Cant start my 1950 Champion!

[elerslie]

Ok - here is the story: I was in a hurry the other day and went out to start my Stude. So I crank it for about 5 minutes and realized I had not turned the key on - Idiot.

So i did and tried some more but just figured that it was flooded and walked away.

Since then I have tried and tried. Here is what I have done:
- checked spark- it does.
- checked gas lines - spurts plenty of gas.
- checked fuel filter - no problems.

I am out of ideas. I hate to take it to a mechanic. And thanks to all in advance.

Harry

[jclary]

Did you re-charge your battery after drawing it down so much. Sometimes, if a battery gets too low, it can take so much energy to crank, that not enough spark can be left to fire the engine. Have you tried to prime the carb with a small amount of gas? Those are the quick easy things to check. There are more. Let us know.

[elerslie]

Yes - I recharged the battery and tried to start it with the jumpers hooked to my truck. No luck.

yes - I have primed - still no go.

Thanks

Harry

[skyway]

You may want to pull/inspect, and just plain replace the spark plugs.
Sometimes gas fouled plugs just won't fire. Once you get it to run on fresh plugs, if you are a CASO like me, you can rotate the fouled plugs back in one or two at a time and sometimes "revive" them.

Also, depending on how warm the weather is for you, you may want to let the bores air out a bit with the plugs removed.

[Mater]

Check your carb too! My 49 Champion wouldn't start a dew days ago. I poured gas in the carb, as I have done before with a hard starting issue in the past, I noticed the fuel leaking out of the carb at the gasket where the top and bottom of the carb meet. I tightened the 3 screws that hold the 2 pieces together, and viola she fires right up! Now if I could just fix that darn vapor lock issue... Hope that helps you some!
Gary

[jclary]

A while back, I had a similar problem with my '48 champion. Turns out that I had the wrong rotor in the distributor. Even with the right distributor, I have to not push the rotor all the way down on the shaft. I have it running good now but plan to replace the cap with a better spring loaded carbon contact in the cap. What are you using to check for spark? I use one of those cheap in-line spark testers. With those, you can actually run (that is if it cranks) the engine with it in place. You might also want to remove your plugs and clean them just in case they're fouled with oil and gas during all the cranking you did without the switch on. Keep at it. I am sure it is not the "on board computer!"

John Clary
Greer, SC

I have only two limitations ...BRAINS & ENERGY
SDC member since 1975

[gordr]

I once saw a '50 Champion on which the carburetor float valve body had worked loose, and backed off several turns. It had forced the float right down to its lower limit, so that the float valve was fully closed. Of course quite a bit of fuel could leak around the threads of the valve body,and the car would start and idle for a while, before flooding out. But if you tried to drive it, it would run out of gas, because the leakage couldn't pass enough fuel for it to drive at any speed at all. So it was over-rich at idle, and over-lean off-idle. We had the top off the carb about 3 times before it dawned on me. Screwed the valve back in, cinched it down, and the car ran great again. So, if you take the top off the carb, check for this having happened. With a cold engine, the flooding at idle could get it wet enough it would never start.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[hotrodstude]

try some motor oil down the carb rotate engine afew times then try to start. a lot of times when you flood an engine the gas will wash the oil from the cylinder walls. the oil helps seals the rings so you ge compression.it will smoke ;ike an house on fire but after it will go away.

[elerslie]

OK guys. I will try all this. Looks like I got my weekend cut out for me. Thanks for all the advice and please keep it coming. I will report back.

Harry

[mbstude]

I remember one morning when my Champ 6 powered pickup wouldn't start. The thing was my daily driver and never failed to start before.

I replaced everything. Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, etc etc etc, even though it was getting spark everywhere it needed to. Thought it might be flooded, and when it didn't start with the gas pedal all the way to the floor, I let it sit for a few hours. Went back to it, still wouldn't start. It had me stumped.

So I called my granddad. He looks over everything, then walks back to his truck and gets his tow strap. We pulled the Stude about 30 feet down the street, popped the clutch, and it fired right up and ran beautifully.

I still haven't figured out why the heck it wouldn't start.



Matthew Burnette
Hazlehurst, GA

[buddymander]

Cuz pulling it cranks it over a lot faster, overcoming any low compression issues, kinda like when I would hook up two 12 volt batteries in series to crank an engine over extra fast.