I have a 63 Chevy II Wagon with a 327 and powerglide. Points type dissy, nothing special. Good and working voltage regulator, new and working alternator. I just bought the car and like most people, first thing I did was start tearing into the thing and cleaning it up after driving it home. I pressure washed the engine compartment (some dont recommend this but I did not hit the electronics, etc. I detail cars besides paint and body work for a living). After pressure washing the underside and engine compartment I dried it all off, pulled the air cleaner to check for water, the usual. Started it right up, let it run, warm up drove it a little and then parked it. Next day went to start it, every light (Gen and Temp) came on in the "ON" position, went to start and nothing... Checked battery cables, grounds, connections, everything seems just fine. I can jump the S part of the starter to the positive cable from the battery and it will crank over. Not sure what my problem is. Any information and help would be greatly appreciated!
I'd suggest that you set that thing in a nice warm dry garage for about four days and you'll be a happy fella. No sense in spending time looking for a moisture problem in wires and terminals when time will be your best friend.
No starter would be related to the ignition switch, starter solenoid, and neutral safety switch and all the effected wires to and fro.
I feel like moisture in the distributor could certainly be a possibility; i think my mom had a car with a cracked cap at one point and the car would just randomly die on her on the highway when it was raining... blow that thing out and see if it fires!
i thought he had said the starter worked if he jumped it? which would mean the starter is good; unless i misread something?
turn the key on and jump the starter and see if it starts. get a digital multimeter and find out where you are losing voltage. my guess is something with the ignition switch.
if its cranking and not fireing..than i would say have a look at the cap.. if it aint cranking than its the starter system electronics not the ignition (as in fireing the plugs) system
Do the lights go out when you hit ignition w/o jumping the starter? When you jump the starter you said it cranks but, does it start? What happens when you just try jump starting the car, anything? My best bet right now is a bad ground, even though you said you checked all your grounds out and moisture in your distributor, try some WD-40 in there. You might want to check out your voltage regulator also. Petejoe made a good reccommendation for starters. Patience is the cheapest and easiest way out sometimes.
When he by-p***es the starter solenoid, it turns over. Seems to point to the starter solenoid. Grab a BFH and give the solenoid a couple of love taps. It may not be related to the wash job.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. The lights and everything work, as far as them working when I try to crank it over I will try that here in just a minute. I will check the relay as well (where would this be?), hit the starter and solinoid with a hammer, blow out the dissy cap, etc. When I turn the car over by key it does nothing. All electronics work such as turn signals, headlights, wipers, heater, etc. First time I jumped the starter on accident, I took the wires off, checked connections, added some anti seize to connections and put them back on. One wire was touching the other so right when I put the battery cables on it jumped over and started for a quick second and I pulled the wire off right away. Second time I jumped it it turned over but was jumpy like it turned and stopped, turned and stopped but didn't start. Only reason it did not start was because it was sitting and no fuel since I do not have a choke hooked up. If the starter is bad then this isn't that big of a deal because I plan to change the ****** to my TH350. I am guessing I will need to have a different starter with the TH350 anyways right? I will check out the dissy cap, relay, fuse block, hit starter with hammer. Any other suggestions? Thanks again guys!
Ok I hit the starter solinoid with hammer, checked the volt. reg. and relay and fuse block. Inside the distributor is dry and everything looks to be dry. Turned on lights and turned over and they stay on, no blinking, turning off, etc. Not sure what else it is besides to just go over all the wiring and look for a bad ground...???
By now the battery is getting low. Let it sit for a couple of days to dry out, charge the battery up and hope. Side issue; not you; I NEVER wash a motor. Washing a motor is spending time on something that could be spent on something productive. I get **** from friends about it. Like it's their business anyhow? Each to his own.
