Hey Guy"s I Need Your Help Here, I Parked My 1980 Ford Shortbox 400M,4 Barrel Carb. And It Was Running Fine. A Few Day"s Later The Wife Wanted To Take It Out For A Spin But It Wouldn't Start. I Went Out And Tried To Start It And I Could Smell Gas So I Knew I Was Getting Gas, I Checked For Spark. After Changing The Coil I Got Spark. I Finally Got It To Run But Rough. I Thought It as Because Of Being Flooded So I Held It To The Floorboards To Burn Off The Excess Gas Low And Behold It Never Ran Any Better And I Was Shooting flames Out My Tail Pipes (Daul Exhaust) And When I Shut It Off I Looked Under The Truck And Both Tailpipes Was Glowing Bright Red Almost To The Point My Bed Was On Fire. Now The Hard Part I Was Thinking The Timing Must Of Slipped But The Motor Has A Recent Overhaul On It And It Was Running Perfect When I Parked It!! I Live In A Area Where Neighbors Are Jelouse As It It Awesome And I Just Won A Trophy For The Truck At Our Local Car Show. But I Didn't Have It Locked Up Or Anything Could It Be Somebody Screw"d With Something Of Do You Think It Is The Timing Or What?? I Am Lost Here I Can't See How A Timing Chain Can Jump A Cog When It Was Parked?? But That Is What It Is Acting Like. Please Somebody Help Me Out Here What Else Can I Check For?? Thanks You Guy"s Your Wonderful!!

Chev702

 

The easiest thing to tamper with on an older vehicle is the plug wires, which will also cause the overly rich condition required for the "Roman candle" effect (due to unburned fuel reacting with exhaust temps). Check the firing order, and routing of your plug wires, both at the cap (first) and at the plugs (second). Idle mixture screws on an 80 model would also be pretty easy to futz with, set those at --GENTLY-- seated, then 1&1/4 turns out. Start vehicle, and if the running condition is improved, adjust in or out evenly until optimum running condition is achieved. Check these two items and report back, I'll think some more at work. These were just the first two ideas that popped into my head.

 

I am not familiar with the 1980. If you have a regular points distributor instead of the more modern setups, your points may have slipped. I had that happen many a time and it will either not start or misfire a lot depnding on how much they moved. I had that happen once on a car I had just rewired and spent days retracing every wire figuring I must have had done something wrong. Turned out my points just happen to slip at that time and my wire job was fine. Keep it simple......

Good Luck,

Lee

 

Stuck carburetor float? Tap on float bowl to free up, or if its a Holley carb, remove the inspection plugs to see if fuel level is too high.

 

Argh, I Checked Stuck Float Seems To Be Getting Right Amount Of Gas, It Has A Edelbrock Carb.Is There A Simple Way To Check The Timing?? Run It Top Dead Center And Take Out #1 Plug?? See If The Rotor Is On The #1 Wire On The Cap?? I Don't Know About The Points As Ford Has A 2 Part Cap And A Magnetic Shaft Inside. I Know GM Has The Point That Open And Close But I Don't Think Ford Does At Least This Year 1980. Has A Round Spiked Thing That Goes Around
I Checked The Firing Order That Seems To Be Okay That Leads Me To The Timing. I Don't Know Maybe When The Wife Tried Running It Over It Jumped Time. Looking For A Easy Way To Check The Timing I Don't Have A Timing Light Grrr.
Thanks For All The Replies They Are Helping
Chev702

 

OK, you have the magnetic pickup style then. I just couldn't remcall when they started that. There is an adjustment on that setup just like points but they dont' slip as often but I have seen it once or twice. It is a real pain to check so unless you are totally out of ideas, you could check that. You MUST use a brass non-magnatizing feeler gauge though or you will screw it up! You can't use the old spark plug feeler gauges. I don't recall what teh gap is but I think it was pretty big, somewhere around .0060 or so. It should be in your Haynes.


If you have good gas, good compression, it has to be intermittant or wrong timed spark. Cracked Distributor, check for signs of arcing in the cap.

To test for bad wires or grounding, try to start it tonight and watch it in the dark and see if you see spark jumping to the block anywhere.

Good Luck,

Lee

 

I Don't Understand My Truck!!, Old Geezer Was Right Somebody Did Cross 2 Plug Wires On The Cap Which would Explain The Truck Running Rough. Since That One Time I Had It Running I Can't Get It To Fire Again,I Put In A New Coil, And A Ignition Box On The Fender. I Checked For Spark I Have Spark Comming Out Of The New Coil As My Fingers Tingled LOL Oppsss. I Can Turn It Over Until I Am Blue In The Face And It Won't Fire But It Seems Like It Wants To Fire When I Let Off The Key?? Why Is That?? I Checked The Timing Everything Is Right On The Money,The Only Thing I Haven't Checked Is If I Am Getting Spark To The Plugs. I Did Not Seem To Get Anything From The Plug Wire Test (Screw Driver In Boot Aimed At Headers) But I Haven't Been Brave Enough To Hold On To The Darn Thing To Know For Sure, Any Suggestions As To What Might Be The Trouble?? Keep The Replies A Comming The All Help!!
Thanks Guy"s
Chev702

 

Verify fire at your plugs. What about your gas? Could someone have dumped something in there? Take the hose loose from the tank or selector switch (upstream of the fuel pump) and stick it in a can of fresh fuel. 20 minutes and five bucks worth of gas will rule that out or confirm your suspicions.

 

I have two or three ideas for ya:
This may seem really obvious but, I haven't seen it mentioned yet: Did you pull the plugs to see if they were fouled? If you were smelling gas, it's probable that the engine got flooded. I'd pull the plugs and clean them or, better yet, replace them with a fresh set.
[/QUOTE] I Can Turn It Over Until I Am Blue In The Face And It Won't Fire But It Seems Like It Wants To Fire When I Let Off The Key?? Why Is That?? [QUOTE]
That can be good clue for a 'no start'.
Check your battery voltage when you are cranking the engine. If it is 10.6 volts or less, charge the battery and re-check. Your battery might have enough 'juice' to crank the engine but not enough to provide power for a hot spark while cranking. When you let off the key and it returns to the 'run' position the voltage will jump up when the starter disengages. That could explain why it tries to start when you let off the key.
My last thought would be better coming from a Ford truck guru but, here it is:
Your truck may have two ignition power circuits. One to provide power to the coil while cranking and another circuit with a resister to provide power while the engine is running. If the cranking circuit is open or corroded it could cause that problem, too.
Like I said, check with a Ford guru or consult your manual because I'm not sure your truck would have these circuits.
I hope this helps.

 

also, if your gas tank is low, and you have some water in the tank, you have the same thing happen.. my 351W fouls plugs pretty easy.. once they are fouled good, it _won't_ start. slap some new autolites in, verify the plug wiring is correct, and go fer it.

 

problem is chevy guy working on a ford truck

a plugwire was crossed and you reved it up, spend $10 and replace the plugs.