Jeep cant start after complete engine rebuild.

1975 CJ5 AMC232 engine.

Replaced all gaskets, seals, new cam bearings, piston rings, connecting rod bearings etc. etc.

When we crank the engine, it the starter takes the engine around, everything seems okay.

For starters we had problems with the fuel pump, no fuel came up. We took out the pump, pumped it manually and put it back., Fuel runs fine now.

We got it running for 20 secs, it sounded like a tractor, because there where no exhaust pipe on the manifold. Then the battery ran out. (we have no airfilter put on yet, but we also tried that and took it off again)

So today we put on the exhaust pipe, crancked it again and it started right away. it ran a little and went out again, and the battery died again. So we put jump cables on the battery, and worked on with the engine.

all the vacuum hoses are connected, except a hose from the manifold to the carb. But that was not on before we rebuilt the engine either.

So once again we set Timing is at 3 degrees TDC, ofcourse i cant time it with a light when it is not running. We have not disassembled the cab. Its a carter weber 1 bbl.

Distributor is a aftermarket HEI, the plugs are sparking.

It started smelling of gasoline, so we took out the carb, and the manifold was filled with gasoline. We sucked it out, tried again a lot of times.

Full again, sucked it out again, and tried again.

So we figured that maybe timing was 180 degrees off, because we might have set it on the compression stroke. So we switched the sparkplug cables and tried again. Didnt help. We switched back.

It seems a bit slow when we crank it, maybe we cant expect to start it with a flat battery with jump cables?

Is there any way to set the carb to factory defaults?

Im no mechanic, so please bear with me, and explain in a Educational manner what i should check / do.

Should i press the speeder when i crank it? I normally doesnt (when it was working) but the manifold is filling up with gas when i do it..

I have connected all the vacuum hoses, but i guess that have no effect on starting the engine?

Im really out of ideas..

 

It sounds like the carb float is stuck in the down position, letting the gas just run in, and through the carb, and into the manifold.

I would check the carb float first.

Also, if there was standing fuel in the manifold, and then it got harder to turn over the engine, you may have gotten raw (liquid) fuel down into one or more of the cylinders.

Do not try to turn over the engine again until you have pulled the spark plugs out, and disconnected the coil wire---small one. Now, crank the engine with the starter, and watch for fuel spray blowing out of a plug hole.

Be sure there is no ignition source (open flame etc) around at the time.

If you got it to run for 20 seconds, then the timing is good enough for now----fix the other issues then go for the fine tuning.

Good luck.

 

Hey. Thanks for the fast reply. How do i check the float, should i dissassemble the carb?

When we took out one of the plugs, it was wet from fuel, so you might be right.

I will try those things on thursday.

THanks (for now )

 

Yes, the carb must be dissembled to get to the float. But, you may not have to do this.

It can often be un-stuck by lightly tapping the carb in the area of the fuel inlet.

Use a plastic face mallet, or a screwdriver handle.

It is not unusual for a float to stick if it has been sitting around unused for a while.

 

okay. Great. I will check up on this and return. THank you for your help

 

Hello again.

today i disassembled the carb, and you were right, the float was not moving correct, i fixed that, mounted the carb. Blew gasoline out of the cylinders (is not sure if there was anything in them) and checked that the intake manifold was not full of gasoline again.

I crancked it, and it said "puff" "puff", but it didnt start. I crancked it again, and after a while it said puff some more times, and then i looked at the engine, and i could see that when it said "puff" exhaust gas was comming out of the carb. (i had opened the top damper on the carb (and that was where the gas was comming out). I took off the carb to make sure the manifold was not full of gasoline again, and it wasnt. But it was full of white gas. So i figured that maybe ignition was way off, and i lifted the top off the distributor (engine was a 0 TDC) and the dit was pointing directly at cylinder 6. It should be pointing at 1. (witch is the exactly opposite spark terminal on the distributor, so maybe the 0TDC was at the exhaust stroke (i have no way of knowing if it is exhaust or intake stroke) so i switch the cables so it was pointing at nr. 1, and then i cranked again, and now the battery was almost dead, whenever compression came, the starter could almost not take the engine around.

Please help. - and why was the gas comming out of the carb?

On the exhaust manifold there is a "thing" witch should be attached to a "round" spring which is missing - maybe the "thing" is in the closed position? And what is the purpose of the "thing" ?

Regards MIkkel

 

the THing is called a "valve" and im talking about where the counterweight should be. I can see in the servicemanual that the valve should be in the closed position when engine is warming up.

 

This sounds like a timing issue for sure.

Pull all the plugs, put your finger over the hole for #1, and crank the engine till you feel the pressure build all the way, and that is when the distributor should be pointing at the terminal for plug wire #1. The timing mark on the crank pulley should also be at the pointer.

If the #1 wire on the cap is in the correct position, you can just relocate the wires if the engine is an even fire-----if the engine is an odd fire, you must get the dist in where it belongs.

This should get it close enough to run------then fine tune it with a light.

Sounds like the float is not set correctly, or the needle/seat is bad.

This is a device to help the engine warm up quicker------actually a butterfly in the exhaust to divert the gas from one side, under the intake manifold, to the other side.

This heats the manifold, and keeps the gasoline in a vapor state.

These can stick in the closed position, and the engine will run lousy when it does. They are designed to blow open under higher throttle openings, but they often rust up, and stop moving.

Back to the engine starting issue, I just realized the cam timing may be off also.

 

What i meab by "gas comming out if carburator" is white exhaust gas.. Not gasoline. Everytime the engine said puff, white gas was comming out of the top of the carb. ...

 

Timing, either ignition or cam will cause this.

So can valve adjustment, bent valve, burnt valve.

 

Well we had all valved out of the engine, and put thjem back in, and they were at that point not bent or burnt. So i guess timing! I will return when i have testet once again

 

So today i got the heep startet. It was the timing witch was off, and the engine was drowned, because the of the flow level was almost an inch wrong. It runs like a charm now! THanks for your help!

 

You are welcome, glad you got it figured out.