Hello,

I am having problems with my 350 engine. the engine will not start, I have changed out the fuel filter and still does not start. I am wondering if the fuel injectors could be clogged or hopefully something more simple. any help would be appreciated.

 

it could be a number of things. is your fuel pump working? do you have spark? if no spark it could be cap, rotor, coil, ignition module (black box under distributor cap) multiple bad plugs, plug wires.

if your pump isnt working hit bottom of your gas tank with a rummber mallet and listed to see if it turns on if it does your pump is going if it dont check fuses, if still nothing pump is probably gone already.

check all fuses pertaining to ign, ecm, injectors

 

I have checked the fuel pump and heard a hum from the fuel tank area and I assume that is ok. If it is the distributor area(coil, etc) how do I tell which exactly is the problem? Do I need to buy a multimeter and if I do what would be the measurements readings, etc. I plan on buying starting fluid and spraying in the injector area and see if that starts. The funny thing about this it really tries to start and starts for a second and then dies.


thanks for your help

 

to test coil look at my home made pic. to test plug wires take ohm meter and test resistance from INSIDE distributor cap to end of plag wire by spark plug resistance should not be over 30,000 ohms anything over 30,000 should be replaced however resistance should not exeed 25,000 ohms. if wires are longer than factory ones the resistance may be over these numbers. sorry if this is confusing but im copying this right out of my chiltons manual. also check the plugs to see if they are gapped correctly and or fouled out it could also be low fuel pressure

 

thanks all for the information, I will go to auto part and purchase an ohm meter

 

your welcome and let me know how everything checks out

 

• Correction: It's primarily fuel, spark, and timing. Timing problem of course can lead to lack of compression. Clarification: The comment on the '94 Ranger is correct. Many Fords have what is called an "inertia switch" which will cut off the fuel pump. This is designed to benefit the occupants in the case of a severe accident. I don't believe any other domestic maker uses this, but some imports do such as Jaguar.

• A GASOLINE internal combustion engine needs 3 things to function properly: 1) fuel, preferrably delivered at the right mixture, but generally if it's there and the other two components are met, the engine will at least run. 2) ignition, often referred to as a spark or fire, ignition timing must be within a couple degrees of factory settings otherwise the engine may not run at all. Ignition spark strength must also be high enough to be adequate for the air/fuel mixture to ignite, but generally it is an all or nothing situation in the newer, electronic ignition systems. 3) compression, if the compression is up, the cylinders, valves and camshaft are functioning adequately and the timing chain/belt/gear is timed properly. If all three of the above conditions are met, the engine will start when it is cranked. To find out why it won't start, you have to find out which of the above conditions isn't being met. Rather than approach the problem in a "shotgun" manner, it's best to be methodical in your approach. First, spray some starting fluid into the air intake while a friend tries to start the engine. If the engine runs briefly while you are spraying starting fluid, you have good reason to believe that the engine is not getting fuel... item 1 on the requirements. If the starting fluid didn't give you any clues, pull a sparkplug wire from the plug (any one will do) and connect it to a spare sparkplug. Set the sparkplug on a solid metal part of the engine and have your friend crank the engine again while you watch the sparkplug. You should see a bright spark if the ignition is working properly. And finally, if the above two tests didn't give you any information, run a compression test. Since all valves and all cylinders don't generally fail at the same time, you'll only be testing the timing of the camshaft, but that's pretty important. Mark the location of each sparkplug wire. I generally use a piece of masking tape with the cylinder number, then wrap the tape around the sparkplug wire, making a little flag or tab. This part is important, since you don't want to finish the job and wonder where the wires go. Next, pull the sparkplugs and carefully observe the condition of each plug. Look for oil fouling, wet plugs, WHITE plug insulators, worn plugs and damaged plugs. If the center insulator (the part that goes INSIDE the cylinder) is too white, it's an indication that the engine is running too lean and you could be causing damage to valves or pistons. If the plug is black and oily, it indicates that the cylinder is worn and oil is leaking past the rings or valve stem seals. If the sparkplug is wet with fuel, it's an indicator that the cylinder is FLOODED, meaning that somehow there is too much fuel being delivered, and a wet sparkplug cannot properly ignite the fuel in the cylinder. If the plugs all check out ok, use a compression gauge while your friend again tries to start the engine. Since there are no plugs in the cylinders, the engine won't start, but you're measuring the pressure that is built up in the cylinders. Generally, it should be around 90 PSI, but that number may be different for different engines. Generally, the number should be withing 5 to 10 PSI for each cylinder. A variance of more than 15 PSI indicates burned valves or worn rings. If ALL cylinders are low, (below 70 PSI) it's a good indication that the camshaft is no longer timed properly. That is caused by a slipped timing belt or timing chain.