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Hey gang, was looking for some advice before I started replacing parts unnecessarily.
I have a 49' Custom, as the title says, that I have finally gotten some time to work on.
It has quite a few problems, but I first wanted to get her running. I put some Marvell's in the cylinders to make sure she wasn't seized up, then rotated them a few times and sloshed it all out, everything seemed good. When I went to start however, she won't turn over.
I have new plugs, and a new battery. The cables are a bit old but she's getting juice so I don't think that's the issue.
When I pull one of the plugs and try to start her, I don't see any sparking. I'm wondering if it's the starter itself, or the distributor.
Also on a weird note, I think there's a short in the car because when I would try to turn her over, the horn would start blaring.
Sean, let's start with some basics. Are you aware that the car is positive ground? A lot of people not familiar with old Mopars aren't aware of that and hook the battery up backwards. Your post is a little confusing in that you said it wouldn't turn over when you went to start it but say you turned it a few times to get the oil out of the cylinders. Have you ever got it to spin with the starter? If you have the battery hooked up correctly and it won't turn at all, try shorting across the starter solenoid and see if it will spin. To do that, put a screw driver on the post with the cable coming from the battery and short it to the small post straight across. If it kicks in and spins, the problem is with the solenoid or the connections to it. If it still doesn't spin I would take the starter off and bench check it. Let us know how you make out. Les
Hey Les, thanks for the quick reply.
Let me try to clarify what i did, maybe you can spot the issue.
Replaced Spark Plugs
Installed New Battery (not sure about the positive/ground I don't believe it's backwards)
Put Marvel in the cylinders and let them sit about an hour
Turned the ignition, watched the cylinders splash the oil out through the plug holes.
Siphoned anything excess and re-installed the plugs
Tried starting, no go.
Tried a few times, and ran into issues with the horn blaring.
I'll try bypassing like you suggested see if it works. Thanks again
Sean, I am thinking the plugs are getting Mystery Oil on them. I would disconnect the power wire from the connection that it gets its power from and then figure the horn out later.
Okay time to update again.
So I did have the battery backwards as Les mentioned (looked at the shop manual and saw I had it reversed).
Additionally I removed all the plugs, cleaned them and grounded them on the engine block, and turned the ignition. I did not see a single plug fire.
Reading on the plymouth forums, they say that you should be able to plug the plugs directly into the distributor and see them spark...
Also from the shop manual wiring diagram the horn blaring at first indicated that there's a short in the wire's somewhere, and that the distributor may not be getting power.
Sean, with the key on, short across the two posts on the coil with a screw driver and you will get a spark. Or, take the distributor cap off and with the key on try opening the points with a screw driver and you will get some spark. If you are not getting spark you probably have a short somewhere. If you are getting spark I suspect the points are out of adjustment or not opening. You might want to put in a new set of points and gap them to .016. It is easier to do that with the distributor out of the car. Here is a little trick I have been using since I was a kid. Before you take the distributor out, jog the engine until the rotor points toward the firewall. You don't have to remember where the rotor was pointing and risk putting it in backwards. Hope some of this helps.
Check your Rotor, the little spinny guy underneath your Dizzy cap. And check your ignition Condensor. The little cylinder thing with the single wire coming from it. and then check your coil. I have a whole second ignition system in the trunk of my desoto.... all that crap always breaks, I found out driving an MG.,.
