Car has been hard to start lately without pumping gas a lot. Now it won't start at all. I smell fuel in the carb when I pump it, and so far I've checked two out of the six new plugs before work, they are dry and sparking. Checked firing order too, all good. With air cleaner off, carb will spit fuel out if its been pumped too much. Sometimes after I try starting it and turn off the key, the engine will briefly kick its rotation backwards for a second. I haven't messed with timing ever because I haven't needed to. I have replaced cap, rotor, plugs, wires a few week ago and have run it since then. That's all I can remember. Any suggestions?
You have the dist cap on backwards and out 180 degrees. Flip the dist cap around and try it again. I had the same issue would back fire trying to start and spit gas out of the carb. Let me know if it works.:Handshake
I'm at work now so I can't work on it at the moment. The #1 marking on the cap is nearest to me (inside fender) when I stand on the driver side and look in. If it were out 180, wouldn't it be closest to the engine instead? Besides, it was starting up and driving before this happened, just needed to be pumped a lot as of recently. I feel like its a carb issue, although I originally was thinking timing. But I haven't touched the timing at all.
That depends on how they stab the dist in. If thats all you did is change dist cap, rotar, plugs, wires and did not touch the timing and points, but get spark its usually the cap. I've ran into the same situation you did and stumped my head for days and then realized the cap was on backwards. With the cap on backwards it fires on the wrong cylinder and will cause gas spitting straight out of the carb, back firing and the motor kicking back the opposite direction. All you have to do is remove the cap, flip it 180 degrees, lock it down and fire it up and of course when you do this your wires will look bunched up and crappy so you might want to reconnect them afterwards.
Caps have a slot they fit in or they don't go on. I would check the rotor and make sure it's seated all the way down. Or could be carb or other.. Recheck all you did..
The cap should be keyed so you can only install it correctly one way. 1975 should have duraspark ignition so there would be no points. I would remove the number 1 plug and bump the engine over to TDC of the compression stroke. You can do this by placing your thumb over the spark plug hole and have someone bump the starter till the compression pops your thumb away from the hole. Then check your timing marker and see if it is close to TDC. At this point the rotor should be pointing to the number 1 wire on the cap. Don't go off the 1 if it is cast into the cap. Verify the firing order 1-5-3-6-2-4. Note: It is always good to replace one wire at a time when replacing the cap and wires to prevent mix ups. Try a squirt of starting fluid to see if it fires to help determine if it is a ignition or fuel problem. Also when diagnosing a start problem like this, it is a good idea to keep a dry towel or shop towel handy in case of a backfire induces carb fire.
Oh I see the difference between the 73 I6 dist cap and the 75 I6 dist cap. You can only put it on one way. Wish they would have done that for the 73 I6. Would have saved me a lot of trouble. I would check your firing order first and then the float and needle in the carb. You can see in the attachments below why I thought that might have been the problem. 73 on left and 75 on right.
I will do these these things mentioned, but I don't understand how this could've just happened all of the sudden. Had it happened immediately following replacement of the cap, rotor, plugs and wires, then yes I'd see why it wouldn't start. But it was running and driving after that was all done, and the only symptom was having to gradually to pump gas into the carb on cold starts until finally....no starting occurred.
Ok I wasn't clear that it had for sure ran after the work. I would try a shot of starting fluid first. If it runs it is a fuel problem. If it doesn't verify that it hasn't jumped time.
You can but don't poor in very much. And please keep something handy in case of a backfire. Fire Extinquisher would be my last choice but I have them in case as well.
Started right up and ran great, after a shot of starter fluid. Drove it for ten minutes and turned it off. The started it normally (without starter fluid) and it started easily. So, now what? Sounds like bad fuel delivery/management after bowl empties out.
