A couple months ago I knew I wouldn't be driving so I disconnected the battery. Today I went and reconnected the battery, but car won't turn over, it just keeps cranking. I tried jumping in case the battery was drained, but that didn't do it. I had no problems with the car running prior to this. Any ideas?

 

So if you say won't turn over but it's cranking? Isn't that turning over? Maybe you mean it turns over but won't fire. If so prime the carb with gas if need be.

 

Thank you. Yes that's what I mean. I'll give that a try.

 

If the starter motor is turning the engine over, the battery and associated starting system is completely fine. Jump starting won't change a thing. You need to check for fuel and spark. You can guarantee that after sitting any length of time, the fuel in the carb has evaporated and if the fuel pump has any wear on the check valves at all, it will need to crank for quite a while before fuel gets back to the carb. You can refill the carb through the bowl vents, but starter fluid sprayed in the carb will also get the car running. Also be aware that if the car sat for any length of time with fuel in the carb, there's a chance that it left deposits in the bowl when it evaporated that can block fuel passages.

 

I had the battery checked and it was pretty much dead. I replaced it and tried adding fuel to the carb and tried again. That seemed like that was going to get it going but it eventually sputters out like it ran out of gas. I did this for a good 20 minutes and no luck. Also seemed like everything I pressed the accelerator it would cut it off sooner.

 

The engine needs air, fuel, and properly timed spark to run. Your other battery was dead because you ran it low trying to start the engine. It just needed to be recharged, because if the engine was cranking your battery was good. Look down into your carb with the engine off while operating the throttle and see if there are 2 solid streams of fuel spraying.

 

Sounds like either low fuel pressure (ie, weak fuel pump) or crud in the carb.

 

One thing that happened to me a couple of years ago now with my '69 4-4-2 is that it would keep cranking but it just wouldn't start. I was driving down the road and, all of a sudden, it started running real rough. I felt lucky to get back to my house and get the car into the garage before it quit. After trying a host of things without success, I got a hint that the condenser in the distributor might be bad and that I should change it to see what happens. I did and it made all the difference in the world. The car started right away and it's been running fine since. Somehow, the old condenser (which, I understand, is really a capacitor) went bad, which some chalked up to being poorer quality in what we are getting today.

Randy C.

'68 4-4-2 convertible
'69 4-4-2 convertible

 

I edited my other post.