346 flat head no start?

[cadillac60]

Rod,

I agree with you on the timing chain. I have not tried the carb cleaner , will get at that.

Thanks

Bruce W

[n2caddies]

Hi Bruce,
I too have been watching this thread from the beginning racking my brain for ideas. You said in your first entry that you had spark and a new distributor cap. Is there a chance the spark plug wires might be improperly placed at the cap? Are you getting spark at the plugs? Sometimes the obvious stuff is the easiest to overlook.
Randy

[Fred Pennington 25635]

I have been watching this and feel I must contribute.
I somewhat agree with 49er.
If the engine quits when you release the starter button, you may have an electrical problem.
But not at the generator or regulator.  The problem will be at the ignition switch.
That would also explain the change after sitting for a long period. Contacts in the switch may have become stuck or corroded.
The wire in the armored case is know to short.
If not already tried you can test by running a hot wire from the battery to the distributor and eliminate the switch and wire.

The charging system parts only maintain the battery and the engine should run for a very long time on battery alone.
I know there is a great deal of discussion about "no suction at the carburetor" . You will need to disconnect and plug all the vacuum lines to get an accurate test.
There is a lot of places a carb can suck air from. 

Good Luck!!
Fred P.

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

OK-- Here we go--- Seems like we asked if a "hot-wire" test had been done... A jumper wire from the coil to battery to see if it would continue running... Anyone remember if this was done? I am trying to keep it simple, not yet ready to talk about any other factor--- just keep in mind it ran and drove into the garage...

[cadillac60]

Rod,

I have tried the carb cleaner as per your suggestion, but it didn't seem to make any difference.  I also want to try "the hot wire routine"  but I am auto electrical challenged!  To go from the coil to the battery--- would I disconnect the wire that is coming from the Ignition switch to the coil--- then run a connection from the coil to the Positive side of the battery?  The battery is Neg ground. Obviously this is by passing the ignition switch so it should try to start by touching the wire to the battery???

Regards

Bruce W

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

OK-- This is a bit complicated because the original coil has a protected power side.. I use the word"power" because the 37 to 48 cars use positive ground, making the "hot" side of the coil the - "negative" side. NOW that said, on original cars the POWER side of the coil goes through the firewall and works its way to the ignition switch. So, a quick "hot-wire" test is not so easy to do on an original car...

IDEA that makes is a little easier here--- what I would like to know next is ------ what happens if you put a test light on the + side of the coil? with the key on? the test lamp should have either a dim or bright glow, depending on if the points are open or closed when you make the test...   NEXT---- If you have someone crank the engine while the test lamp is still connected-- what does the light do?

Can we just work with this for a while before continuing?

Rod

[cadillac60]

Rod,

With the test light on the + side of the coil--ign on, the light is semi bright, I am just waiting for my wife to come up to crank the engine over will get back to you.

Bruce W

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

OK--- That is what I expected. Lets see what happens next...   One thing, right now without doing anything at all other than a few pumps of the accelerator, exactly what happens when you crank it, trying to get it started?

[cadillac60]

Rod,

With the test light on+side of the coil & cranking the engine over the light dims somewhat& flickers a .bit.

Bruce W

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

That is what it should do-- So-- OK so far GOOD  --- NOW some lets back up a bit and do some things that have been done in the past..

Exactly what happens right now when you crank to start?

[cadillac60]

Rod,

When I crank it over it actually starts but, only for a second or two & then dies.

Bruce W

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

OK-- -Hold on for a minute--- I am going to look at one of my cars-----

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

OK-- if you do this again with the test light in place. does the light stay on? can you count to 3 before it dies?

I dont know what test equipment you have so I am trying to keep it simple..... Do you have a volt meter?

[cadillac60]

Yes the light will stay on to count of 4-- No I don't have a voltmeter just the test light.

Bruce W

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

OK-- Light stays on- engine runs - you count to four -- engine dies at the count of four?

[cadillac60]

 the engine was cranked over with the light on test for 4 seconds but the car only ran for 2 seconds,

Bruce W

[Rod Dahlgren #19496]

OK-- Let's go over this:

you have spark and the coil seems to continue to work-- the test light working indicates the points are working.. we still can not eliminate the point plate issue these distributors have--- but spark is probably not the problem---

You have enough fuel to make it run EVERY time you crank it....

I runs for 2 seconds EVERY TIME?

It will not continue to run if you spray a mist of carb-cleaner directly into the carb------ (Kind of dangerous)

[cadillac60]

Rod

I would have to say yes to all your statements.

Bruce W

[cadillac60]

Rod,

After looking at your statements again, the engine always starts the first time I try to start it after that it will just crank over.  If its left for 1/2 hour or so it will start for that 2 second period.

Bruce W

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Bruce:  Hopefully Rod will find your problem so what I say next I hope you will not need to use. If a car starts and then stops, the first thing I would suspect is a fuel problem. I think from what I have read about what you have looked at on fuel and fuel delivery, fuel starvation is not the problem. So what is left is electrical and Rod I believe is working that problem. If it was my car I would pull the distributor out of the car and check wiring. I believe some place in these 7 pages you said the distributor had been rebuilt and I think you said wiring appeared to be OK. Pop the distributor cap and check the grounding wire as well as the wire from the points to the terminal on the side of the distributor. Are the wires secured inside their connectors and the wires in good shape? Is the surface under distributor ground wire clean.? If all is OK with wiring and ground -then look at your points. Make sure the point cap is between .0125-.0175. I have been on a couple of tours with several flat head Cadillacs. One just stop running going down an interstate. What we found was the points were not tight and they bounced open to way above .0175. The other flat head was somewhat like yours, started to run and then stop. Same thing was found- points were way out of tolerance.     Bill