I have a 72 4 door cutlass that i been workin on for a year now did all work myself and got running but drove it on a daily drive stopped at a friend house left car on and 20 min later if turn off now i can get it turn back on I have gas its cool and have coolant. i think its the carb or distributor which i have a HEI how can i check? I have a 350 rocket 72

 

So it cranks but will not start or does it not even crank?

 

You need to be specific when describing your problem, as Rob says.
We can't help you if you are vague.

As always, when you find yourself in the presence of an engine that won't start, you need to ascertain the presence of fuel, fire, and compression.
When you open the throttle, does the accelerator pump spray gas?
When you crank it, do you get a good spark? And not just any spark, but a GOOD spark?
Is it cranking unusually, like the valve timing is off?

Let us know more details, and we can give you more help.

- Eric

 

the car cranks and when open the throttle the acelerator pump spray gas and timing sound good. i am a diy noob thats welling to learn. it can only be so much either electrical or maybe carb. after i pump a few time and look I think gas comin out bottom side

 

Make sure you have spark! If it does and you said its pumping fuel, when you go to start it, hold the gas peddle to the floor while cranking, and when it starts, regulate the throttle with your foot until it settles out.

If it does not have spark, its some where in your ignition system! Make sure you you have 12vdc at your coil, and proceed from there!

 

Okay, so,

• The starter motor cranks the engine
• The engine sounds normal when cranking (not the most informative, but it helps)
• The accelerator pump sprays gas.

As OldCutlass says, you haven't mentioned spark.
Without any spark the engine won't run.

Let us know if you have a nice, fat, blue spark and we can proceed.

- Eric

 

provided external connections are good

dist module, coil, reluctor wire broken. in that order of probability

 

You have an HEI distributor? Make sure you are getting power to the distributor where the wire hooks up on the side by the coil. If you have power there and you know you have fuel, it may be the module in the ditributor.

 

Without getting into too much I'm assuming it's the distributor or relating wires.
Just going off of past experiences

 

put a new hei module in its pretty simple you can do your own