Was running 2 days ago, now nothing.

Ok, i drove my jeep for a couple hours 2 days ago then it wouldn't start last night or this morning. I began to troubleshoot it and have gone thru everything i can think of. heres what i've done so far:
Cleaned the points
changed the coil with one that i know works
cleaned the sparkplugs
cleaned both ends of every plug wire
checked spark at the plug.

It has spark, but its not very strong, however i did get it to run for a minute,but it felt like one cylinder was missing so i shut it off to check my plug wires and now it wolnt start..... any ideas? this ones got the best of me. its an f-head

 

The Kettering trigger system (points) is very simple. Start by testing the coil and condensor. Turn the engine so that the points are closed. Pull the coil wire off of the distributor and lay it on the engine so there is about 1/8"-3/16" gap from the end of the wire to ground. Remove the distributor cap, turn the key on, and open and close the points with a stick or insulated screwdriver. Every time you open the points, you should get a hot blue-white spark across ground. If there is no spark, try replacing the coil wire, condensor, coil, or ignition points. If you have not replaced the ignition wires, the coil wire could be your problem. Or the condensor. Or both of your coils could be junk. Test them similarly in another car to see if it's the coil or your Jeep.

Just be systematic, and hunt down the problem.

 

Condenser? When you cleaned the points did you reset the gap/dwell? Check the wiring for the points for bad connection or broken wiring? Sometimes the wire breaks inside the insulation and is hard to find. Usually it's the wiring inside the distributor on points distributors.
Check fuel? Volume and pressure?


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I had a nearly new condensor fail suddenly like that. It even checked good. I would definitely try a different one.

 

Ran all new wiring to the coil and the distrubiter, cleaned the points again, great spark at the points, decent spark at the plugs, but still no start. could it be the timing chain?

 

i sprayed ether in and pumped the gas to get the accelerator pump to give it some and nothing still so i assume it has gas, didnt check to see if plugs are wet yet though

 

could it be bad seal around the plugs?

 

Cap is only a couple months old, i drove it there and drove it where it sits now just fine, no problems. Cap is dry and contacts are still nice and clean and shiny, new rotor when i did the cap too.

 

Are you sure your getting gas??

 

Plugs are wet and i'm spraying ether into the carb to be sure, so i dont see how i cant

 

If the plugs are wet good chance they are fuel fouled.


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Ditto on the wet plugs. They won't spark.

 

should i leave it with plugs out for a day or so?

 

Swap in some dry plugs after cranking the engine for a while with the plugs out, no choke, throttle open. Wet plugs can be cleaned and dried with solvent and/or heat.

 

Got it running but as always, when you fix one problem, another one comes up. The plugs did the trick and it started right up. but about 2 minutes after it was running, it starting spitting oil out of te breather on the oil fill tube, so i checked to oil level and it was twice what it should be. So i figured since i have a tank gravity feeding the engine, the float in the carb is stuck calling for fuel so little by little i've been filling my engine with gas. i confirmed this by taking out the dip stick and holding a lighter to it, the oil/gas slurry lit right up and burned, so it has about a 50/50 mix of oil and gas now. so its time to change the oil, filter, rebuild the carb and then i should be good. i'll fix the tank issue and put it back to an underseat tank soon, i just need to get a new fuel pump, sending unit and patch up the tank. Then i can begin the restoration of the body and re-paint the whole thing. Thanks for all the help, i'm sure i'll be back soon. any good places to get a carb rebuild kit for my yf and how to be sure i get the right one? Thanks, Geoffrey

 

On my Hurricane, I changed all (and paid) it doesn't cost a lot, carburetor, wires, etc... and now = perfection.

So pray and go ahead, it is possible to have good result.