No start 351w
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Senior User
Joined: Aug 2000
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No start 351w
Have a '87 351w 4-v HO that will not fire. Ran great yesterday. We had quite a bit of rain and fog here today and the the truck will not start (neither did our Buick but I found that was due to old plug wires arcing on the motor). Checked for spark at two plugs and got a good blue spark. Carb is getting gas. Plenty of battery. But the engine will not fire. Not even a cough. When I pulled the distributor cap I noticed it had all kinds of brown residue on the contacts. I never saw this before but I cleaned and replaced.
All in all...pretty aggravating. Any ideas, I'm all ears. Fortunately, I have the F250 plow truck if need be for tommorrow but its a bear to drive any distance. Thanks.
Skippy
All in all...pretty aggravating. Any ideas, I'm all ears. Fortunately, I have the F250 plow truck if need be for tommorrow but its a bear to drive any distance. Thanks.
Skippy
Junior User
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 77
Likes: 1
From: Dayton, Ohio
No start 351w
Sorry to hear of your problem, I know these things can be frustrating. This seems quite puzzling to me. Generally speaking, if you get spark and fuel - something should happen. You must be missing one or the other. Since you say you have good spark at the plug, and you are getting plenty of gas; I would look at a flooded start situation (spark on the outside of plug but not in the cylinder). If you can get to one of the plugs, you could remove it and see if the end was wet with fuel. You could try squirting a little "starting fluid" down the carb and see if that prompts a little action.
Postmaster
Joined: Jun 2001
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No start 351w
This may have nothing to do with your problem but is the distributor loose. I just purchased an 87 and it drove fine then the other day it was a bear to start and when I was driving it I had no power then I happened to notice the distributor had came loose and when I reset it it ran fine. Just a thought, being as you have already messed with the distributor I wouldn't imagine this would be the case for you because you would have noticed a loose distributor, although it could be loose enough to move yet feel solid, good luck hope you figure it out, probably flooding itself if it is not the ignition again good luck
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Senior User
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No start 351w
Thanks for replies. I too considered maybe distributor was loose or something similar. However, the truck started right this AM as the temp dropped off a bit and its quite a bit drier out right now. So I suspect either a flooding condition (though I didn't notice a heavy gasoline smell) or the same condition as the Buick (spark plugs sparked but wires are old and arced against the engine). I'll be replacing wires, cap, and rotor and hopefully it won't happen again.
Thanks again for the replies.
Skip
Thanks again for the replies.
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