Ok, so recently I've been heading over the the pinto with my dad for the past two days now because no one else has the time to help me out that's a mechanic/friend of mine. And since my dad thinks it's a electrical problem with my car coming from the distributor we've gone so far as in to replace the distributor cap, points, and rotor and still the car wasn't turning over and gas was still spitting out of the carb. The next thing he suggested to replace was the condenser, his he wrong or right? For me, he is really hard to work with because I try to put in my 2 cents about something and he gets all bent out of shape about it because he thinks he knows everything :-\ I know in the first steps to declaring whats wrong with a car is to see if it has spark, so please if anyone has other directions to go in or if we are in the right direction let me know! Oh yea..and keep in mind this car is a 1973 ford pinto wagon 2.0, two barrel stroke carb and I DON'T have a key for it...I've been starting it with speaker wire from the coil to the battery and crossing two flat head screw drivers on the solenoid.
Thanks! E>
I would suggest adjusting the valves.If it is spitting gas out the carb when it is running, might have a tight intake valve. It might have jumped a tooth on the timing belt. That might cause it to spit out the carb. Just a couple of things to think about. I drive a 73 wagon with a 2000 4 speed. Those things are easy to check. Hope this helps.
"Pinto's are Cool!"
Ditto.
Timing Belt is out of Sync Cam to Crank marks.
Pintosopher
Pull the distributor cap off and try turning the rotor by hand. It shouldn't turn, or not very much. If it spins all the way around then the pin at the drive gear on the distributor is broken. You cant tell just by pulling the cap and cranking the engine because the gear fits on the shaft relatively tight and will spin while the engine cranks but wont spin with it running.
My 74 did this. It would spit gas out the carb. I kept resetting the timing over and over, even had the head rebuilt thinking that was the problem and the whole time it was just the pin in the distributor drive gear.
2.0's didn't have that problem that I'm aware of, it was a 2.3 thing. Has to do with the up and down movement of the dist shaft. I stripped a few in my dirt car before switching to a bronze gear and shimming the shaft. The bad news is, when that happens, all of the metal shavings get slurped up by the oil pump, so the engine has to come apart. :(
Good idea to check it though, sounds like a timing issue for sure.