D'oh! My -6 won't start..., Some help for the check writer please... Options

[smj]

So a month or two ago I went four or maybe six weeks without running the 3.0l SC motor in my 914-6. I had been firing it up every other weekend, but things happened.... Anyway, no joy regardless of where the hand throttle sits. Every now and again it taunts me by sounding as if it fired on one revolution.

The motor is carbed, not fuel injected. Plenty of juice in the battery, the starter motor is happy to turn, there's gas in the tank. I know I need fuel, air, and spark -- the question is how to check that these things are getting to where they need to go. I feel a thrumming in the engine bay fuel lines when the key is in the right position, and I can hear the fuel pump running.

How do I confirm that I'm getting a pulse to the spark plugs without a clamp-type electrical meter?

Links to tutorials would be welcome. I did try a couple of searches before posting, but the keywords I used must've been way too broad...

Thanks,
--Steve.

[ClayPerrine]

Here is the trouble shooting process I use.


Take the air cleaners off. Look down the bores of carbs. Rapidly open the throttle. You should see a stream of gas out of the accelerator pump jets.

If you do, then pull the coil wire and lay it up against the fan housing. Crank the motor and see if you get a spark. If you don't, check the points/electronic ignition box. IF you do pull a wire from a plug and check it for spark the same way you did the coil wire (remember to plug the coil wire back in)


IF you don't get gas from the accelerator pump, then you have a carb problem. IF it has been sitting for a while, it is probably the carbs. Check all 6 bores for the accelerator pump spray. If you get some that have it and some that don't, start looking closely at the carb that doesn't. If none of them have it, check the fuel feed. It may be clogged up, or the pump is not working. Pull the feed line to the carb, put the line in a jar, and turn the key on. Make sure the jar fills with gas.


I also like Mikey's idea of giving it some fuel to try and fire. But I use propane from a handheld torch, not ether.