302 won't start

Spent my whole weekend putting everything back together including all day only for it to not start. I put everything all back together 10x nicer than it was. It won't start. It cranks cranks cranks but no fire. Fuel is coming out the jets, and I am getting my full volts out of the coil wire. What gives?

 

Do you have spark at the plugs?

 

I couldn't check. I was by myself at the time. I'm wondering if it's the fuel. It is a year old.

 

If the fuel isn't extremely rancid it will start...

You don't need help to verify spark... Connect the coil wire to a spark plug laying on intake in a position that you can see gap, crank engine by jumping solenoid...

 

That will confirm spark coming from coil. I would then connect a spark plug wire to the plug, laying on intake in a position that you can see the gap and crank it. This will confirm voltage through the distributor also.

 

Here are 3 ideas to check:
1. Did you pull out the distributor? It is easy to re-install a distributor 1 tooth off.
To check, turn the motor to TDC and pull the distributor cap. The rotor button should be pointing at the #1 wire.

2. 1 year old gas shouldn't be bad, even here in the land of humidity.
I would try pouring a splash of good gas from my lawn mower gas can into the carb and try it again. If it starts sputtering and almost starts or if it starts and dies then it is your gas. Either your gas is bad (lost volatility) or your fuel pump has failed.

3. Fuel pump failure. Your fuel pump may be sending fuel to carb, but not at the pressure the motor needs. This has happened to me before. I had a 76 Econoline 350 with a 351 4BBL I bought for $300 cause it wouldn't run right. It would idle all day, but would stall if you touched the gas pedal. I replaced the fuel pump and it fixed the problem.

It sounds more like an electrical problem than fuel.

 

Are you running a Duraspark box, or just points?
Sounds like you are lacking power to the box, or maybe the distributor itself.
That is just my $.02.

 

i've been out in the garage so I kinda forgot to update this thread, plus it didn't give me all the notifications. anyway, turns out it WAS the gas. I poured fresh gas in to start, and it fired up but wouldn't stay running. so I drained the tank, put a couple gallons in, and it runs now. thanks guys. I am just running points.

 

Thank you ethanol for another fuel system problem!!!

We only used ethanol free gas or used ethanol treatment in our 65 Falcon. 1 1/2 years and about 5K miles and we have had no fuel system problems.