You need to do a voltage drop on the starter cable to the starter any more than a volt to volt and a half is a problem also check the battery cables sounds stupid but I have found loose or junked up cables many times wont show until load put on it
I'd guess that there's maybe a couple of bulkhead connectors on the firewall where the u/hood wiring plugs into the backside of the fuse panel. Might be worth unplugging them to check for any sign of water intrusion or corrosion. It could be just a coincidence that things started acting up after the pressure washing, and it wouldn't be surprising on a car of this age.
the bulkhead connector would be my first guess....but be careful, those early connector housings like to disintegrate when they get old (at least they do here in AZ)
Sounds good guys, I will check them out tomarrow in the light. I need to pull this thing in the garage so I can work on it all night when needed. Too dark and cold (in the 20's) to be outside laying in the dirt working on it which I have been doing lately but not tonight. I'll check the connectors from the bulk heads and I am going to buy new battery cables since these are older looking anyways. my 66 F100 did a similar thing and the cables were corroded inside where you could not see so I will start with this as well.
i'm sure this is obvious, but do all the things one at a time; otherwise you won't know what fixed it. I'd say start with tapping the solenoid; if you say it cranks over and almost starts when you jump it there probably isn't moisture in the cap. Sounds like the solenoid just isn't kickin like it's supposed to. best of luck to ya, hope you like your nova wagon! i know i do...
Put it in the garage.Put a decent heater close to the front of the car.Let it good and warm in there.It will start in the morning .I wash motors like this all the time.It has happened to me also.I dont recommend doing it in the cold winter months though.As that its going to freeze up tonight sitting outside and it will not start in the morning.
Thanks I will do this tomarrow. I love the wagon, it drives awesome. It's all stock pretty much as far as suspension and brakes go but it drives just as nice if not nicer than my 68 Lincoln Continental. Manual brakes and steering too. I plan to do a power disk brake conversion for safety and then beef up the rear suspension to pull a small trailor with pressure washer, generator and 100 gallon water tank.
Between the rad and the washer rez is the voltage regulator and below that is the horn relay. Pull, clean and file the wire ends and connections. That solved an intermittent starting issue on mine. Check out Steve's Nova Site Forum for Nova specific answers. .
AS has already been said.... take the bulkhead connectors apart and CLEAN THEM ..... they are NOTORIOUS for problems on these cars.... a GOOD IDEA no matter what... ....... jersey skip
Thanks again guys. Tomarrow first thing I will pull the connectors and sand all contact points and grounds down, add some anti seize to them and reconnect. If this doesn't work I will get new battery cables and go from there as well as putting it in the garage with a heater. Only reason I washed it was because there was lots of dirt, grease, etc in the nooks and crannies of the compartment and behind the engine. I wanted to be able to pull the ****** and work on the front end and engine compartment without all the grease and dirt. My 66 used to give me a lot of electrical problems one after another with grounds and connections. I went through all the wiring 50 times and redid things better, soldiered all connections then shrink wrap and tape on top of it. The anti seize on it all kept them from corroding and collecting rust. I've had people tell me they never heard of such a think about using anti seize and that it doesn't work... It does.
Reason for anti seize is it will keep them from corosion or rusting and it also holds/carries current or is conductive if that is the correct term for electrical. Sorry it's 2 in the mourning and I'm tired as hell and cannot think right now. I am about to leave the fire department and go home to get some sleep.
Well I looked over all connections, grounds, etc. Everything was fine so I said screw it, I'll let it sit a day or two. Yesterday was a warm day so I went out to work on it again and pull it into the garage with the golf cart. Went in to try to crank it for the hell of it and it cranked right up. Must have been something in the starter that was wet and had to dry out like a few here said. Now I have one more question... When I first bought the car, the PO put on an old Edelbrock carb but it didn't run worth ****. No choke, didn't start very easily, etc. One problem I found was the Accellerator pump wasn't working. I would give it gas to start it up and nothing squirted out. I pulled the carb and threw an extra 500 cfm Edelbrock on it and it solved that problem. I plan to put a Holley with electronic carb on it that I have lying around but that will come later since this one is doing fine. The question I have though is this... When the car is running, it is burning VERY rich in fuel. The exhaust is so strong of gas that it will burn the hell out of your eyes just standing 10 feet from it. In the car is pretty bad and you come out smelling like fuel. What can cause this? I noticed when I took the old carb out that there was a lot of gas in the intake manifold that didn't go through or get burnt as if it were dumping fuel but with the new carb it should not do it. The carb should not be the issue either because I had this on my 66 F100 and it ran fine on that. Thanks for any info here guys!
Different engine. Means a different fuel and air requirement. Be sure your timing is right and then possibly look into making a jet change adjustment. Its amazing what a little time will fix with wet ignition system. good luck
The Jalopy Journal
