240 Turned off and wont start up again...

[FameThatPredates]

The other day I was driving my datsun around and then it just died, It didn't sputter like it was out of gas and the rpm's were fine. After costing to the side of the street I tried to start it back up again, the engine cranked over but that's all. I tried it a couple more times and I got it to start once or twice but both times the rpms would waver and it responded negatively to me tapping the gas peddle, it died after 15-25 seconds. I checked the points and they were fine.

 

The car has new spark plugs (less than a week on the car), new distributer cap/rotor/points (been on there a couple months never a problem), new ignition coil & condensor (ran for about a week with them until this), new water pump, also I drained the gas tank recently (it was clean), busted open the SU carbs they were fine (everything was in working order). 

Edited June 24, 2015 by FameThatPredates

[siteunseen]

Has it ever ran for any amount of time? just short runs then it sputters out?  Mine was doing that when I first bought it.  It was a crudded up fuel tank.  It'd run long enough to clog the filters then leave me stranded somewhere in the neighborhood.  To confirm this you can run the fuel lines into a small gas can and bypass the tank.  I strapped one in front of the radiator, 2.5 gallon jug, and drove very slowly around the neighborhood for about an hour without any problems.  

 

I would put in a ZX distributor with electronic ignition and get rid of those points.  It's easy to do and cost me about $150.  $100 for a remanned distributor and $50 for the ZX coil, ZX cap and plugs from amazon.com.

 

http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributor/index.html

[SteveJ]

The other day I was driving my datsun around after having just gotten it running again about a week before. Previously it was the point that were off and not letting it run but I replaced a lot before i figured that out.

 

What did you set the gap and dwell at on the points?

What is your static timing set at?

It was running good for a while there but then it just cut out, it still seems to be sucking fuel

 

Why do you think it is still "sucking fuel"?

Have you checked the float bowls to see if they still have fuel?

but it doesn't want to start as if there is no combustion. The one or two times it has started up however the rpm waver and after about 15-20 seconds it dies.

 

Does it start with starting fluid?

Have you made sure you didn't burn up your points?

How do your spark plugs look?

You need fuel, spark and correct timing to get the engine to run.

 

 

Fuel is a likely issue, but since most people don't know how to set gap, dwell, and timing, don't discount those, either.

[FameThatPredates]

Has it ever ran for any amount of time? just short runs then it sputters out?  Mine was doing that when I first bought it.  It was a crudded up fuel tank.  It'd run long enough to clog the filters then leave me stranded somewhere in the neighborhood.  To confirm this you can run the fuel lines into a small gas can and bypass the tank.  I strapped one in front of the radiator, 2.5 gallon jug, and drove very slowly around the neighborhood for about an hour without any problems.  

 

I would put in a ZX distributor with electronic ignition and get rid of those points.  It's easy to do and cost me about $150.  $100 for a remanned distributor and $50 for the ZX coil, ZX cap and plugs from amazon.com.

 

http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributor/index.html

It was running, I drove it the whole day before it just turned off and stopped running the next.

Edited June 24, 2015 by FameThatPredates

[FameThatPredates]

What did you set the gap and dwell at on the points?

What is your static timing set at?

Points and static timing are set to .016

when it wasn't running before it's because somehow the point got off and when we re adjusted them back to .016 it ran. I really otta stress the point that i was driving the car when it turned off, it was running fine one minute and off the next.

 

Why do you think it is still "sucking fuel"?

Have you checked the float bowls to see if they still have fuel?

Like I said before the car was running totally fine then instantaneously it just died which leads me to believe it isn't a problem with the fuel system. Besides we had just checked it and drained the tank (no curd or anything which might gum up the system) but I'll check it again

 

Does it start with starting fluid?

Have you made sure you didn't burn up your points?

How do your spark plugs look?

You need fuel, spark and correct timing to get the engine to run.

I haven't tried using starter fluid.

Points looked fine.

spark plugs are all brand new but I'll look em down. 

Edited June 24, 2015 by FameThatPredates

[Zed Head]

when it wasn't running before it's because somehow the point got off and when we re adjusted them back to .016 it ran.

 

Like I said before the car was running totally fine then instantaneously it just died which leads me to believe it isn't a problem with the fuel system.

 

Points looked fine.

 

I must have read this before the edit because I saw the part about "last I checked".  So the question would be do the points look fine, and are they gapped correctly, now.  The part about somehow the points got off makes you wonder how they did that.

 

The first, basic, thing that most people would do is to check for spark.  You can do that with a spark plug wire and a bolt, or by removing the main wire from the distributor cap.  You don't even need any tools.  By turning the engine or by opening and closing the points by hand.

 

You can also check for power to the coil with the key on, if you have a meter, to be sure that you haven't been misdirected by the points.  It might not be the points at all.

[FameThatPredates]

The part about somehow the points got off makes you wonder how they did that.

Exactly!!! how the hell does that happen... I was just looking at them and the arm was a little sticky so im going to try and lubricate it and or buy new better quality points and see if that doesn't fix it.

[Mark Maras]

I had a 71 Datsun PU with a rough distributor cam that used to scrub material off of the cam follower on the points set that narrowed the gap. Worse yet, it was a dual point dist. I was adjusting points about every 3 months. I dab of grease on the cam may help if it is dry.

[FameThatPredates]

so I went out and put the key in the ignition not expecting much to come of it but the 240 sprung to life much to my surprise... upon closer examination though I noticed that the point arm was getting stuck when pulled out, guess it was getting stuck in the out position. So i put some silicon grease on it and it seems to be good now. 

 

Thanks for the input

Edited June 25, 2015 by FameThatPredates