'78 cadillac seville, here I go again...

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- ipla68
  
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posted
20 years ago

Tue, Nov 25, 2003 1:23 AM

OK guys, so I am past the point of making myself look like an idiot, and throwing myself at the mercy and good will of all the present pro mechanics here. I am a hopeless DIY'er, damn the consequences or the cost (doh!).

In an attempt to get this car back on the road again, I have taken the advice of dsi and made sure that both fuel pumps are functioning. I have pulled the throttle body, removed and checked; fuel lines running from the tank to the throttle body, removed the fuel filter* and both the fuel pumps (in tank and chassis mounted), removed the gas tank (cleaned/checked), replaced/checked the fuel pump relay/grounds. I also popped the spark plugs and inspected visually; I noticed the distinct smell of unburned gas, which leads me to believe no spark to plugs; as I am a novice (or less than novice) mechanic, how would I check to see if plugs have spark?

After I removed all the vaccum lines (I did my best to mark these with colored tape, but with all the gas/grease...) I'm not too sure I did this correctly. Is there any resource on line that would explain/graphically depic the correct vaccum line attachment?

*if, just hypothetically, I accidentally reversed the fuel filter connects(connected the out fuel line to the port marked "in" and so on...) what affect, if any, would this have?

I greatly appreciate any advice/help from anyone who can help! THANKS IN ADVANCE!!! Ian

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- dsi
  
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posted
20 years ago

Tue, Nov 25, 2003 2:51 AM

Hey Ian, you didn't really take out the gas tank did you? Just in case you are not kidding, here's how I would do it. Make sure you have the throttle body and the spark plugs in and the air cleaner put back together first. Gas vapors and spark can really make for a bad day. Stick a long key in the spark plug wire, I find FORD keys to be most useful in this regard. Please use the end that attaches to the spark plug! Lay wire/key not more than 1/4" from a good ground, find somewhere on the engine. Not painted metal, please. Crank the engine. Do not grab the wires while cranking? High voltage! You should see a nice white spark. In your case, I would assume that you will see no spark. When you don't you could assume your problem is in the ignition. You must have an distributor and point system. This should make trouble shooting a little eaiser...

Good luck!

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- ipla68
  
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posted
20 years ago

Tue, Nov 25, 2003 4:50 AM

got it, found the problem and fixed it. Thanks dsi!

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- Matt Keefer
  
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posted
20 years ago

Tue, Nov 25, 2003 1:46 PM

There are several ways:

1.The safest is to pull the distributer cap and look for cracks of carbon scoring. If any of these are present, you have to replace it because it isn't working properly.

2.Next is to simply pull the plug and get a friend to crank the engine. Try not to zap yourself.

3.If spark is the problem with the engine, you can solve it by closing the gap on the plugs a little or getting a hotter coil.

However, the problem is more likely a badly adjusted carburetor giving the engine too much gas. If the metal slugs protecting the mixture screws on the throttle body haven't been knocked off and monkeyed with, you should tear it down and check the primary float valve as the number one culprit... American gas is pretty horrible, and I remember on several occasions having to rebuild carbs that got nasty gunky buildups as a result of using bad US gasoline.