No start

[mkfour]

I washed the 80 last Saturday and also gave the radiator/condenser an good spray down with the hood closed, through the front grill.

The next day, I drove the 80 and it worked fine. On Monday morning as I go to start the 80, I get what appears to be a dead battery. I check the battery connections and tighten them up. Now I got some juice but when the 80 started it was real rough. I turned it off and tried it a few more times with the same result. Real rough, almost as if a few cylinders were not firing.

When I got back home that night, I checked the battery voltage, 12.75 V, so I knew my battery was fine. The next morning, I try and start the 80 again, and again it's real rough, so I shut here down.

Today, I decided to find out what's wrong and now I get cranking but no start. I check the fusible links and from visible inspection they look fine, although cracked and old. I also checked for fuel and spark. My spark test showed no spark and my fuel test is positive.

In doing the spark test, I removed spark plug #1 with wire. I was solo, so I needed an extension to be able to see the action. So I connected some wire to the threading on the spark plug and connected the other end of the wire at the negative end of the battery. Is there anything wrong with this method?

Is there any way to bypass the fusible links temporarily, i.e., can I swap in wire for them as a test?

I'll redo the spark test tomorrow, but I'll use the wire from the coil instead.

Any suggestions?

 

[mkfour]

Resistance at the primary coil came in at ~0.8 ohms, spec'd at 0.35-0.55. Can anyone else confirm that this is a tolerable figure?

Where is the igniter?

To check the fusible links, will a continuity check work?

 

[Adam R]

I just spent the last few days monkeying with my fusible links. A continuity check should suffice. You can also bypass with a piece of wire, but I'd opt for an inline fuse holder with a 30 amp fuse. It's safer and should allow you get the job done. If the links are burned out, you should be able to pull it apart. The links have a stretchy insulation to help let you know that they are burned out somewhere in the middle.

Also check the center wire on the distributor and follow it back to the coil. When I washed my engine down, I had a similar result as yours. It eventually dried out, but when those wires are wet, the engine doesn't like to run.

Adam

 

[mkfour]

I re-did the spark test and I'm getting a spark at the line from the coil. So that means everything down system from should be operational.

And since the fuel test (fuel regulator return line check) was positive, I don't know where that puts me. I'm getting fuel and spark, but still no start.

 

[Squash]

Runs rough after a wash...quite normal.
You probably sprayed the dizzy and now it needs to dry or spray some WD40 over the system, wires included.
If still dark you can see ignition leakage as tiny lightning hits/sparks when trying to start the beast.

Now if you have spark and fuel you may have flooded the engine? Try holding the fuel pedal to the floor while trying a few start cycles, sure she may hesitate but eventually she should fire up.

If these simple things do not pan out for you then dive into the dizzy and dry her up.

 

[mkfour]

Runs rough after a wash...quite normal.
You probably sprayed the dizzy and now it needs to dry or spray some WD40 over the system, wires included.
If still dark you can see ignition leakage as tiny lightning hits/sparks when trying to start the beast.

Now if you have spark and fuel you may have flooded the engine? Try holding the fuel pedal to the floor while trying a few start cycles, sure she may hesitate but eventually she should fire up.

If these simple things do not pan out for you then dive into the dizzy and dry her up.

It's been a week since the wash and the 80 drove fine a day after the wash. I think the wash was just a coincidence.

 

[mkfour]

Update:

After checking just about everything that I could, EFI relay, fuses, spark, fuel, misc. wires/connections, fusible links,etc..., I decided to do a full throttle start.

Reluctantly, she started up, but the idle was off and there was something amiss.

Today a new fusible link came in so I put that on and gave it a go. She started right up, but after a short time the idle would drop lower and lower. She wouldn't die, but the idle would drop to 300 rpm or so and would get rough.

Is it not getting enough gas?