You say it won't start... it's turns over, just no combustion?



M

Didn't feed it enough beans & hot sauce

To make an internal combustion engine start and run, you need 4 things.....

The trick is to remember "FAST".

F - Fuel.. Verify that you are getting fuel injected into the engine. The simplest way to do this is to take a propane torch, open the throttle plate, and feed a bunch of propane into the intake. Then try to start the motor. If it fires and dies, you have a fuel problem. If it doesn't continue down the list. If it does, come back here and tell us. We will help you troubleshoot the fuel injection.

A - Air..... Make sure there are no vacuum leaks on the system. Follow the vacuum diagram for your car (available from the bird board). Fix any misrouted or damaged vacuum lines.

S - Spark. Pull the coil wire from the distributor and lay it on the engine tin. Have your toolwench crank the engine over. If you see a nice blue spark jump from the coil wire to the engine tin, you have spark. If you don't, check the points and condenser. Otherwise check the cap and rotor. Also verify that the spark plugs aren't fouled out. I would suggest replacing the plugs on general principles.

T - Timing. Line up the timing marks on the fan with the mark on the fan housing. Then pull the distributor cap and make sure the rotor points at or very close to the thin little line in the distributor body. If the rotor points away from the mark, rotate the engine over again and realign the fan and housing marks. If it points anywhere else, the timing is off. Check to make sure the firing order is correct. Trace each plug wire back to the plugs, and make sure they are on the correct towers on the distributor cap.

That's the basics of troubleshooting a no start condition.

Let us know what you find.

If you have all that reliably, and you still get nothing, turn around, because the next thing you need to worry about is:

F. uck, it' warm in here.

I. s that gas I smell.

R. eally wish this thing ran.

E. eeehh... what's that crackling noise?



M

[QUOTE] The trick to remember is FAST!

It aint got a fuel problem...gas is gettin to the carb


it aint got NO vacuum whatsoever............no hose for the vac...not on it when I bought it...just that lil ole 2 barrel carb

will check spark when I can get the wife to crank it, and will go on from there...thanks fer the info; its been over 25 years since I worked on an engine, and back then, I didn't know what I wus doin either...

timeing...now thats gonna be fun..you mean to tell me there is a fan on this thing somewhere

fireing order...RIGHT, I remember the fireing order from when I wuz in Nam...but when it comes to an engine...I know squat.

but thanks fer the info...and I'll see if I can muck thru it...

fireing order...heh heh heh

QUOTE (Rambo @ Jan 14 2006, 06:50 PM)

fireing order...RIGHT, I remember the fireing order from when I wuz in Nam...but when it comes to an engine...I know squat.

1-4-3-2 on a Type IV engine if I remember right - going from memory and that's not always so good

QUOTE (ThinAir914 @ Jan 14 2006, 11:53 PM)

QUOTE (Rambo @ Jan 14 2006, 06:50 PM) fireing order...RIGHT, I remember the fireing order from when I wuz in Nam...but when it comes to an engine...I know squat. 1-4-3-2 on a Type IV engine if I remember right - going from memory and that's not always so good

you should trust yourself more often

your memory's good....

b

be sure to ground the main coil wire so it doesn't start and doesn't jack up the coil.

if you really wanted to get "primitive pete" you could ground the coil, put the vechicle in neutral, turn on the ignition, and put a screwdriver across the starter solenoid leads.

nevermind. do not attempt this method.

QUOTE (ClayPerrine @ Jan 13 2006, 10:31 AM)

To make an internal combustion engine start and run, you need 4 things..... The trick is to remember "FAST". F - Fuel.. Verify that you are getting fuel injected into the engine. The simplest way to do this is to take a propane torch, open the throttle plate, and feed a bunch of propane into the intake. Then try to start the motor. If it fires and dies, you have a fuel problem. If it doesn't continue down the list. If it does, come back here and tell us. We will help you troubleshoot the fuel injection. A - Air..... Make sure there are no vacuum leaks on the system. Follow the vacuum diagram for your car (available from the bird board). Fix any misrouted or damaged vacuum lines. S - Spark. Pull the coil wire from the distributor and lay it on the engine tin. Have your toolwench crank the engine over. If you see a nice blue spark jump from the coil wire to the engine tin, you have spark. If you don't, check the points and condenser. Otherwise check the cap and rotor. Also verify that the spark plugs aren't fouled out. I would suggest replacing the plugs on general principles. T - Timing. Line up the timing marks on the fan with the mark on the fan housing. Then pull the distributor cap and make sure the rotor points at or very close to the thin little line in the distributor body. If the rotor points away from the mark, rotate the engine over again and realign the fan and housing marks. If it points anywhere else, the timing is off. Check to make sure the firing order is correct. Trace each plug wire back to the plugs, and make sure they are on the correct towers on the distributor cap. That's the basics of troubleshooting a no start condition. Let us know what you find.

