Have a stock ‘56 210 with an inline 6. It’s been sitting for a couple years in a storage unit. I got her home and washed and that’s were my knowledge ends on what to do. Got a new battery, oil, radiator filled up, and it won’t start. It cranks but won’t start. The choke on the top of the carb doesn’t move at all when trying to start (I took off the air filter to see). What’s the next steps going forward? I’m not experienced in much here but willing to learn!
Basics on how to start
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Patsquatch
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Have a stock ‘56 210 with an inline 6. It’s been sitting for a couple years in a storage unit. I got her home and washed and that’s were my knowledge ends on what to do. Got a new battery, oil, radiator filled up, and it won’t start. It cranks but won’t start. The choke on the top of the carb doesn’t move at all when trying to start (I took off the air filter to see). What’s the next steps going forward? I’m not experienced in much here but willing to learn!
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first thing I'd do is drain the tank and put some fresh gas in it---no more than 2 or 3 gallons because if it's been sitting that long, the float for the fuel sender is probably rotten if it is a brass one. take line loose from fuel pump and use air to blow back to the tank. Then hook it back up and see if it's pumping fuel. take the fuel line loose at the carb and crank it over for a second and see if pump is working. If all that is working then you may have to remove carb and clean it and install a new kit. Also take a plug wire off and see if it is firing.
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If you blow back through the fuel line remove the cap first.Id try to get the choke freed up & you might want to remove the distributor cap & clean the points contacts they will corrode sitting for a period of time if you have spark that wouldn't be necessary then.Good luck
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Home Work: 1955 Chevrolet Passenger Car Shop Manual
There will be a test out in the garage tomorrow.
There will be a test out in the garage tomorrow.
FIRST....Before you start tearing apart a carburetor, or any thing else, you need to figure out whether you have a no spark problem or no fuel problem
It could be either with the information that you have given us.
It could be either with the information that you have given us.
Location:
Eastern NC
If it was running when put up then it should fire on starting fluid if choke is opened. You may not want to fiddle with points and condensor if not experienced. If it fires make sure it is getting good fuel, gasoline with ethanol goes bad fast and becomes something really sorry for running.
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Thanks for the tips! I’ll try and make sure I’ve got it all. I’ll check the fuel filter, and if fuels getting to that I’ll remove line connected to the carb, crank it over a few times to make sure fuels getting to that. At least then I’ll have one thing narrowed down. The choke moves freely, and for all I know it’s fine and I’m looking at the wrong thing. I’ll also check to make sure the spark plugs are good and if they aren’t, I’ll clean the distributer, which looks surprisingly easy.
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Spark is easy to do you may need two people, take out plug No.1 have it sitting next to some metal (rocker cover, engine block) crank the engine over and see if you have spark at the spark plug, the base of the plug needs to be grounded against the metal use a glove if you need to move the plug around to see the spark better.
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Get a small squirt bottle and put some gas in it. Squirt some gas in the carb. Don't drown it, just a couple of squirts. Put the air cleaner back on. Crank the motor. See if that gets the motor sputtering, even if just a second or two. If it does, the problem likely lies in the fuel system. Give that a shot first and lets see what happens.
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Well gents I tried the electrical first and check the plugs as that seemed easier and easier to clean up. Not a single one has spark but they all look pretty good. So I popped the distributor cap off and attempted to clean the points (used sandpaper and blew it out after) and still no spark. I bought a starter on a cable thing so I hook it up to the solenoid and I Can start the car from the hood instead of getting inside. Advice on electrical? Also found the fuses and they look intact. Found some loose wires under the dash that don’t appear to go anywhere. The two loose wires are to the right of the steering wheel, the fuse pic has a disconnected yellow wire. Not sure where to put that if anywhere.
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I haven’t, because I don’t know what those are. But I’ll look it up and YouTube it to either rule it out or fix it!
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If you don't have a volt meter/multi meter, buy one.
They're $14 and up on Amazon.
Turn the key on to the run (not start) position.
Measuring with the negative lead on bare ground somewhere on the engine, you should have 12 volts or so on one side of the ballast resistor, and 8 to 12 volts on the other side.
If there's no voltage there, there's an issue upstream, possibly with the ignition switch or the battery feed to the switch.
There's no fuse in a stock wiring harness for the ignition circuit.
If there is voltage there, the voltage should vary between approximately 8 and 12 volts one side of the ballast resistor, depending on whether the points are open or closed in the position where the engine has stopped its rotation. Bump the starter with your starter-on-a-cable tool to rotate the engine a bit at a time, and you should see the voltage drop and go up, as the points close and then open.
They're $14 and up on Amazon.
Turn the key on to the run (not start) position.
Measuring with the negative lead on bare ground somewhere on the engine, you should have 12 volts or so on one side of the ballast resistor, and 8 to 12 volts on the other side.
If there's no voltage there, there's an issue upstream, possibly with the ignition switch or the battery feed to the switch.
There's no fuse in a stock wiring harness for the ignition circuit.
If there is voltage there, the voltage should vary between approximately 8 and 12 volts one side of the ballast resistor, depending on whether the points are open or closed in the position where the engine has stopped its rotation. Bump the starter with your starter-on-a-cable tool to rotate the engine a bit at a time, and you should see the voltage drop and go up, as the points close and then open.
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You're missing a lot of wires at the fuse box! Yellow wire is for the radio.
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1955 210 two door post, six cylinder, three on a tree, Navajo Tan and India Ivory
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The choke valve won't open up until it's warm so it should stay shut. However, you can poke it with your finger and it should open. That will verify that it is not stuck closed. After trying to crank it, remove a plug and see if it is wet with gas. If you use an old fashioned timing light with an induction pick up you will be able to know if you have fire without removing the wires or the sparkplugs. If you are removing the plugs to check for fire, make sure they are grounded, else they can't fire. Touch the threads to the motor block. BTW, since it was running I am assuming the motor is grounded. Shadetree is right about the ethanol gas. I had some that had sat in a car for three years and it would not even burn when I poured it out on the ground and tried to light it. Many people are opposed to using starter fluid but in a case like this I would not hesitate to use it. If you have even the weakest of spark the starter fluid should fire right off.
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Base model. No radio!
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