Hi my name is Terry. I have a 1984 Chevy 350 My son and I had to pull the heads and get them re worked. Everything is back together but it wont start. I 'm not getting any fire to # 1 Could the timming be off ? It has the electronic Ignition and I not to smart on those. We checked a pink colored wir that goes to the distributer cap and it is hot 12 V. Can you suggest anything ? Thanks ahead of time if you can help us out
350 not firing
- Thread starter terry sr
- Start date
If you have power to the coil, but no fire at the plug, you have a disconnect somewhere in the distributor. If it is a stock style HEI, the module may have gone bad. Did you put the rotor back in?
Is the pink wire going to the dist. connector and not the tach. connector?
Try a points distributor with a known good external coil and see if you can fire it like that.
jerry
Is the pink wire going to the dist. connector and not the tach. connector?
Try a points distributor with a known good external coil and see if you can fire it like that.
jerry
GreyOwl
Well-known member
Another vote for the wire plugged into the tach instead of the correct spot.
Charles
Charles
jabberwoki
Well-known member
aint it ford blue and i`t will start right up!!!
chrommagman
Well-known member
x2 ddawg16
Well-known member
Fix
And
Repair
Daily
Are you sure your not 180 deg out on the dist?
Remove all the plugs....with the battery disconnected stick your finger in the #1 plug hole while you turn the engine over with a wrench on the main pully/harmonic balancer.
Watch the timing mark on the pully....when it's getting close to TDC and you feel it trying to push your finger out of the spark plug hole because of compression, you are at true TDC on the firing stroke.
At this point, lift the dist up and rotate the rotor until its pointing at spark plug wire # 1.
Insert back in...rotate the engine a little to get the dist to drop all the way in.
Now try to crank it......after you put the spark plugs back in....
And
Repair
Daily
Are you sure your not 180 deg out on the dist?
Remove all the plugs....with the battery disconnected stick your finger in the #1 plug hole while you turn the engine over with a wrench on the main pully/harmonic balancer.
Watch the timing mark on the pully....when it's getting close to TDC and you feel it trying to push your finger out of the spark plug hole because of compression, you are at true TDC on the firing stroke.
At this point, lift the dist up and rotate the rotor until its pointing at spark plug wire # 1.
Insert back in...rotate the engine a little to get the dist to drop all the way in.
Now try to crank it......after you put the spark plugs back in....
jabberwoki
Well-known member
****
Heaps
Easily
Vanquished
Heaps
Easily
Vanquished
Last edited:
Gary S
Well-known member
If you have no spark at the plugs when cranking the engine over, forget about even looking at timing at this point. No matter where the timing is, the distributor will fire at some point in its revolution.
Check the power plug on the distributor first like jerryW and GreyOwl mentioned.
If still no spark, then pull the cap and make sure the rotor turns when the engine turns.
Check the power plug on the distributor first like jerryW and GreyOwl mentioned.
If still no spark, then pull the cap and make sure the rotor turns when the engine turns.
OK, the way to test any HEI is really simple, of course it's helpful if it's in the failure mode when the tests are ran. ....otherwise all bets are off.....
first off, see a full 12 volts on the thick red wire, engine still, but key ON....
then on the 'tach' wire see the same 12 volts, if NOT....the coil is bad, no question about it.....IF you do have 12 volts on the tach wire, and the thing is still dead, NO SPARK, you either have a bad module OR you have a defective most likely OPEN sending unit coil....they DO fail with heat and open up, hense no trigger for the module to fire on.....
if the spark coil opens up, and they can be intermittant too....the wire if fairly thick so it's not just a bad construction in the windings that heats/cools and opens the wire up.....it's the crimp connections on the two terminals, red/wh/yel depending....they crimp the connectors right through the formvar magnet wire insulation,....a VERY BAD PRACTICE....can cause all sorts of open coil symptoms....I have caught one of these pants down proven, soldered the connections on that coil and never had another problem...
symptom....no 12 volts on the TACH lead....
obvioulsly an HEI needs a good solid HARD 12 volts, not that series wire resistor found on most points ignitions in GM....
this posted off corvette forum. also older vehicles had resistance wire to ignition and if run hei with less than 12 volts you will have problems. hope it helps
first off, see a full 12 volts on the thick red wire, engine still, but key ON....
then on the 'tach' wire see the same 12 volts, if NOT....the coil is bad, no question about it.....IF you do have 12 volts on the tach wire, and the thing is still dead, NO SPARK, you either have a bad module OR you have a defective most likely OPEN sending unit coil....they DO fail with heat and open up, hense no trigger for the module to fire on.....
if the spark coil opens up, and they can be intermittant too....the wire if fairly thick so it's not just a bad construction in the windings that heats/cools and opens the wire up.....it's the crimp connections on the two terminals, red/wh/yel depending....they crimp the connectors right through the formvar magnet wire insulation,....a VERY BAD PRACTICE....can cause all sorts of open coil symptoms....I have caught one of these pants down proven, soldered the connections on that coil and never had another problem...
symptom....no 12 volts on the TACH lead....
obvioulsly an HEI needs a good solid HARD 12 volts, not that series wire resistor found on most points ignitions in GM....
this posted off corvette forum. also older vehicles had resistance wire to ignition and if run hei with less than 12 volts you will have problems. hope it helps
Strouty
Well-known member
Found
On
Road
Dead
I vote check wire is on the batt slot not tach. You said you had no spark to number one, was there spark to any other cylinder?
On
Road
Dead
I vote check wire is on the batt slot not tach. You said you had no spark to number one, was there spark to any other cylinder?
bgott
Well-known member
Pull the distributor with cap. Chuck it up in your vise. Ground the housing to a hot battery. Hook a hot wire from the battery to the V power connector on the cap. Spin the distributor shaft. If everything is working you'll have sparks flying everywhere.
57210
Well-known member
You might check the rotor center to see if it has shorted through to the distributor shaft. A lot of the cheaper ones can do this and leave you without any spark. I always carry a spare now.
jethro29
Well-known member
first on race day.
NWwoods
Member
F$#KED ON RACE DAY.
F$#KED OVER REBUILT DODGE.
...Loosen Distributor, turn ignition on (key).
Twist distributor til it Sparks to test Power...adjust from there.
(should work with HEI)
F$#KED OVER REBUILT DODGE.
...Loosen Distributor, turn ignition on (key).
Twist distributor til it Sparks to test Power...adjust from there.
(should work with HEI)
Slaman37
Well-known member
Could be the ignition control module, I had a bought a brand new distributor and it was bad. You local autozone, advance etc can test it for you.
Also check the pins in the plug connection. It can be very easy to bend these over when hooking up the plug. Go ahead ask me how I know....
Also check the pins in the plug connection. It can be very easy to bend these over when hooking up the plug. Go ahead ask me how I know....
richtersrodz
Well-known member
I replaced heads once, and my buddy and I unknowingly ran the valves down too far,
because we put the manifold on, before running the valves. The cylinders didn't have
any compression, because the valves were not closing.
Easy plug test. Pull the first plug, and lay it across the manifold, with the threads part
touching something metal, to make the short. Bump the starter.. You should see the
plug spark. But don't hold it, it may zap you.. I not, you don't have fire to the plugs.
because we put the manifold on, before running the valves. The cylinders didn't have
any compression, because the valves were not closing.
Easy plug test. Pull the first plug, and lay it across the manifold, with the threads part
touching something metal, to make the short. Bump the starter.. You should see the
plug spark. But don't hold it, it may zap you.. I not, you don't have fire to the plugs.