68 Ford 289 Died...

My son's 68 289 just stopped working.

History: Parked it Last night, this morning would not turn over, ran battery dead.

Put fresh battery on the Car and now it turns over....but will not start?

Fuel pressure is 5 PSI.

Compression is > 100 on at least 7 of the 8 cylinders. (we tested them individually and I'm not certain we did not miss one.)

Bright spark, from plug laying on the fender

Plugs look bright white and bone dry.

I can see the accelerator pump putting enough gas into the intake to make a puddle in the intake manifold. (looking in the carb with the throttle open, plugs still dry. (Yet all plugs still dry?)

Starting fluid has no effect.

Timing on #1 cylinder checks out with timing light.

Oil is fine, no strange colors or scents.

Strange Symptoms.... With engine turning over I can plug the exhaust with my hands and I get no or very little pressure.

I can put my hands over the Carb and It does not seem to ":Suck" very hard.

Son says Gas milage was really bad last few days?

Any Ideas? I would have guessed broken CAM etc... but all the cylinders compression checked out.

Things to try On Thursday:

Vacume Gage (Forgot this one until I sat down to type this.)

Remove Valve cover and verify every thing is moving as it should.

Reply to
nospam
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And when it should. My guess is the timing chain slipped. Let us know what it turns out to be.

Reply to
David

Pull the oil filler cap off the valve cover, and watch as the rockers move. Just to verify that the timing chain isn't broken. You would still get compression showing if it were.

Remove the dist cap. Using your hands on the fan and putting pressure on the fan belt, rock the engine forward until the dist rotor moves, then rock backwards until you see movement again. There shouldn't be more that about 5 degrees of play in the crank movement. If so, indicators say a loose or skipped timing chain. Also a good way to verify the chain isn't broken.

If OK, remove all the spark plugs, squirt 2-3 shots of oil in each hole, wind the engine over to coat the rings and reinstall the plugs and try to start.

The car may be merely flooded and the rings have gone dry with gasoline wash. But it sure sounds like a valve timing problem.

good luck pete

Reply to
pete selby

I tried, but the Rocker covers have a shield that keeps you from seeing the rockers. Removing the rocker covers is the next step.

I'll try that., But the timing light Shows #1 spark to be in the correct place.

Compression is good on a least 7 of the 8 cylinders. (So not a ring thing?)

Reply to
nospam

More information.....

Took the Rocker covers off, all 8 valves on that side look to move apropriatly.

Hooked up a vacume gage, With the throttle clocsed and the engine cranking at a good speed I Got almost no reading on the vacume gage.

Reply to
nospam

Timing chain

Reply to
Mark Olson

Now try the oil in the cylinders thing. Also check the PCV valve and hose that sits in one valve cover, to see that the valve rattles when you shake it and the hose is not collapsed or perforated.

Reply to
pete selby

wrote in rec.autos.tech

Or 180 degrees off. That would still put the timing mark at the right place, but the spark would be firing out of sync. One thing you never mentioned was if the choke plate is closed.

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Reply to
Dick C

Just a wild assed guess, but a plugged exhaust can cause that.

Maybe your son has someone that doesn't like him and stuck a potato or a couple bananas in the exhaust pipe or something. The guts of mufflers can also come loose and block things up.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.nil wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

To follow up: Plugged Exhaust possibility...I like this one it would explain almost erverything alas... We looked up both tail pipes with a flash light. This has a dual exhaust with cross over up front so you would have to really work on plugging up the whole thing.

As to 180 degrees off on the timing.... We did not take anything apart, it just died. Parked it Tuesday night won't run Wedensday morning. It was parked inside the garage with the door closed. It is possible that the timing chan slipped exactly 180 degrees, but unlikely.

As for the PCV valve, I was using that port to at the base of the Carb to measure the vacume levels.

A very specific question for the gurus.... Can I have reasonable compression in ALL the cylinders with a messed up cam, timing chaiin etc...... (Please note that I've taken the rocker cover off one side and everything moves....)

