Pinto Car Club of America

Long story here. I got a 77 pinto a while back and the guy said it needed a fuel pump to run. yeah right! I replaced the cam and rockers, starter, dist. cap and rotor, coil, sparkplug wires, voltage reg., sparkplugs, modulator box, a new timing belt and a few other things. I can't get the dang thing to start. It's getting gas, the timing is set right, it's got good compression, good fire, but it want hit. Tryed cranking and moving the dist. but nothing. What am I missing or over looking here? Can someone give me some suggestions? Thanks

maybe the spark plug gap and the air gap between the rotor and the pickup. just suggestions.

i had the same problem one time. if it is a standard, drag til it starts. that is what we finally did and it would start and run fine after we got it to start the first time. some times after sitting for a while they get cranky.
good luck, merle

You said that it's getting gas.
You said that the spark is there and that the timing is proper.
You said that the compression is good.

How good is the gas that it's getting, and is it getting the proper amount?

If the car has been sitting for a long time, there is a VERY good chance that there is at LEAST a considerable amount of water (from condensation) present in the gas tank. (Even if it DOES start, the odds are very good that it will run funky until the water is cleared out.)
Or that the gas is stale and may have so varnished up the carburetor that the carb isn't working properly.
Also, the gas tank may be rusted inside, enough rust may be present that the fuel filters may be mostly clogged, but can still allow a very slow flow through them, maybe enough to initially fill the carb, but not enough to keep the level high enough when the engine tries to pull it out of the carb. faster than it can come in.


First, get a sample of the gas.
If at all possible, drain the tank unless you KNOW that ALL the gas in the tank is fresh.
Yeah, I know that gas is $3. a gallon, but mixing new good gas with old stale gas doesn't work unless you have an extremely low compression engine (like maybe a tractor) that can stand running on such low octane and contaminated gas.
 
If you can't drain it, you may be able to siphon the gas out through the filler pipe. If you drain it, you have a significantly better chance of getting most of the crud out of the tank. (With an old car, there is ALWAYS going to be some.)

If it's stale, it's octane may be so low that the engine CANNOT run when using it as fuel, even if everything else is perfect. Or if there is a LOT of condensation in the tank the water mixed with the gas may be what is preventing the gas from firing effectively.  If you do have a drain plug and it's situated at the very lowest point of the tank, any water present will tend to come out first, if the vehicle has been sitting still for a while and is not being shaken.

Try pulling the plugs out after cranking it for a few seconds to see if any are wet with gas. Then let the engine's cylinders dry out for a couple of hours, and then try using some starting fluid. If it even attempts to start now (and hasn't before), or if it runs for a second or a few seconds when using the starting fluid, the problem is gas-either too much, too little, or not good enough. 

I put a new dist. in today. same thing, nothing, will not hit a lick. I've poured gas into the sparkplug holes and still does not hit at all. I've poured oil into the cylinders and letting set for a while to help on compression from sitting so long. Might have to drag her around, cause I don't know what to do???

Quote from: datsun on May 10, 2006, 11:08:05 PM
Long story here. I got a 77 pinto a while back and the guy said it needed a fuel pump to run. yeah right! I replaced the cam and rockers, starter, dist. cap and rotor, coil, sparkplug wires, voltage reg., sparkplugs, modulator box, a new timing belt and a few other things. I can't get the dang thing to start. It's getting gas, the timing is set right, it's got good compression, good fire, but it want hit. Tryed cranking and moving the dist. but nothing. What am I missing or over looking here? Can someone give me some suggestions? Thanks

Did you change the fuel pump?

Did you try starting fluid?

Where are you?

Bill

Never pour gas into the plug holes. If the car won't start with putting a little in the carb don't go further.

If you put oil in the cylinders after, fine. Crank it over with the plugs out to get most of the oil out. If you have good comp. you don't need to put oil in, and if it had bad comp. it won't help.

What were your comp. #'s?

Is it flooded?

Bill

I have replaced the fuel pump. Tryed starting fluid. I'm not much of a mechanic, I took each sparkplug out one at a time and used my hand to feel the compression. Felt good to me. I'm in upper east Tennessee.

Hopfully there is someone near you that can give you a hand. It is better to have another set of eyes looking at it.

Start back at the begining and go through all the steps again to see if you missed something (ign. timing, valve timing, all wires are connected and where they need to go.....). So many times it is just a simple over looked item.

That is not the proper way to check for comp., so don't worry about that for now.

Did you do ANYTHING to the car BEFORE you tried to start it? If so, what?

I would bet it is a timing issue from the info I have so far.

Bill

I've got a buddy that's been helping me out. He knows way more than I do and it's got him baffled, too. Sounds like I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and take it to a pro.

did you look at the spark plug gap? it could be that you are getting a spark but it isn't quite powerful enough.

I read in my Haynes book that on this 77 model that theres is no specific gap, it just says the gap should be wide.

in my chiltons it is supposed to be .034 inches for 2.3 and 2.8. have you done anything different to the ignition system like a bettter coil and stuff or is it all stock?

I'll check the gap. I've replaced the coil and about everthing electrical that might cause this.

i also just found it in my haynes. if you have the blue haynes for the ford pinto and mercury bobcat it is on page 134. it says 0.034 in or the equivalent in mm is 0.86 mm if you don't have an inch gapper.

sorry my internet went down did it work. if not try looking at the battery. like if the posts are clean or if they are all corroded. hope i helped. the haynes manual also said the automatic choke could be adjusted wrong.

Oh yeah, got her running!!!! After putting the new dist. in this morning, I had the plug wires wrong, so it looks like the problem was the dist. Now I've got another problem that someone can give me some suggestions on. I think I've got a bad freeze plug. Water is coming from the back of the engine underneath at the transmission. Is this hard to replace? And how? Thanks for all the help

Whats with the poll at the top of this post.Both answers to the question.Are bad and bad  :what:

First time on here. Didn't know what to do there when I was posting. Just put something??????