75 Patrol Not starting

[gotkeith]

Hey gang,

Well - first of all i have a 75 patrol which is running a 6cyl motor ( not original ) and has been converted to gas.

I've got a first starting issues with it, and it simply won't 'spark' - it will turn over till the cows come home but just wont fire.

Now, i've checked all the gas line and the fuel lines etc, and it is getting plenty of juice - no whether or not that is getting through the carb, the solidnoid is rooted or etc, i'm not sure.

It feels like an electrical problem because 'start ya bastard' won't get it going either.

Then magically, about 1 out of 5 times, she fires no problems at all!

Any help to fix this would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[the ferret]

Check that the points are not shorting out on the base plate in the dizzy, If the water level in the radiator is low, the gas will freeze.
make sure the little spring loaded carbon rod in the inside/top of dizzy cap is in contact with the top of the rotor button, check coil leads, check points gap, try another condensor and or coil.
Try a hot wire from battery to coil.

[gotkeith]

Holy hell - That's a fair fw things i will have to try! Thanks a heap for that - that's great.

I'm not sure what some of it is - ( like how to hot wire from the battery to the coil ) but ill have a poke around and see how i go.

Can i pull the dizzy apart to look at it? How do i check for the spring in the bottom of it?

[the ferret]

The little carbon pin is at the top inside the dizzy cap at the centre, If it's in contact with the rotor button, the contact face will be shiny. Don't pull too hard on the pin as it can pull out, but you can stretch the spring a little. Make sure the points are opening and closing, check the gap. Don't worry about the hotwire at this stage.
You need to find out if there is spark at the plugs. Pull a plug, connect the lead, hold the metal part of the plug against the engine block and turn the motor over with ignition on, make sure it's out of gear and/or pull the other plug leads off but not the central coil lead.

[Bob]

If your Motor has been converted to Gas I am fairly sure that your automatic choke has been disabled. Turn to Gas and turn on ignition and wait for 10/15 seconds and then try to start.

[gotkeith]

Thanks Bob and Ferret.

So today - it starts 3 out of 3 times?! Go figure!
It has a manual choke Bob - so i don't know if that effects the starting or not, but sometimes it starts with it in and sometimes it starts with it out.....
Ferret - i will have a good look tomorrow at the distributor and plugs and see if i can get spark!

Cheers fellas.

[the ferret]

Yeah, Might help if we know what make of motor has been fitted, if you have any idea.

[gotkeith]

Just done some research, and it is a ford/ falcon 3.3 litre straight 6.

Found this on Wikipedia about it:

So, the Cologne 2.8L V6 was dropped from the engine lineup in the middle of the 1979 production year and replaced with the 200cid Falcon inline six, which was now referred to as the 3.3L engine. The engine and front suspension K-member was transferred from the Fairmont model which helped reduce costs instead of having to redesign the Mustang for a different engine.
The 200 was used in the Ford Maverick and Mercury Comet models, and continued in the Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr until the Fairmont and Zephyr models were retired at the end of the 1983 model year and replaced with the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz.

[the ferret]

The Futura 200, good motor as long as you didn't use it!!.I had a mate who put the SD33t and gearbox in his, it was a great truck.
The 200 Ford persuit motor had a simple ignition system, so shouldn't be hard to track down the problem.

[Yendor]

I would also check the voltage at that positive side of coil while cranking the vehicle.

Just to make sure there is no voltage drop to the coil and if there is a ballast resistor fitted to make sure the bypass circuit is wired up and the coil is receiving the full 12 volts while cranking.

Also is your starting battery in good condition?