My engine is slowly giving up the ghost.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

Hey are you doing mods to the crankcase vent - could be a vacuum leak or excessive air flow form the crank into the engine sucking up the oil and allowing too much air into the intake.

This engine is 100% stock.. no modifications. I'll double check the hoses though.

[Compaq888]

This is one of the reasons I don't want an old car. No offense Matt.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by Compaq888

This is one of the reasons I don't want an old car. No offense Matt.

No offense taken. Your car payments are the reason I don't want a new car.

[rh77]

That stinks. Well, cranking with no start is one of two problems: no fuel or no spark. The code 16 narrows it down, but is it the FI computer or what exactly, I wondering. Also, make sure the FI fuse isn't blown -- that one tricked me once.

The oil consumption is probably unrelated, unless the PCV valve is sticking open or is faulty, and oil's being sucked into the intake and clogging injectors -- but I assume you have a PCV catch device. Check the coolant -- if it's brown, you have a blown head gasket and you're might not be getting any compression. Speaking of compression, I'd reccommend barrowing a compression guage and hooking it up to each cylinder to see if that's a source (that one's a stretch, really).

I just had to fix a friend's '00 Focus that would randomly not start -- turns out that one of the spark plug wires was arcing with a bolt on the valve cover and shorting things out -- discovered it by random chance -- the car would start with a jump, but not on its own. Really took some thinking...turns out the jump battery lead provided a better ground to get it started. I looked at it in a dark driveway with a flashlight -- saw a spark, revved it up, and sure enough, arcing.

At any rate are you getting any fuel delivery at all, that you can tell? Take a look or smell the tailpipe emissions while someone cranks it. If there's no "flooding" smell, assume the injectors aren't injecting fuel, but if there is, assume it's spark related and go from there. Any fuel and spark should produce a sputtering or a sensation like it'll want to try and stay running.

Otherwise, a check/replacement of the injectors might have to do.

Keep us posted...

RH77

[JanGeo]

Have a friend with a Saab with about 70k on it and it would not start one day - just cranked - had lost some coolent - mechanic did the compression test and had no pressure on a cylinder or two and others were low - tried starting it again a day later and it ran just fine and has been ok since . . .
oooOOOOoooowwwww!


I used to retorque the 23 head bolts on the Rambler Flathead Six every year to 60ft lbs - to keep the head tight. Motor would idle soooo smooth you could not tell it was running.

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

Have a friend with a Saab with about 70k on it and it would not start one day - just cranked - had lost some coolent - mechanic did the compression test and had no pressure on a cylinder or two and others were low - tried starting it again a day later and it ran just fine and has been ok since . . .
oooOOOOoooowwwww!


I used to retorque the 23 head bolts on the Rambler Flathead Six every year to 60ft lbs - to keep the head tight. Motor would idle soooo smooth you could not tell it was running.

It's good to see another Rambler guy around. I was beginning to think I was the only one that ever owned one, or four. :-) I had a '71 Hornet with a 232 ci that would run 60 psi oil pressure when warm; it had over 120,000 miles on it.
As for Matt's problem, I would tend to think that the oil consumption may be the problem. A half quart in 100 miles is an awful lot of oil in such a short time. I would check the PCV valve as was mentioned in an earlier post.

[JanGeo]

When I finally had it towed to the final resting place it has 157k on it - of which I put 100k after having it rebuilt a little when I first got it spun a rod bearing. That was before I knew about oil pressure and what pushing a flathead that was driven to church by a little old lady on sundays would do to the pistons hitting the heads covered with carbon.

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

It's good to see another Rambler guy around. I was beginning to think I was the only one that ever owned one, or four. :-) I had a '71 Hornet with a 232 ci that would run 60 psi oil pressure when warm; it had over 120,000 miles on it.

My first car ever was a 68 Rambler American with a 199 straight six and a three on the tree. It ended up with a 401 and a 727 auto from an ambassador. Oh yea, a 8 3/4 mopar rear end.

Next was a 70 hornet and then a 74 gremlin, both 258 sixes. The 76 Matador was a 304. My fondest memories are of my 70 AMX, 390 4 speed. Then I had to grow up and go to college.

I have changed over the past 25 years, hopefully for the better. Now for my midlife crisis, I want a different kind of performance.

[JanGeo]

Yeah I did a little work on mine like big rear radials flaired the front and rear fenders a little - 1/2 inch square chicken wire grill made a fiberglas flex fan instead of the piece of hand choping steel blades - took a while to get used to working on another car with a full size fan blade!! Solid copper red clear plastic wires CDI ignition - big gapped plugs - cable controlled timing on the distributor, water injection - Constant velocity SU Carburator - heating oil added to the gas. One nice thing about the old pitman arm steering was that it would follow the ruts in the road and you could drive with no hands. 16 gallon gas tank that you would fill at 25.9 cents a gallon gas and I still wanted to increase the gas mileage. Once drove to Norfolk VA and did it on a single tank of gas I think it was over 600 miles was getting like 35mpg. Dropped a drive shaft on the way home from college one night from the front U joint - that was pretty sudden - vibrated for a few seconds and pow cling da la ding ding.

[Matt Timion]

I used the helms manual to trouble shoot today. I checked the wires, the grounds, and the injectors. I actually had to go back to the junkyard b/c I got the wrong injectors (I got one for the primary, not the auxillary injector).

While I was in there I also replaced the fuel filter, which ended up being a PITA.

I replaced one injector, even though I didn't need to. The replacement was just cleaner than the original, so I figured "why not?"

With the new fuel filter and injector, it started right up.

I might go get a new PCV valve too, although at this point any more effort I put into this engine is wasted. We might have a road trip soon, however, so a new PCV valve probably won't hurt.