electrical and ignition Trying To Start Ms. Malaga

[tedward22]

Hello and thanks in advance!

 

I am trying to start my '73 2002 that I bought not running.  It has not been running for many years.

 

Today I changed the oil and plugs and put in a new battery.  I put in a gallon of gas. 

 

The gas tank was bone dry when I got it. 

 

I sprayed some starter fluid in carburetor and tried to star it.  Nothing. I pumped the gas a few times nothing.  The car was cranking.  I checked the fuel filter I had put in and it was dry still.  

 

So I was wondering how to get the gas into the carb so it can start?  Or any other ideas to get it started. 

 

Thanks again!

 

Ed

[Chamonix72]

You could manually fill the float bowl. Is the fuel pump manual or electric? Either way, does it work?

[tim385]

You checked for spark?

[Honolulu]

Just got my 15th 2002 a few weeks ago and it had been sitting for maybe 3 years.  I kept putting gas down the throat of the weber and it would start and run until the cup I was holding ran out.  I only held a few ounces, so if "something went wrong" I wouldn't be holding a bomb.  Anyway, it would only run while I was pouring gas in.

 

I didn't know whether there was fuel in the tank, and the gage was said to be flaky,so I added a couple gallons of fresh gas.  Still nothing through the fuel pump.  I removed the fuel pump to manually stroke the piston and see if anything flowed.  This was inconclusive, but I primed the pump with fuel and reinstalled.  I wondered whether the line from pump to tank was clogged, but I could blow through it and my kid heard bubbles at the other end.  Thus the line was clear and could flow.  I pondered blowing through the filler pipe to encourage gawse to flow through the line running forward, but thought if I had to go that far I'd simply tow it instead.  The hose between pump and firewally hard line might have been sucking air, but I didn't have spare hose with me so no way to replace.

 

Reinstalled the primed fuel pump, dumped more gas down the throat, and she fired right up and ran.  Apparently a bone dry pump may not self-prime, or you may have to crank an uncomfortably long time to get it to suck from the tank.

 

Drove home six miles with no current plates, registration, safety check, and when I got there, no brake/clutch fluid in the reservoir.  Oooops...

[thehackmechanic]

If you sprayed starting fluid directly down the throat of the carb, cranked it over, and it didn't act least act like it wanted to start, you need to check for spark. Have someone crank it while you hold the center wire from the coil 1/4" from ground, like one of the strut cap nuts, with rubber-insulated pliers. If there's no spark, you need to chase it (points, condenser, plug wires, etc).

 

If you have spark but it didn't try to start, could be timing or plugs.

 

If it DID try to start but then died, odds are exactly as you say that the float bowl isn't filling up. It can take quite a bit of cranking to fill it. One of my 02s had a dry-rotted fuel line on the top of the gas tank that, in this situation, would suck air in through the weave and prevent the float bowl from filling.