Here's a new one. I have a 51 Chevy 216.. will crank and crank and crank but wonts start. ...untill I jump it with my 12 volt truck.. coil has been replaced. Its sparking like lightening.. point gap is good, plugs are good. Once its running, it runs and accelerates fine. I'm guessing there's a short somewhere? Went through just about everything and can't figure it out. Any ideas??
get a digital multimeter and check your voltage going into the push button and voltage going out. then do the same with the ignition switch. check all your wires in the starting circuit. probably have a short somewhere. you need all 6 + of your 6 volt system to get it going. my old 49 had the push button with points. it was always hard starting. put in a pertronix and it wouldn't start at all. I eventually found 12.5 volts going into my pushbutton but much less coming out. put in a modern ignition switch and it started like a champ after that.
What size (gauge) battery cables are you using??? If your 6V car which depends on current flow through robust cables has been equipped over the years with whimpy thin 12V cables, the extra resistance is killing your spark when the the starter is cranking. 6V systems need at least 1 gauge primary cables in order to work as designed.
Is that car a 12v battery and system, but still having a 6v starter? I ran into one that did what you say. It was converted to 12v, but with a 6v starter. The real problem was a bad battery, that still had enough in the volts to spin it pretty normal, but the volts were way too low for the 12v ingintion. swap a battery from a car that starts good.
If there was a short there would be smoke, right idea, wrong terminology, voltage drop is what you are describing.
How fast does it turn over? It shouldn't have to turn very fast if the motor is in good shape but if compression is low a fast spin makes it start easier. If it turns too slow I would check starter, wires, switch etc. but if it turns normally check the compression.
X2. I had same problem with my six-volt '47 Ford. Put on some 1 gauge battery cables and it now starts great!
6 Vots have to have great ground and big cables. I would go with 00 cables and clean and check all grounds. It might not be the 12 volt starting it but the fact that you are getting a better ground.
Hmm. All good solutions.. battery was checked and good. Cranks at normal speed. Using a 00 ga cable. The car has been running and starting within a second of pushing the button for a long time. This has happened out of no where. Starter was professionally totally rebuilt. The past month I've had to crank it over a little extra long to get it to fire up. I put a lot of miles on this car. Spark at the dist is awsome. Doubt it would be the carb because it runs and responds great after being jumped. Could it possibly be something with the generator or voltage regulator? I'm stumped? I've tried about everything.
I had the same problem with a 6 volt '55 Dodge. I replaced everything, plugs, new dual points, carb rebuild, distriuter cap, PLUG WIRES. Thats where the problem was. I had replaced the plug wires with resistance type wires and they wouldn't let enough voltage to the plugs from the six volt system. I was really scratcing on this one. It would fire up using 12 volt jump but not on it's own. Would spin like crazy, get just about there, but would not fire. I had a set of regular wire type plug wires laying around and just because they were there I put them on one evening. Why??? Just because. Out of curiosity I went to try and start it and it fired right off. Should've seen the look on my face when this happened. Caught me by complete surprize. But when I thought about what just happened it made sense. Started every time after that. Also made sure of a really good ground.
Uh hows yer points???? if you are getting good spark, are you getting proper fuel?? If it stared all of sudden maybe carb. Is the float bowl full??
are you getting any spin off the starter when you are not boosting it with 12 volts? maybe the 6v starter is not liking the 12 volts being applied and it has givin up.. I had a simiular situation with the 55 dodge I own. I just changed the starter out to a 12 volt , Now it works fine.. as for it turning over and not starting . maybe the fuel pump is lacking the push for the fuel.. Just ideas.
Starter is spinning great. Was rebuilt not long ago, just after the begining of summer. Points are sparking great cap and rotor are good. But we determined the spark at the plug wires is weak. So we replaced them with a set of 6 volt wires. I bought a new battery today and put it in. It fired right up, I took it around the area and when I got it home it wouldn't start again. We might be onto something with the plug wire thing "da dodge brother" mentioned. Its def getting enough gas, as it works fine when it is running. New fuel pump installed last week. This is driving me nuts..