Reply to
nospam

Doesn't the distributer run off the crankshaft? If so, it's independent of a skipped or broken timing chain. Only valve timing would be affected, not spark timing.

Reply to
David

wrote in rec.autos.tech

You know, as I worked on this reply, I realized that everyone was looking for the hard explanation. Always start at the easiest and most likely, but most overlooked, explanations. I snipped everything because we were getting far afield. Start with the distributor, and make sure that it is in good condition. Then move to the carb. Just because the accelerator pump puts out gas does not mean that the carb is good. One very likely possibility is that you are not getting fuel through the jets into the carb. You very well could have clogged jets. This would cause rough running, hard starting, and eventually no start. Thinking about things even more, you had indicated that the plugs were dry, correct? As a matter of fact, you said that the plugs were bright white and bone dry. This indicates a lack of fuel, and possibly an overly advanced timing. However, the bone dry part tells me that no gas is going into the engine. That could be because the fuel filter is clogged (unlikely because the accelerator pump puts out gas), or the jets are clogged. My suggestion is to clean and rebuild the carburator. At least pull it apart and check the jets. And when you do that I bet you will find that it is covered with varnish, and very dirty. This will also cause very rough running.

If the carb is good, or after rebuilding it, then by all means check the exhaust. This car is old, and things that are not likely to happen will begin to happen with age. Hell, since the most likely place to have the exhaust clog up is the muffler, and given the age of the car, go ahead and replace them if you want. Won't hurt, and will probably help, even if it isn't the immediate cause of the problem.

Start with the distributor, and check to make sure it really is in time, and working properly.

Reply to
Dick C

|likely possibility is that you are not getting fuel through the |jets into the carb. You very well could have clogged jets. This would |cause rough running, hard starting, and eventually no start. |clean and rebuild the carburator. At least pull it apart and check |the jets.

If that's a 2-barrel carb, you can pull the top off and check (remove, clean) the jets withouth removing the carb.

|If the carb is good, or after rebuilding it, then by all means check |the exhaust.

Dueal exhausts with a crossover - It should run with one of the mufflers completely blocked. Very unlikely they would both block. Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

Runs off the cam. If the distributor is turning, the fuel pump is being stroked. If it isn't turning, check for a Sheared rollpin holding the distributor driven gear to the distributor shaft. The teeth on the gear have also been known to fail

Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

. I must have know that once. It's been ages since I've had an OHV engine.

Reply to
David

No, the distributor runs off the camshaft, at least on all engines I've seen, and definitely on the 289.

Reply to
Thomas Tornblom

No, it would turn twice as fast as it needs to if it did.

Reply to
Steve

If the cam gear slipped 1-2 teeth you could still get reasonable (though not correct) compression on all 8. But I'd expect the spark timing to be off by more than you indicate.

Go back to the basics. Fuel, air, and fire. You say there's a good spark- did you check at ALL 8 plugs? Maybe the distributor cap is tracked and several cylinders aren't getting spark.

Fuel- you say it squirts in, so I would guess that its fine, but maybe not. Does the engine try to fire if you spray a burst of carburetor cleaner down the carb?

Air- the lack of good "pumping" action REALLY argues for a slipped timing chain. Does the starter sound wierd? less loaded than normal?

Reply to
Steve
[snip]

How about describing which cylinder you are connecting the timing light to? i.e., passenger side front or drivers side front?

Reply to
Neil Nelson

It was a combination of three things.

1)Carb base gasket was completly shot, naking big vacume leak. (Also found cracked vaccume hose to PVC valve.)

2)Had flooded engine washing oil out of rings. Oiled all cylinders and did compression before and after. Compression improved significantly. (Also learned that I have three weak cylinders, this motor is not long for this world. Anyone reccomend a goood Rebuild source Near San Diego or LA?)

3)Weak ignition coil.

We fixed all three tonight and now it starts and runs well..

We have been rebuilding this car for several years as a Father Son project, everything has been replaced but the Motor. It's now time to do the motor.

(17 yr old son want s to hop it up, father thiks he drives it too hard already...)

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nospam

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