It is a 1982 Ford E150 5.8L V8 351W engine with carburetor and distributor. Battery is fully charged and I have a charger to fully charge the battery after unsuccessful attemp when cranking the engine many times.

The engine cranks and cranks and has power but the engine would not catch and startup. I've disconnected the coil secondary wire from the distributor and connected it to a spark tester and it has a yellow spark. Confirmed that the all 8 spark plug wires get sparks.

Anyway, I've replaced the ignition coil, spark plug wires, spark plug, distributor cap, distributor rotor, pcv. After replacing all those things, the engine still does not want to startup. It will just keep on cracking but never startup. Checked the ignition coil secondary spark and this it's blue and better spark. Confirmed all other 8 spark plug wires are firing fine.

I've tried squirting some starting fluid through the carburetor opening and tried starting but still it would just crank but never startup. Does the engine with a carburetor start right up if the carburetor is squirted with "ether (starting fluid) or fuel" even if the fuel pump is not pumping fuel?
I would just to know about using the starting fluid because if the starting fluid is not even starting the engine then I can eliminate fuel related issues.

Also, I tested the input voltage present at the ignition coil around 6 - 7 volts. I was thinking that the input voltage to the ignition coild should be 12 volts and so I bypassed the + wire to the ignition coil and directly connected it to the battery to get a 12 volts. The secondary sparks is a much better but still engine would not startup and I can only crank it.

Anything in particular that I should check for?

 

Seems to me that you have spark and air so it just has to be fuel. Filter? Pump? Seems like with all that cranking and no firing, you should be getting gas out of the tailpipe if it's getting gas. I don't know if starting fluid would make it catch without gas...

 

I was really thinking about that. I don't know either if starting fluid would start an engine at all if there is no fuel from the fuel bowl in the carburetor. So, I would assume that people using a starting fluid have a least fuel in the fuel bowl within the carburetor.

When I get a chance, I'll open the carburetor and check to see if there is a fuel in the fuel bowl and if not I'll put some fuel in there and see if it starts this time. I can then narrow it to fuel related. I'll will be posting some updates....

 

NEVER use ether (starting fluid) on any engine.. It will burn the rings, and valve guides out. YES ether alone will start an engine. It's almost like 200 octane gas.

 

If you throw some gas (not too much or you'll get a hydraulic lock) down the carb, it should run for a few seconds even if the fuel pump is bad.

Hooking the coil to 12v direct will burn it out if it's a ballast coil.
They run on a lower voltage than a regular coil- it has a resistor in the circuit which drops the voltage to about 8v and is bypassed when cranking to get a fatter spark when starting.

I'd be tempted to retard the ignition by turning the distributor (anticlockwise to retard, clockwise to advance, looking at dizzy from under the hood.)

 

Has it jumped time?

 

Update:
BTW, this van is my brother in law.

Oil was dry as bone. I have to fill 3 quarts of oil to fill it to the safe level.

Replaced the Ignition Module.
Removed the Air Horn of the carburetor and confirmed that there is fuel in the fuel bowl which is 2/3 full. Put some more fuel from the gas can to the fuel bowl to fill it up. Cleaned the Air horn with carb cleaner, gasket still looks good and installed the Air horn back.
Battery is fully charged.
I get good sparks from all 8 spark plug wires.

I tried to start it, but it only cranks and cranks but never startup.

Two years ago, my brother-in-law said that the previous mechanic yanked out the Air Pump and just left all the hose lying around and not plugged up.
From what I understand about the Air pump, it just to help the emissions by providing extra air to burn any unburned fuel before reaching the catalytic converter.
My brother-in-law said that the Air pump was removed and left the hoses like it is two years ago and it has been running fine until now.

I've got question with regards to the carburetor throat. (Even if the engine would not start up). When you crank up the engine and you put the palm of your hand around the carburetor throat, does it create a huge vacuum and pull hard on the palm of your hand?
Currently, when I crank the engine, I just feel a little bit of vacuum pulling down when I put the palm of my hand on the throat of the carburetor. I don't hear a hissing noise on the carburetor throat when I crank it.

 

Have you actually pulled the plugs yet?
You said you were getting good sparks at the wires, but that won't be any good with fouled plugs

I'd be looking hard at #1 and #3 as they're the hardest ones to get at (I go in through the front wheel well with a couple of long extensions & a UJ)

 

Yep, I just replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires, ignition coil a few days ago. Today, I replaced the Ignition Module.

The I got easy access to the spark plugs. The engine is vertical. The spark plugs 1, 2, 3, 4 is located on the passenger side and the spark plugs 5, 6, 7, 8 is on the driver side.

 

I always thought it was 1,3,5,7 on the passenger side and 2,4,6,8 on the drivers, counting from the front.

Am I horribly wrong?

 

Yes, that is incorrect, GM numbers them something like that. Ford is as Slade901 said.

 

Slade, it should just about suck the skin off your hand when you crank it. Maybe the timing chain broke or the sprocket stripped or something...

 

Boy is my face red!

I checked my manuals so I'll just pretend I said nothing LOL

And c96drum dude is right, you should have the black ring on your hand where she sucked it in when you lay it on the carb.

 

That's what I thought. It's been almost 12 years since I have touched a carburetor Almost all our vehicles here are now using Fuel Injectors. So, I'm re-learning about carburetors again

You might be right about the timing chain, timing gear problems.

A while ago, I was also reading here https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...05#post1381405

Ahhhh.. Probably a long weekdays and weekends for me

I'll keep you folks updated on my progress.....

 

Good luck, sucks having to replace the timing gear with the motor still in the van. Are you going to be changing out the cam or anything interesting if you have to change out the timing gear?