Hi I am August i just joined. I just got a 1985 Dodge W150 360. I have been having a lot of fun with it. It has tons of power and torque. Its granny geared with 410s and a 4 speed trans.

Though I have developed a problem. I came home from work monday night same as always. Put the truck in the heated garage and shut it off. Came back out the next morning and it turned over and over and over but didnt start. Almost as if it was getting fuel. Checked the plugs for fuel and spark and it has spark and no fuel. So I dumped some fuel through the carb to tell whether or not the fuel pump was out but still no fuel getting to the spark plug and it wasnt even hitting or misfiring.

I know it has spark I checked, I know it has compression beings it was running not even 24 hours ago. I gave some fuel to it but it's not getting to the piston.

So from their what should I do. Is a valve stuck did I bend a push rod.

If you have some input it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, August

 

Before you freak out and start taking things apart and spending money, figure out what the issue is. Get some starting fluid and shoot it into the carburetor. A shot of fluid into the carb and it will start, then you aren't getting fuel, or it won't and you have an electrical problem. Now, how many miles on the engine? I'm thinking you have 120,000 miles or more. This is rather involved but it may show what I suspect is the problem.

Remove the distributor cap and put it to one side. Leave the wires on so you don't have to rewire it. Use a soap stone or ink marker but NOT a pencil to mark the location of the rotor. Use the same marker on your harmonic balancer. Put a large socket on the bolt in the middle of the balancer and slowly rotate the engine backwards. Watch the rotor pointing to the mark. When it starts to move, if at all, stop. Now measure how far the mark on the balancer moved before the rotor moved. It should move right away, but I'll bet it won't. I'm thinking your timing chain may have jumped, possibly broken. The valve won't be in time so they won't fire when the coil fires off.

I'd do this before anything else. If the timing chain checks out, we can go from there. It's not the worst job you can do, but it is a bit involved to replace it. At least you don't have an interference engine.

 

Alright thanks I'll try this tonight. I'll report back with what I found.

 

Hey ol' grouch... this seems to be my issue! Only a shot of fluid will get it started. After she's warm, it's smooth sailing. (Specs: 5.9L, Holley Street Demon carb, newer fuel pump&filter, good battery, roughly 68K miles.) Choke adjustment? Thoughts? Thanks.

 

It sounds either lie a carburetor issue or a weak spark. I had one that required starting fluid after sitting.It started doing it overnight then every 8 hours, then every 4, then every time and it was low compression. Wild thought here, is the ballast resistor good? It's a little white porcelain thing on the firewall. These are notorious for causing problems. See if you can rent or borrow a vacuum gauge and see what kind of vacuum you're pulling. With the miles and suddeness of the problem, I think you're good there, but check to make sure.

What is the cfm on your carburetor? Is the accelerator pump working good? If your accelerator pump or power valve has gone bad from ethanol in the fuel it may cause the sudden problem. So, check the vacuum reading then your carb. It's probably a minor problem, possibly fairly cheap to fix. You just have to find it.

 

ballast resister is bypassed on starting.

how many times do you pump the gas before trying to start it?

 

Before cranking the motor you may want to see if it's actually spraying fuel into the venturis. Any time the throttle is moved it will spray fuel. Take the air cleaner off, open the choke valve and look down into the carb and see what's going on.

 

Typically, pedal to the floor and 4-5 pumps while turning the key. That worked fine before winter set in.

 

So first you flood it, then you hold the pedal on the floor to clear it......

Try just two pumps, and foot off the gas while cranking.

 

It's definitely getting some squirts down in there when throttle is pumped.