problem

Driving down the road yesterday and engine running great when it just shut down. I thought I had run out of gas. Now the engine turns but will not crank. Could it be the points ? I have been messing around with the dis. in the last couple of days or would it be a bad fuel pump. All things electrical still work but can't get the old girl to crank. I have ordered new points and a condenser and will install this weekend. Just wondering what to do if this ain't it

 

Check to see if you have spark, if not then start checking out the ign. parts.
if you have spark i would then check the fuel system.
My thought is that it is electrical because it just shut down and will not even fire now.
you could check by putting a little fuel down the carb. but be careful because if it back fires you could have an unexpected thermal event.

 

Sounds just like my electric fuel pump problems. Is your pump electric?

Couldn't you disconnect the fuel line from the carb and (if it's electric) turn the key on and see if fuel if pumping through? If it's manual, you could turn the key over and check the same thing.

 

Fuel pump is manual.

 

Mike has a good suggestion - pour a little gas down the carburetor and see if it fires.

 

at the diagnostic level, it can only be 3 things, fuel, spark and compression. start with any of the three and eliminate them one at a time till you find the problem.

 

Did it sputter 1st or just shut off?
Sputter to a stop fuel most of the time, just up and died, ing system.
Pull a plug wire and put an old/new spark plug in the wire and have some one turn the engine over. No spark check the dis and coil. If spark its fuel.
Be VERY carful dumping fuel down the carb by the way.

 

Do you mean that it's cranking but not firing?

Hmmm, I'd check to see if the rotor broke off the dist. shaft. My dang Prestolite was famous for losing its clip grip on a big bump. The cap'd misalign and the rotor'd hit the cap thus breaking the rotor. Jeep would then shut down and not start up again.

Yank the cap and verify that the rotor is turning with each crank. That'd cover both rotor and timing chain (I think). Good luck!

 

FEUL FIRE AND AIR. three major componentes required for combustion. Remove the air breather and look in the carb while operating the carb linkage, if you see fuel then that aspect is eliminated, if no fuel is seen the put a little fuel down the carb and try to srank it, Dont out alot of fuel down it as the factory ignition system in the old buicks is somewhat weak and easy to foul the plugs. Pour a little fuel in it and crank it, if it doesnt fire then remove a spark plug and ground the body to the engine and have someone crank it while watching the plug for spark. if there is no spark then it is time to start troubleshooting the ignition system. Probally in the distribuitor, but dont rule out the coil, and wiring. This same thing happened to a friend of mine and the positive wire had pulled from the coil. Do a good inspection of your wiring before replacing components. Check the points as well, a good look will sometimes reveal old worn out or domaged points. Good luck and please post again if there are any other q's

 

Wow I have got to start proofreading my ramblings before I post them. FUEL FIRE AND AIR. And to be more specific, ground the metal body of the spark plug to the engine.. SRANK mean crank, domaged mean damaged, sorry for any confusuion

 

Thanks everybody, will let you know by Saturday(first opportunity to work on the jeep)

 

good to see someone else has hippos problems to. somehow the rotor hit the side and caused the tip to break... jeep ran like trash and caused me to worry about nothing. retuned the carb, checked the timing (wondered how the dist. rotated that far over), etc. etc.

but back on subject.. i'd have t lean towards electrical as well. i've had both happen a couple of times and fuel problems will let you know something is going wrong before they shut things down. electricals tend to just end the fun immediately. luckily i haven't lost compression yet, but i'd assum you'd be able to hear that one happen...

 

Hey guys,
I've been lurking on the board awhile now. I thought I'd offer my thoughts on this. (probably not much use) Years ago I had trouble with a mazda truck that would run fine, then cut off for no apparent reason. It turned out to be a bad ground. I think it was where the coil bolted to the fender, but it's been 20 years ago so my memory may be faulty! Anyway...Good luck!
Megan

P.S.
I'll be a bit more involved on the board in the future; my nephew just bought his first vehicle, 1968 Cj5. My experience is with commandos, so I've appreciated all the info on Cjs from you guys.!!!

 

I too have had similar things happen and have had three different causes.
1. Manual fuel pump-diaphram model, sucks in any crap and kills the diaphram-runs till out of fuel then dies. (twice this happened) put in fuel filter before pump.
2. broken wire-loss of ground-just stopped. but that caused it to not crank over.
3. condenser wire came off and just died. I need to change HEI

 

Welcome aboard Megan

 

Thanks Baby John, I'm glad to be here!
Megan

 

I can't offer anymore advice than already given, Griff. Check it out and let us know what happened.

Welcome from Norwalk, Megan!

 

Welcome from the Left Coast, Megan

 

I had the same thingg happen a while back...turned out to be a broken timing gear...pull the distributer cap and turn the engine over and see if the rotot turns...