I also added 3 more grounds just to be sure that wasn't it. One being a giant copper wire to the block from the - on the battery.
Starting when spinning over faster would indicate low compression, but you said it was working fine earlier until just recently. A compression test would not hurt, just to rule that out. I agree that 6v cars need all the electrical help they can get, clean connections and big cables.
Starter is spinning great. Was rebuilt not long ago, just after the begining of summer. Points are sparking great cap and rotor are good. But we determined the spark at the plug wires is weak. So we replaced them with a set of 6 volt wires. I bought a new battery today and put it in. It fired right up, I took it around the area and when I got it home it wouldn't start again. We might be onto something with the plug wire thing "da dodge brother" mentioned. Its def getting enough gas, as it works fine when it is running. New fuel pump installed last week. This is driving me nuts.. if the wires and cables helped adn it fired right up but would not re start might take a look at the gen / alt for the re charging circut , may be just enough drop to cause problems on the restart <!-- / message -->
Yeah I pulled the plugs a couple days ago and checked the gaps. They looked a little hot but not bad at all. I figured the difference in the starter speed was because of the old battery. Ill have to check in the morning and see if its still doing it but I didn't notice today when cranking. Which it was abvious before. I had a friend tell me that there's an adjuster for voltage of the generator in the voltage regulator? But it didn't seem to make much sense. Is it possible a messed up generator could change the spark at the plug wires but not at the points? It seems to be charging the battery well while driving.
that's really the only thing I haven't messed with. My post after this was posted before I read yours. Ill have to take a look. THANXX FOR THE IDEAS EVERYONE!
Thanxx! This is one of the weirdest things I've ever come across. Its gotta be something stupid.. I still have a feeling there's a short in something. But it can't hurt to check it all.
New condenser plug wires coil checked all the wiring.. generator and regulator tested fine. Found out the reg was rebuilt recently.. everything looks good but still same problem. I don't know if there's a problem somewhere in the old decrepit wiring or what.. some may call me a quitter.. but screw it.. its small block time. Got a great deal on an awful looking lowered s-10 with a freshly rebuilt done up 350, with turbo350 trans and a 4 barrel. Fast as hell. It will be in before winter is done. Many thanxx for all the help and suggestions. If anyone wants any of these stock parts.. I have lots of them, new or rebuilt going cheap.
By the way. I bought a new 6 volt battery and put it in, she fired right up. Took it around the neighborhood, back to the garage, and same problem. Still wouldn't start.. the hell with it.. it will be good to be able to go over 60mph now.. but ill miss the gas milage.
Thanxx for all the advise. I'm going to check everything over one more time after readin all that. The s-10 was all professionally built, paid for by a kid with a good job and a trust fund. The body isn't in the best shape but I've had the truck on a lift and everything looked actually over done. Besides all I'm pulling out is the motor and trans. The fancy 70s bucket seats he has in there, and possibly the radio if I can find a good place to hide it. I don't want to put it in the glove box. He has recipts for the complete motor from the shop that built it, and the parts that are in it. I'm still going to open it up and see what's inside. Who knows if he beat on it. Just better safe than sorry. The 216 will stick around.. and go in one of my future projcts, with new wiring and a non torque tube drivline. This car will never be orig, its a street rod,and there's no going back from that now. Esp ones we cut 5" out of it. Haha. I do however agree about going over to the "dark side".
Some early Chevy 6 volt starters were two pole and drew a lot of amps turning I think they went to 4 pole in 53 and starting got easier, so if you want to stay with 6 volts you might want to try a later (53-54) starter, it's not like they are hard to change. There is lots of good advice here so the answer is here. 6 volt Volkswagens had a similar problem and my Dad fixed one for a freind by installing a Ford starter solinoid with a wire direct to the ignition it worked but I honestly don't know exactly how it was wired except for a wire went from the solinoid to the distributor. Maybe someone here will remember how it might be done
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