe. With the new setup you have 2 heavy wires on one terminal with a lighter one running to the starter - there being 2 wires rather then a single heavy one like the older Fords.

This is what I mean. The sketch on this page is NOT the solenoid I'm using - I'm using the older style, with some mods to my wiring