My engine won't start :(

General engine questions/issues that aren't specific to the other categories
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My engine won't start :(

By bigJOE671
- Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:45 pm #312605 Prior work before I started it. I have a MSD ignition SCI module, external coil, MSD cap, and MSD wires. I was gonna convert it back to normal but i'm missing the two screws that connect the wires to the coil.

Since I didn't have them I put back the old stuff. Before I put them back in I sanded the inside of the cap and the tip part of the rotor.

So I tried to start my car. It cranks over at a good speed, battery is good. It took like a 1 sec for it to fire but then it won't keep going it would fire up,then die, then fire up, then die.

Unfortunately this is my only car :(
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By teal_dx
- Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:01 pm #312607 If that's all you did and everything is hooked back up the way it was, I wonder if by sanding down the contact points, the tolerance is now too great to carry a good spark :?

Did you mark the position of the dizzy and bolt it back on exactly on the same ° that it was? Timing may be off.
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By bigJOE671
- Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:07 pm #312609
teal_dx wrote:If that's all you did and everything is hooked back up the way it was, I wonder if by sanding down the contact points, the tolerance is now too great to carry a good spark :?

Did you mark the position of the dizzy and bolt it back on exactly on the same ° that it was? Timing may be off.


I never removed the dizzy, only the cap and rotor. I put everything back the way I took it off, spark plug wires I numbered and distributor, also hooked up the MSD back according to the manual that I took out since I was unsure.

By SL93ex
- Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:38 am #312619 If it fires right up and immediately dies, it might be your ignition switch. I had that happen to me recently.

If it dies as soon as you release the key, that's probably the culprit.
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By bigJOE671
- Fri Aug 03, 2012 3:25 am #312629
SL93ex wrote:If it fires right up and immediately dies, it might be your ignition switch. I had that happen to me recently.

If it dies as soon as you release the key, that's probably the culprit.


It fired up like on one cylinder then died...then repeated as I held the key in start.
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By bigJOE671
- Fri Aug 03, 2012 3:30 am #312632 I fixed the problem!!! :woot: :woot: :woot:

First I bought the Cap and Rotor from Advance Auto for almost $50 ...Dealership was closed :(. Then I went to Home depot to find the screws that attach the two wires to the coil. Paid 46 cents for the two screws and 59 cents for the lock washers. If your wondering why I didn't just go to the dealership to buy them, they don't sale them separate. I would have to buy the whole distributor :x

So I finally installed all of them which took me an hour from start to finish. When I turned her to crank she came to life :woot:

There is still another problem with my car though. When I crank her the speedometer needle likes wild moves around. I'm thinking its getting grounded somewhere. This just happened recently when it poured rain like cats and dogs.
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By Punksz6
- Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:02 pm #312739
bigJOE671 wrote:I fixed the problem!!! :woot: :woot: :woot:

First I bought the Cap and Rotor from Advance Auto for almost $50 ...Dealership was closed :(. Then I went to Home depot to find the screws that attach the two wires to the coil. Paid 46 cents for the two screws and 59 cents for the lock washers. If your wondering why I didn't just go to the dealership to buy them, they don't sale them separate. I would have to buy the whole distributor :x

So I finally installed all of them which took me an hour from start to finish. When I turned her to crank she came to life :woot:

There is still another problem with my car though. When I crank her the speedometer needle likes wild moves around. I'm thinking its getting grounded somewhere. This just happened recently when it poured rain like cats and dogs.


Glad you got that fixed, i remember one time my speedo did that too when my tranny ground was loose. Everytime I hit a bump or it moved around my Speedometer would go haywire. Try and see if you have a loose ground.
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