Pinto Car Club of America

Welcome to FordPinto.com, The home of the PCCA => General Help- Ask the Experts... => Topic started by: r4pinto on December 29, 2004, 08:38:24 PM

Title: Pnto no start condition
Post by: r4pinto on December 29, 2004, 08:38:24 PM
well today I got to my Pinto to take it out of storage so I can work on it while off, and went to start it, but it didn't. I could get it to turn over, but no fire.. I thought it was low on fuel, so I sprayed some starter fluid in it to help start it, but nothing. I shook the car & it does have gas in the tank.  Regardless when I sprayed the starter spray in the carb it didn't even try to fire up.

I drove the car to it's current place a couple weeks ago and it was running ok, considering it's badly burning oil, but now nothing.

I did take the ignition module/ box to Advance Auto Parts & it did test good, but now I need to know how to check the coil. What's the easiest way to do this on this car?

Thanx for any help.
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: CHEAPRACER on December 29, 2004, 11:26:52 PM
Take the cap off the distributer and turn the engine over to make sure it's turning and your timing belt didn't rip it's teeth off. I just saw the same thing happen to a Honda Civic.
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: econoaddict on December 30, 2004, 12:24:52 AM
to check and see if coil is sparking just lay the dist end of the coil wire near a ground and watch while cranking, hopefully you see spark.
If it is burning oil badly the problem could be as simple as your spark plugs being oil fouled and not creating sufficient spark to ignite the fuel mixture.
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: r4pinto on December 30, 2004, 04:51:57 PM
well I hooked a timing light to the #1 spark plug wire & was getting spark, so no problem there. After all this investigating & still nothing I pulled the #4 plug... oil fouled... went to #3 same thing... I'm not even gonna pull #2 or 1 as they are prolly gonna be the same thing. With that I'm gonna put a hotter plug in there for now until I get the motor pulled. Atleast that should hopefully keep my car mobile.

Thanx guys for all your help.
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: r4pinto on January 02, 2005, 07:19:48 PM
OK... I ended up having more problems, as the car was only on 2 cylinders.. Threw a set of clean plugs & ignition coil at the car & it ran good.
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: turbopinto72 on January 07, 2005, 12:33:18 PM
cool, but you still need to fix the oil fouling issue????
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: r4pinto on January 07, 2005, 01:26:55 PM
Well, I think the plugs were getting fouled out becuase there wasn't enough voltage to burn away the oil that was entering the cylinder. I have a motor I'm gonna be installing in the car, but until then whatever I do is just gonna be a band aid fix so I can drive the car from time to time. :)
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: Farmboy on January 07, 2005, 04:35:23 PM
  Hey Matt, with all the problems with your engine over the last 4 to 5 mo. I would just set aside a weekend and do a motor swap, no sence in putting more money into a motor your just gonna throw away. This is my 2 cents on your problem. With all the pinto lovers you have in Ohio it should not be any problem trading work on yours for work there cars. How cold is it back there, Burrrrrrrrr
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: turbopinto72 on January 07, 2005, 04:59:55 PM
Quote from: Farmboy on January 07, 2005, 04:35:23 PM
Hey Matt, with all the problems with your engine over the last 4 to 5 mo. I would just set aside a weekend and do a motor swap, no sence in putting more money into a motor your just gonna throw away. This is my 2 cents on your problem. With all the pinto lovers you have in Ohio it should not be any problem trading work on yours for work there cars. How cold is it back there, Burrrrrrrrr
I concur with farmboy, great advise.
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: r4pinto on January 07, 2005, 05:46:37 PM
Well, the problem I had is that the car was in storage and I couldn't get the car started at all to get it anywhere to swap the motor. Once I changed the ignition components on it the car fired right up... The distributor parts I bought though, are in the distributor that I rebuilt for the new motor. I actually got that in the new motor right now... just sitting in there, but none the less out of danger from getting damaged just sitting around. At this point the whole ignition system is new & ready for the swap... All I need now is an exhaust manifold, which I'm going after tomorrow, fuel, & water pump, and engine block painted, as well as a gasket set for the engine... Not much to do before swapping engines, but enough...

Thanx for the advice though... I will keep the ohio Pinto owners in mind though, when I go to swap the engine. :)
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: CHEAPRACER on January 07, 2005, 10:20:49 PM
My advice would to be get it running right, providing the oil fouling will let you, and get it starting right. That way when you pull your running combination and put the new rebuild in, it will also run and you will only have to worry about oil & water leaks upon startup.
Title: Re: Pnto no start condition
Post by: r4pinto on January 07, 2005, 10:42:41 PM
In that case I'm in good shape as before the ignition parts replacement the car had a top speed of maybe 45-50 mph. Now with new ignition parts it goes much faster than that... and on a blown motor too. ;D