Hello fellow owners
I have just replaced the cv joints on the left side and have reassembled everything correctly and now the motor which was perfect and never gave me a problem before and ran right before I put it up on jacks now wont even start.
My problems: Distributor will not turn while in gear and the starter will not engage
looking into issue as you read this but any help would be very expedient.
thank you

Hi there.

The starter sits up above the driver's side axle/CV. There's a solenoid trigger wire that sometimes is a little sensitive. It needs a super solid terminal connection. It's possible that while you were in there, you may have dislodged either the ground strap that connects the starter to the body ground terminal, or the perhaps the solenoid trigger wire. Check those and see what happens.

-marcus

[quote name='r3dplanet' date='Feb 3 2013, 06:55 PM' post='1814584']
Hi there.

The starter sits up above the driver's side axle/CV. There's a solenoid trigger wire that sometimes is a little sensitive. It needs a super solid terminal connection. It's possible that while you were in there, you may have dislodged either the ground strap that connects the starter to the body ground terminal, or the perhaps the solenoid trigger wire. Check those and see what happens.

-marcus


ok thank you marcus
any idea why the distributor doesn't turn I should be able to do the starter part just fine but the distributor seems to make no sense im thinkin shift linkage not fully engaging gear

That's my thought, too. Just push in the clutch and try another gear. I can't think of any other reason why it wouldn't spin. Do you have one wheel on the ground?

I once couldn't get my starter to spin and found that I had connected the yellow solenoid wire to the wrong terminal. Here's something that everyone finds useful. A genius member here, Jeff Bowlsby, has a website with tons of information. It has information showing extremely useful electrical information, including where the all of the chassis grounds are, diagrams, even harnesses you can be. It's a vital resource. Last year I performed a complete electrical do-over on my '71 and found errors every step of the way.

http://bowlsby.net/914/Classic/TechNotebook.htm



[quote name='dstubbs' date='Feb 3 2013, 07:00 PM' post='1814587']
[quote name='r3dplanet' date='Feb 3 2013, 06:55 PM' post='1814584']
Hi there.

The starter sits up above the driver's side axle/CV. There's a solenoid trigger wire that sometimes is a little sensitive. It needs a super solid terminal connection. It's possible that while you were in there, you may have dislodged either the ground strap that connects the starter to the body ground terminal, or the perhaps the solenoid trigger wire. Check those and see what happens.

-marcus


ok thank you marcus
any idea why the distributor doesn't turn I should be able to do the starter part just fine but the distributor seems to make no sense im thinkin shift linkage not fully engaging gear
[/quote]

thanks will report on how it all goes

Need some more info. You insert the key, do you see any lights at the dash? Do you have an audible click when turn the key? Or is the starter working, but the car just won't start? Is your car a 1.7,1.8 or 2.0L?
Towards the dizzy not spinning, I'm pretty sure it spins fine. Unless you removed the clutch while repairing your cv axels. Put the car in 5th gear, and push it, you'll see it spin.

Could you explain what you mean that the dizzy wont turn while in gear? Are you referring to the rotor? Not following this, since the engine isn't turning not sure what you mean by the dizzy isn't turning.

In regard to starter not engaging, do you hear the solenoid clicking? Any noise or completely dead?

Does the fan turn when you put the transmission in gear and turn the rear wheels? If not, then the engine isn't turning over at all, most likely because one or both half-shafts are not connected, so you're not actually spinning the input shaft when you rotate the tires.

If you removed the clutch, not putting it back in could cause this as well. If you removed the distributor, then you didn't get it back in all the way.

The starter problem could be related or could be a separate issue. Did you get the ground strap on the transmission hooked up nice and solidly to clean metal?

--DD