What about compression?

UPDATE...........starting fluid did nothing;

got spark from new coil, a teeny yellow spark, bout what you'd get from a Bic Lighter

and this is where I screwed up....I numbered the plug wires on the cap...took the cap off..to check the points, which did not seem to be sticking...put everything back on in the order it came off, and got no spark at all; I obviously did something wrong but don't know what..so now I gotta figure out how to get it on the trailer and take it to a mechanic, he will probably charge me more cause I tried to fix it....

QUOTE (ClayPerrine @ Jan 13 2006, 10:31 AM)

T - Timing. Line up the timing marks on the fan with the mark on the fan housing. Then pull the distributor cap and make sure the rotor points at or very close to the thin little line in the distributor body. Let us know what you find.

Please tell where the fan is and how to get to it...since I removed the spark, i might as well see if I can screw up more stuff before I get it to the mechanic...

Rambo: Did the points move while you cranked over the motor? The point gap is critical. The ignition fires when the points open.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

Through the hole in the top on the fan housing, should have a black plastic cap.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

QUOTE (Joe Sharp @ Jan 15 2006, 05:12 PM)

Rambo: Did the points move while you cranked over the motor? The point gap is critical. The ignition fires when the points open. :PERMAGRIN: Joe

nothing fires now, I screwed something up

fan houseing...thats interesting...it stands to reason, in order to find the fan, i gotta find the fan houseing, if it is under that piece of tin attached to the engine, I gonna have to remove a lot of other things to get to it, aint no hole in anything I can see..........wait one......BINGO...found a cap, unscrewed it...everything was painted gold, dont see a fan tho, see a red cut in the metal..is that signficant?
its like a one sided arrow, with red on the inside point

my e-mail address is MGall92623@aol.com

OH MY GOD.... That guy detailed the inside of the fan housing. Pull the engine cover, so you can get your head in there and look towrdes the back of the car part of your bike. You should see a notch, thats is the timing point on the fan housing. The timing marks are on the fan and it spins at the bottom of the notch. I have seen 2 notches 1 towrdes the front and one towrdes the rear. The rear one has the timing marks. There should be a 0 at top dead center (TDC) and as the crank turns there should be a mark at 27* before (I think) TDC. That is the timing mark for full advance.

If it has points put in an Igniter.
:PRMAGRIN: Joe

[CODE]

OK...ima 57 yr old Nam Vet thats slightly Bi-polar..trying to learn sumtin here..please bear wit me:

you mean take the cover off the HELL HOLE? or the tin that the cap screws into?

Ok...how do I attach an image...I'll show you what my engine area looks like....nothing like what you posted

Dude: Sorry, I'm a 173rd vet and we can work it out. Forget about the hell hole, we can work that out later. You need to look inside the hole that the cap on the fan housing screws into. That is where you find the timing marks.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

Thanks Geoff.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

What time is it at where you are?
Good night.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

ok Brother....looking down from top of hole, I see the red notch towards the front of the Trike; as I see things, i would have to balance on my head to see the rear notch, but I been known to be wrong...........

0105 hrs here in N. Ga right now ..and raining, I stay up till 0200 every night except the nights before a VA appointment..

A small hand mirror will give you visual access into the timing hole.

Inside the distributor cap, there is a little "pin" in the middle (to connect the fire comming from the coil to the rotor). It can fall sometimes (happend to me 3-4 times). Make sure it's still there.

ok.aint got a small mirror, cut a Disk into strips, put strip in hole and can see red notch to rear of trike...nothing else tho. A buddy came over and said it all need to be replaced, cap, rotor, condenser, points, wires..and then told me I aint got the tool for gaping and timeing, nor the savey if I had the tools...he's right!...
before I could call the mechanic, another buddy called and said he has ALL the tools and it would be fun for him to help me...I think his PTSD meds are too strong...but I'll humor him, and suprevise while he does the work.

1st things first..exchange the Autozone coil for a Blue Bosche, and order a manual...but which one is best, Clymer or Haines?