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Old 06-07-2018, 07:15 AM   #25
1project2many
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Lakes Region NH
Posts: 3,158
Re: My 1956 Chevy Truck won't start

Quote:
I am so upset and tired messing with this truck, if anyone wants to buy this truck let me know. I'm throwing in the towel.
I've been there before. One of the hardest parts of doing this by yourself is getting a handle on what's happening.

There are a few things you can do that will help.

1) Try to come up with a method to crank the engine from under the hood. I'm guessing you have the foot pedal start so a lever, a rope on the starter rod, maybe grabbing the linkage It's a helluva lot easier than trying to run back and forth from the driver's seat.

2) Check for spark starting with the coil wire. You can buy or make a simple spark tester but they're different for points and for electronic ignition. If you buy a tester like this one it will make a nice "snap" noise each time it sparks so you can hear it from the cab. In order to make a tester for points you need a clean plug with the gap opened up to about .045". Connect your new tester to the coil wire and ground the body to the block. Crank the engine and watch for steadily repeating blue-yellow sparks. If you don't get steady spark then you need to find out why.

Note: If you are still running points there's a chance that when the engine stalled and sat with the key on the points got burned. If so then you may be able to sand them and reset the gap and get it to run again.

If you do get steady spark then reconnect the coil to the distributor and move the tester to the first plug wire. Do the same check at each plug wire. If you have one or more wires that don't spark correctly you need to find out why. It could be wires, or the cap, or both.

Once you're sure you have steady spark you can move on to checking for fuel.

Good luck.
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