uh oh, what did I do? (stupid)

marty79

marty79

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Location
Newton, NC
ok so I pulled a stupid today...working on a carbed 300 ford six, was in for hesitation/slight miss..I pulled plugs, checked compression, etc.
When I put it all back together, I Stupidly unknowingly left my ratchet still attached to the crank and when I started it, it ran kinda horrible then died...cannot get it to fire for nothing!! (and yes it snapped the head right off my Snap On Ratchet lol).
SO...Please Help with ideas: These fords are known to strip the cam gear since it's plastic junk...BUT distributor still spins fine when turning over and every other motor I've looked up that breaks/strips cam gear, distributor doesn't spin (obviously lol).
It got an HEI big cap distributor on it from years ago, but it was a cheapo not the good quality one.
I know I did a booboo but now I need help getting this truck working lol and I don't mind buying new distributor or timing but was trying to see if yall think I still need to pull front end apart to verify timing of crank and cam?
**I have set the motor to TDC and set distributor pointing at #1 on cap like 5 times to be sure. I even tried putting firing order one before and one after...no change in how it sounds...doesn't hit a lick.
Main Question?. Is it possible the cam/crank jumped time even though it seems impossible cause every other thread I've read it looks like the cam gear teeth would strip right off before "jumping" time since they're plastic and crank teeth are steel??!!
 
a good distributor i found are $200 so just trying to get ideas before ordering one...I ran some ohm tests on the coil and HEI unit and test show ...well idk, there's many variances and a very "wide" range of acceptable parameters so testing it hasn't given me luck but obviously there's no spark at all...zilch...nada...
 
shawn said:
Is the ignition box working?
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well I ohmed out the HEI green and white wires and the coil but the ohm readings are "within" spec of some guides but way off according to others lol.
the ignition module inside i haven't tested.
I guess I'm jumping to the most major possible timing issue with the whole ratchet being stuck and broken on it thing.
Can you still take those ignition modules to be tested at local parts stores?
 
Where does the ignition get its trigger? CPS?
 
marty79 said:
s I'm jumping to the most major possible timing issue with the whole ratchet being stuck and broken on it thing
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If it jumped time, it should still spark. Are you sure the dizzy is spinning?
 
I was assuming magnetic pickup, if that's the crank signal (to @shawn's point). Those can die for no reason/no warning. Check that the magnetic pickup is still working when you spin the motor over. Or just pull the distributor and look at the gears, since you said you've reset it so many times already. What's one more? Then you can check the pickup with the distributor out on the bench.
 
shawn said:
Where does the ignition get its trigger? CPS?
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HEI distributor, everything happens inside of it all in one
Scooter402 said:
pull the distributor and look at the gears,
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i know the gears are good on distributor otherwise wouldn't spin plus I've had it out a bunch and remember seeing the gears are good...I didn't think to check if the magnetic pickup is spinning or not, suppose rotor could spin but not the pickup...
 
marty79 said:
HEI distributor, everything happens inside of it all in one

i know the gears are good on distributor otherwise wouldn't spin plus I've had it out a bunch and remember seeing the gears are good...I didn't think to check if the magnetic pickup is spinning or not, suppose rotor could spin but not the pickup...
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No, not just spinning. It can spin and produce no signal (I've had it happen with Chevy HEI). Put a multimeter to the leads to make sure it's still got decent resistance.
 
Scooter402 said:
Put a multimeter to the leads to make sure it's still got decent resistance.
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i did on the green and white wire and it read like 8.? ohms but those are "general" specs according to internet. Is there a better way to test it?
 
8 ohms? That's way low, I believe. Should be 8-900 ohms. Put the multimeter on AC voltage. It should fluctuate as it spins.

*edited for brain fart*
 
also check out the coil pack resistance....won't be a bad idea while you're in the distributor
 
Wonder if the slight miss was the starting to fail and the no crank is the complete fail and the ratchet mistake was unrelated but causing you to focus on it from guilt.
 
Ron said:
Wonder if the slight miss was the starting to fail and the no crank is the complete fail and the ratchet mistake was unrelated but causing you to focus on it from guilt.
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That's where I'm going.... Or the ratchet cleaned something off the motor (cps, power or ground wires, etc) that are causing a no spark.
 
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