Cranky-Cranky, No-Sparky, No Starty

[Rack Grade]

Novice question here.

Just bought '54 M37 which had frame-off restoration ten years ago, a lot of engine work, is spotless under the hood with tons of new looking parts and new looking wiring harness, etc etc.

She was delivered here last week. Trucker delivering her started her up and parked it in my driveway. I put some new gas in and drove it around for a few miles and parked it.

Yesterday: a few very short sputters when starting, then nothing but cranking. Left it for a day

Today: one short sputter then nothing. Left it for a few hours. Next attempt, nothing. Not a spark.

Tinkered with the power on/off switch, didn't help. In-line filter is full of clean gas - looks like flowing fine. But its like no electric is getting to the plugs at all.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Looking high and low for my spark plug wrench. Gotten' into the hobby.

OK so what are the top things I should be looking for?

- Sleepless in NJ

[Rack Grade]

Plugs cleaned. A bit sooty but cleaned up ok.

Still no spark.

I have done something wrong.

[carolinamv]

New coil?

[Rack Grade]

In Line Spark Test:

In-line spark tester - $14 bucks at Auto Zone - yeah! Lights up when I crank it. OK, so there's current flow.

Guess no fuel is being pulled into the carb?

Starter Fluid:

Sprayed it for three seconds in air intake. Cranked. No spark.

Took out a plug. Sprayed a few seconds worth in direct into one hole. Cranked. No spark.

Seems there is just no fuel in there? So fuel supply problem? I see fuel in the in-line fuel filter just a few inches away from the carb. But I cannot tell if it is actually flowing.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

















Gonna try that again a few times

[kelley]

M37's eat coils, grab an extra for under the seat...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Military-vehicl ... dLiK2TYabQ

[Rack Grade]

YOU GUYS ARE TOTALLY RIGHT

Tested the pump and the lines and its all fine. Fuel flowing.

The in-line spark tester lights up, which made me thing electrical was ok, BUT a neighbor looking at it said it looks weak. And you guys pointed out probably coil issue.

SO.......... I just looked at the coil (now that I have learned what a coil is), and it has some black gooey stuff on it between the "cap" and the "can" That just doesn't look right.

OK so will replace that PRONTO!

Thanks for the excellent suggestions - learning, learning, learning............

[carolinamv]

Sounds like the coil went out , you can buy a NOS USGI one for a lot of money or buy a chrome Taiwan knock off for a lot less. I chose to get a NOS one from the 60's. Clean that distributer out very well also

[Rack Grade]

I learned a lesson today: properly diagnose a problem. Don't just replace parts until it works.

OK, so coil replaced and still no start up at all.

- gas is freely flowing / pump works
- spark tester tells me power to the plugs

OK so that leaves me with I think two possibilities:

- water in the gas (I just bought this truck and it was on super-empty, may have picked up water)
- float for some reason stuck in up position

So..... I'll try some starter fluid again and see if it sparks. If sparks, then seems I need to drain the carb, the lines, the tank, and put in fresh gas.

[52PLOWERWAGON]

id just dump some heet fuel stabilizer in the tank and get fresh fuel up to the carb

or seafoam is supposed to work good also

[Rack Grade]

Bad gas. I took a quart out. Harmless watery fluid. I could swim in it.

Emptied the whole tank and pulled through some hi test and dumped in some Heet.

Cranked it for awhile and she fired up (finally).

Purrs like a kitten now.

[carolinamv]

That's great to hear, I had to drain my tank not long ago.

Try and run premium non ethanol gas in your truck if you can.

[NAM VET]

glad you got your truck running. I am pretty unfamiliar with fuel issues, but if your tank had water in it, it might be rusty, and perhaps replacing and watching your fuel filters for awhile may be a good idea.