Hello Everyone. Please bear with me this is going to be long. I had my 1976 F250 Highboy in the air sitting outside under a tarp over the winter season last year because it got to cold outside while attempting to swap the rear axle for one with a posi. I would go over to the house where the truck was at 1-3 times per week to fire it up make sure all was good. All was good. I found out I had some issues with the rear axle and ended up putting my old axle back in. I set it down and went to start it and NOTHING! I got to lookin cause my trusty old Ford NEVER let me down before! Well I did have spark but not the proper tools to check the strength at the time. I went and got new spark plugs and put em in and it fired right up. I replaced the distributor cap & rotor when I got home and wa lah! It started again. It was pukin and coughin and sounding real rough though. I figured that since it was up in the air for so long that maybe something got stuck in my carb jets. So after limping the truck home and shutting it off I took off the carb (edelbrock 600cmf) and cleaned it out real good and said ah to hell with it and rebuilt it. Went to start it and NOTHING! I was gettin a little pissed by now! I thought well maybe I ain't getting gas or that I screwed up the carb. I determined that I had gas and put my carb on another 390 of a buddy of mines and it fired right up! I replaced the rotor in the distributor again and it fired up! Very rough again though. I have tried again and now nothing. I have stabbed and re-stabbed the distributor and timed and retimed and NOTHING. I have a new Ignition Control Module, new plugs, new wires, new coil new EVERYTHING except distributor. I am going to try a new reman OEM distributor but the warden (wife) don't like me spending much cash on what she calls the p.o.s. So alas...... PLEASE HELP ME GUYS!

 

[QUOTE=feo_nuts;8295478]Hello Everyone. Please bear with me this is going to be long.

feo
Sorry, we have to start over from the begining. You have done so many things, if everything was correct, it should have started.

Fuel\Fire and timeing will make your beast run.

Do you have fuel when you pump the carb? Yes, I assume...

Do you have a blue\orange spark from the wire of the number 1 spark plug to ground? If yes, continue on. If not, we need to go back from there.

Was the dizzy "stabbed" in on the compresion stroke of #1 cylinder, and the rotor button dead center of the #1 cylinder spark plug wire position on the dizzy cap when the dizzy was seated? If not, well, we can help you there as well.

PS, you did place the wires on the correct cylinders..right? Based on your write up, it sounds like the timeing\firing order is messed up and your flooding your new plugs. It seems to re-start after sitting for a while but still runs rough. JMHO

 

Sound like water in the gas. Did you put stabilizer in it and some water absorber in it? For the water issue use a product with isopropyl alcohol in it not methanol and ethanol as both have bad habits for several reasons.

 

Sometimes I cant see the forest for the tree's. He did say it was sitting for a year. I was focused on the dizzy removal, not the fuel issue. You could be correct, and a simple fix.

 

Dumping 5 gals of FRESH premium gas in the tank wouldn't hurt either.

 

I have put in fresh gas previously and it does have fresh gas in it. I put stab-il in it before it sat. Hell the beast eats so much gas I had to keep fillin it up with a 5gallon gas can to get 5 minutes of run time lol I have fuel when I pump, I have fuel at the carb. It has an aftermarket inline fuel pump that works flawlessly but has givin me grief in the past (if that makes any since) I replaced it along with all the other stuff. It is a carter and works quite well. I have looked everywhere and retraced the firing order in just about everyway possible to my knowledge. About the distributor bein stabbed I have tried all ways that I know of. I have done the way you mentioned above, I have put my engine at 10 degrees before TDC on compression stroke and pointed the rotor towards #1 cylinder and I have even tried having it slightly advanced. Nothing. My spark seems to be intermittent. I can see it great at times and other times I can't. I am STUMPED!

 

what ECM do you have?
aftermarket? it may be the issue
Advance Auto chinese is less than $30 and worth a try

 

1976 would be carbed on top of that there was no FE with EFI.

 

Brownfoot said,"ECM, not EFI bear45\70." My 76 gave me some fits and I replaced the ECM just to eliminate it, it was a little old. I finally found the problem, it was the coil wire that was bad. You could have a bad coil or coil wire? Just a suggestion? My truck would give a spark but, not a good spark, not all the time. I chased my tail for a while and finally found it. Maybe this will help, let me know one way or the other, zrxlover.

 

ZRX....this kinda makes since to me. The coil that i have tested is fine. BUT!!!!! there is always a BUTT!!!! lol The coil "horse shoe" that attaches to the coil itself has spliced wires into it. I am wondering where I can follow or resplice these wires to maybe this will hellp.

 

Try this...Run a wire from the positive side of the battery to the positive side of the coil and see if the spark is any better....This can assist in trouble shooting your problem based on the wiring issues you have described. The ECM, dizzy, wiring, and coil can be isolated. Back in the day, my instructor said there are parts replacers and mechanic's. With today's labor rates, one can replace alot of cheap parts in an hour...) I still digress to the old school trouble shooting methods because I love the challenge.

PS Your ignition has a primary side (12 VDC voltage and components to make the coil spark) and a secondary side (25-30K which is the spark from the coil tower to the spark plug) Breaking it down to the faulty component is fairly easy...unless it is intermitent faulty wiring..LOL

PSS The old school mechanics here are GREAT! I'm an X master that has passed on to another carreer. It amazes me that some ASE guy's have no clue, other than what the diagnostic tool tells them...Heck, the wife worked at Pep Boy's for 13 years and now for Nissan..I get to hear the good stories that would drive customers nut's.

 

Rider. I sure appreciate your response. I admire your honesty as well! I dont consider myself a mechanic in anyway. In my book those are the very smart "gifted" people that can fix ANYTHING..... FIX not replace! I just like to fix my own stuff if I can and store it in this small little rolodex I call a brain. I will try to do what you said. It is damn cold here.... like 20degrees. So it may have to wait. lol

 

Riderman is right,before you get to deep into changing parts do some simple trouble shooting like he suggested, so called mechanics are parts changers not diagnostic mechanics at your expense.Here is the infamous BUT, if you do need a new horse shoe, which is called a socket-coil (part # 47-2715)you can buy one from LMC trucks for $3.95. You could reconnect the wires using a wiring diagram from Chiltons under chassis electrical. It looks like a black\green and red\green on one side of the coil and a green\yellow on the other side of coil. As far as the other wires spliced, make sure they are hooked up on the right side and not loose. Hope this helps? Just trying to help from a far, zrx... Hope you get it running soon!!!!! Keep us updated. Feo-nut I want to commend you on trying to learn on your own, most people just throw there hands up and say,"Stupid Vehicle".If you learn just one thing in all this, then that is one more thing you wouldn't have known without trying.

 

If this was a Chevrolet I would have took it to the scrap heap a long time ago. Though i'm the type who would rather WALK the drive a chevrolet . I am going to try this and thanks so much for that part #.

 

No problem,zrxlover.