Help cranks but won't start

[51bk spl]

I recently purhased a 1951 Buick special .when I looked @it I hahad the owner start and drive it around the parking lot. He said the battery was shot so he put a jump pack on and it started right up. Idled evenly end seemed to drive decent for a car that old . After it was dropped off I went to move it off the side lawn . And nothing. It cranks has juice to the point but won' even kick with starter fluid any suggestions

[Dave39MD]

These can be frustrating if you have not done anything to it since it was running only a few days ago. Make sure you are getting spark at the spark plugs not just at the points. With the starting fluid test it would be hard to say it is fuel related.

Good luck

 

Dave

 

[JohnD1956]

6 hours ago, 51bk spl said:

It cranks has juice to the point but won' even kick with starter fluid any suggestions

 

May I ask if it had sat on the grass in damp conditions for several hours before you tried to start it? If you know it has power at the points in the distributor, and the points are opening when the engine is cranked, then  I am wondering if you have  bad sparkplug wires that have gotten wet from condensation? Or maybe a cracked or bad coil?

[avgwarhawk]

Plugs maybe wet with gas. Pull one or two and check.

[mackensen]

Have you checked the compression. The cyd. walls may be washed down. Try motor oil through carb.

[Matt Harwood]

43 minutes ago, mackensen said:

Have you checked the compression. The cyd. walls may be washed down. Try motor oil through carb.

 

Jebus, no! Don't pour motor oil down the carburetor. If your compression is so bad that the car won't start because the cylinder walls were washed down, this won't help anything and it'll make a big mess if everything is otherwise operational. The prolonged cranking you've undoubtedly been doing should provide enough oil pressure to re-wet the cylinder walls with oil and fill the ring gaps properly.

 

Are you sure there's gas in the tank? Are you sure the fuel pump is working? I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but around here we run out of gas once in a while and it's the last thing we suspect when it happens. Gas gauges are not accurate, you think you put gas in it recently, and the car ran perfectly yesterday. In fact, two days ago, Melanie drove her new Chrysler wagon all day. I fired it up yesterday morning to move it out of the way and it started normally and I drove it into the parking lot. At lunch, it would crank and wouldn't start. I figured it had to be ignition and started looking for new ignition parts. Nope. Just out of gas, even though I'd filled the tank a week ago. Where did all the gas go? I don't know, I think it gets more than 10 MPG, but apparently not. Pour some gas in, a minute of cranking, and it eventually started and ran like it always does.

 

Pull a plug wire or the coil wire at the distributor and hold it near the block while someone else cranks the engine--look for spark. If there's a spark, you know your problem is fuel-related. Check your fuel pump and make sure there's gas in the tank. If there's no spark, then you know it's ignition. That's a quick, easy way to at least narrow it down to fuel or spark without shooting in the dark (so to speak). 

 

Good luck!

Edited May 3, 2018 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Matt, that guy has not been back since the original post.

 

  Ben

[mackensen]

I have started many a n old engine by pouring a small amount of oil down the carb. it restores compression.  Try it you may like it.