I can't get my truck to start up. I think it's an ignition system problem, but I don't know where to start troubleshooting...

My truck is a 1966 F100 with 300 I6. I installed a new fuel pump on my truck last weekend and the truck was running great. I drove it about 45 miles on the new fuel pump. After driving the truck, I went to show someone how well it was running, started it up, and revved the engine. After the revving, the engine slowed and died. No sputtering, no choking, no unusual noises. It just died.

Now the truck won't start. It turns over fine. The inline fuel filter is full of gas, so the new fuel pump seems to be working. I had the carbureutor rebuilt by an older, wiser mechanic, about 3000 miles and 5 months ago, so I don't think the engine is flooding. It seemed so sudden that I thought the problem was electrical, so I started looking there.

I tried putting a timing light on the truck when I cranked the engine, and as I suspected, the timing light didn't blink at all. I found an old, melted wire under the distributor cap. The wire ran from the starter coil to the condenser. I replaced the wire, the points, and the condenser, but it still didn't work. I just replaced the starter plug wires, and still haven't had any luck.

Does anyone have any good advice for troubleshooting this, or think they may know what is going wrong? Is there some reason the timing light wouldn't blink when cold starting the engine? Thanks a lot for your help.

--Patrick

 

Well, I don't know if this will help, but I just got my 66 running for the first time since 1998.

I would hook up a spark plug to one of the wire, and hold it using insulated pliers against the block. If it sparks then you have spark. I would suspect you don't.

I would check the coil you can find a guide on the internet and you will need a Ohm meter. If you don't have one, you may just want to buy a new coil, they aren't that much about $27-$55.

The next thing to check is the points adjustment. The guy I bought my truck from had the points adjusted to the right gap at the wrong time. He adjusted them to the right gap at the top, and not on the flat spot.

Then do the spark plug test again. You should see spark

On the fuel side disconnect the fuel line from the carb, and crank the engine. You should see fuel shooting, but not a lot. You should be able to stop it with your thumb.

I hope this all helps.

 

Went to the store and bought a new ignition coil. Unfortunately, it broke when I was tightening the nuts to the leads (looks like it was a bad part). Thanks for the advice though. I'll let you know if it works.

 

It sounds like a coil to me but I had a problem with my truck when I first got it that I thought was the coil but, because I was on the side of the road I tried a few other things first. It ended up being a fuel line/ carb problem: there is a little screen in the carb where the fuel line comes in and it was filled with junk now that I've carefully cleaned that and reprimed the lines my truck runs great.