Thread: I'm Officially A Failure

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The Henry J won't start and I have no idea why or quite what to do.



Ran fine over Father's Day to the show & back, and has sat in the garage since. No leaks, nothing weird going on. Now it turns & turns but won't fire....tried no gas, then using gas, but didn't want to flood it.

Where do I start in figuring this out without spending a ton of cash?

Sorry to be an idiot......

Angela

It is usually either a problem with fuel or ignition. Did your dad have any friends who would help you figure it out?

BTW, Don't feel bad. Everyone on this list had to learn this at some time. Now it's your turn. :-)

If the fuel line had come unhooked there would be a leak, right? Is there any way to tell if its the fuel pump just from looking for some signs?

My Dad's friend lives 120 miles away, I'm pretty much on my own here. I could call him and ask, he may know someone here in Des Moines to call. It was in the garage w/ no ventilation for a week while I was gone, lots of rain...could it have any moisture in the engine causing it to not fire?

Thanks!

Angela

Could be moisture in the cap,pull it off and let it sit open in the garage for a few hours (Unless you KNOW the plug wire positions, DO NOT let the wires fall out)
HEI? Replace the rotor. They can burn through(carbon arc) with or w/o moisture.
If it reeks of gas-pull the plugs, and blow them off if wet. let it sit for an hour or two then replace the plugs. try it then....

Next-Pull a plug wire and have someone turn it over while you hold it about a 1/4' from any metal , DON'T touch the gas and Open the choke (hold the choke baffle open w a screw driver works best, but do not let it go through to the lower throttle base plates.

No spark? Check power connections to the coil or cap


Next replace plug wire and pull the coil wire-same test ...

Spark?

Check if fuel is in the carb,No fuel pull pump feed line to carb.turn over
Fuel? Change filter
Fuel now?

No fuel?
Put the balancer line @ at TDC (0 on your timing tab) Now pull the cap. It should be at #1 if at TDC or 180 off if 180 off.

Not lined up?
rock the balancer B+F while watching the rotor there should be NO slack. Not lined up or takes a bit B4 the rotor moves? timing chain jumped.
we can go from there after those tests...
Pretty basic,but we can go from there later.
Maybe someone else will chime in clearer.....

Sent you a PM with a couple of local NSRA contacts.

If you were a failure you wouldn't be trying to figure it out. You’re getting way too much information at one time. Just go back to the basics. If it's getting gas, not the problem, if you have fire to the plugs, not the problem. My guess would be after sitting it's either carburetor got a little dirt, or the cap is damp, rotor needs cleaned with a touch of sand paper enough to make contact. Don't worry you will have it up and running in a short period of time.

Richard

Easiest first thing to try is to pop off the air cleaner and give the throat a little spray of starting fluid. Not a lot, just a short spray. Then try to start it and see what happens. You will want to try to crank it very quickly after spraying as the fluid evaporates quickly. You might want to quickly set the air cleaner back on the carb as soon as you spray it, just to be on the safe side, and have an extinquisher handy.

This isn't a super dangerous thing to do, but you do want to make sure the garage door is open and that you just shoot a little spray into the carb. If it fires but stalls, you probably have a fuel problem. If it doesn't fire, you probably have an ignition problem.

Don

Just a one-second shot will do it. If it won't start with that, like Don said, you have an ignition problem. It's ether and is available for cheap in a spray can at any auto parts store....

Starter fluid is a great quick way as stated above. All of the above is helpfull. There are more obscure things but try the starter fluid first and then report back. If your daughter could crank the key, you could spray at the same time. Since it's ether it evaporates fast. Also don't sniff the stuff!
Hang in there these guys will get you started soon!

Starter fluid works well, BUT use it sparingly it will wash the cylinders and cause cyl. scoring. We alway shot it THROUGH the filter. not directly into the carb. One thing I forgot-Fuel filter- A lot of times a car sitting will collect rust scale in the tank and it will often come through the lines to the filter on a later start up,but the car will often fire up then die as the filter plugs up.
I used to run a car starting bussiness in the winters here (MN) as a side line.
Race and performance cars can be a very finicky at times but I am glad you are keeping yor dads passion alive. Don't give up. I have a soft spot for these "J's". I had one the early 80's.

Looks like you have a lot of good info going your way so I won't muddy the water. Let me say this though. You're not officially a failure till they start throwing dirt on your face and you still don't have it running.

i have thought the same way a thousand times when something goes wrong with my car. then i take a deep breath and start again. it all seems to come back together again. when i get really frustrated at times and want to give up i have a great friend that reminds me that i am actually smarter than my car and there is nothing that i can not do with time and help from the guys and gals here.

Does the car have an electric fuel pump or a mechanical pump?

If mechanical, the gas between the pump and the carbs may have drained back. It may just be a matter of spinning the motor a few times to build line pressure (electric pump should have pressure shortly after the key is turned).

Pull the air cleaner and have somebody pump the gas. If the the accelerator pumps don't squirt anything...no gas.

Crank the motor a few seconds and see if you get fuel.

Sorry to vanish! Busy catching up on life after vacation. We tried the starting fluid (neighbor had some!) and it started right up, let her run 5 mins w/ the garage open. We'll see if it starts today without the fluid and go from there! Its amazing how nice it was to hear that engine again. I was worried I'd have to spend a ton to fix it but seems it just needed a little help firing. I'm guessing it was from driving it to that show on Father's Day (quite a lot of driving after sitting for a year and a half) and then letting it sit a week, moisture/gas built up? I hope thats all it is.....

Thanks for all the help and advice!!!

Angela

I knew you were to cute to be a failure........Stop second guessing yourself, you can handle any car repair. We will help with all the answers we can.
Bradc