Mechanic Mike-or anyone who might know about Vintage cars...

[oblongmelon]

I am now the owner of a 1966 Chrysler New Yorker..it is almost MINT with the exception of a few small patches of early rust on the right rear bumper (those will be taken care of). It has 33,400 ORIGINAL miles on it. I know this because it belonged to Mr. Melon's grandfather who passed away on Thanksgiving of '05 and he bought the car brand new-I have all the paperwork on it as well..From the original purchase price ($5200.00)..to every single repair it's ever had it it's lifetime..I have replacement parts for it. Grandpa Melon was very diligent about keeping spare parts on hand...I swear he cleaned under the hood with a rag every Saturday..well anyway, he left it to me believe it or not because I always loved it-and the fact he was STILL driving it on a daily basis..(he'd go for a paper, and to church)..Mr. Melon actually drove the car over for me when the new owners moved into the house....
ok now here's the problem...
http://demo1.physics.wisc.edu/SnarfPlace/GNY/gNYer_07-02-01/Sam-NYer-2a.jpg
(the car looks like the WHITE model-but is the color of the green car! and this is not the car-just an example of what it looks like!)

It's TOO big to fit in my garage -it's the size of the QE2 and it's always been in a garage-do I have to keep it covered in my driveway or should I put up an awning thingy so constant exposure to the elements doesn't wreck the paint?
and then..
Mr. Melon was stopping by to run the car every other day (while waiting for the title change and sign off by the executor of the estate) but he was out of town and didn't come over to run it for quite a few days and now it won't start. We tried to jump it and it wouldn't hold a charge-so we put a new battery in it, and at first sounded like it might kick over...then
nothing..

I noticed that it was kind of low on gas (under 1/4 of a tank) so I got a couple gas cans and put 10 gallons in..thinking, that with the size of the car it would take at least that much to make it to the carbureator, and perhaps that was the problem-no gas...anyway..besides a strong odor of being flooded-nothing there either...no start

Even with gas directly added to the carbureator-still no start..
it sounded like it was going to turn over but never quite made it...
My neighbor's son came over and took out one of the spark plugs and held it to the engine block to see if he could get a spark but nothing there either..even Quick Start didn't work...Now the NEW battery is dead from trying to get it running so that has to be replaced...
ok so who might have a clue..I'd hate to have the thing towed (it's never been towed in the duration of it's existance!) because I know any mechanic is going to screw me over..it's such a simple engine..not alot of wires or fuss..my brother-who knows the old cars could fix it-it's diagnosing it that is the problem..he does work and have a life (and an old car of his own!) so it's not like he can just take a day off and hang out under the hood of my mint green tank...I LOVE this car, and can't wait to drive it..but I have to get used to the brakes..they are so different from the brakes on cars today..MECHANIC MIKE where are you???

[hoey222]

bad starter?

that's what it sounds like - not getting enough cranking power with a new battery. if you know where the starter is, have some one give it a couple taps while trying to start it. sometimes that will help get it going.

[johnnymk]

You may have just flooded it. If the car started recently, I doubt that it's electrical. Try starting it again after you get the battery recharged , or jump it. Press the gas pedal all the way to the floor and keep it there while starting. DO NOT PUMP THE PEDAL.

It could be few other things, but try this first.

[brainsmile]

give it away it's too much of a hassle :)

[oblongmelon]

DF...we didn't pump the pedal..not with that kind of a car...
You only depress the gas pedal 1/3 to 1/2 the way down to try and start it..ALTHOUGH..I do have the original owners manual..and it says that if you smell gas and the car doesn't start-to open up the choke you have to depress the gas pedal all the way to the floor and try the ignition for 10 seconds as it clears the carbureator of excess gas. It didn't work. If you could see this engine and how clean it is, and how well it's been taken care you'd be shocked..it looks almost new. Got any other suggestions?

(Brain-this car is no more of a pain than any other-and it has sentimental value and it's in MINT condition..why would I want to sell it? duh. )


You may have just flooded it. If the car started recently, I doubt that it's electrical. Try starting it again after you get the battery recharged , or jump it. Press the gas pedal all the way to the floor and keep it there while starting. DO NOT PUMP THE PEDAL.

It could be few other things, but try this first.
tried it. Didn't work. Any other suggestions?

don't forget..it was started every few days, then it sat for a short while and then didn't start..the day before it totally died though-it did start for one of the boys-he ran it for about 5 minutes..
I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the fact that there was barely any gas in the thing-on the last full start..would this cause a problem if more gas was added? I don't know if gramps ever put dry gas in the car-and it was in my driveway during cold weather-do you think because the lack of a good amount of gas it got moisture in the line and would that do anything to the car if more gas was added???
I talked to the estate executor and he told me that he used to put the car on a battery charger every other day..I did put a brand new battery in it-and that's already dead from everyone trying to get it started..

(I know enough not to pump the pedal-it's not a fuel injection car!)

[thresher]

bad coil, bad distributor cap, but definitely not the starter or the fuel pump. It's electrical. Pull distributor cap, replace it (they're real cheap) and check for spark. These old girls like to get a lot of humidity between the distributor and cap and give those exact symptoms. I've owned a few old muscle cars. The cap and the coil are cheeeeeap autozone items. Let us know.
Thresh

[mechmike0034]

Obby, where are you, geographically?

First, take the new, discharged battery out, take it back to where you got it, and have them charge it. Or, buy a battery charger and follow the directions that will come with it to recharge it.

When you put it back in, pay close attention to the connections - they need to be clean and tight. Use a small piece of sandpaper to make the inside of the cable clamps shiny and snug them down so they won't move on the battery posts when you reconnect.

Let's try again with a fully-charged battery before doing anything else.

Don't put it under a car cover outside - if the cover gets wet it'll stick to the paint and potentially do worse damage. Covers also rub the corners of the car and abrade the paint.

More when I have time - it is a busy weekend.

[Nanotech9]

if the motor is turning over consistently when you turn the key, then the battery / starter is OK. (not when the batt is dead of course)

if you put gas / starter fluid straight down the carbs, and the motor turned over and still didnt fire up for at least 5 or 10 secs, then its not a fuel delivery problem.... fuel is probably there, just not igniting...

now were down to electrical. I guess old cars have Distributor caps / rotors / points etc... I donno much about them as i've only ever had FI cars with electronic ignition and a "crank sensor".

the electrical parts inside the Dist cap can be dirty, even if they dont look dirty they can be making bad enough contact that they're not transferring the power to produce a spark.

Dirty plugs... how dirty are they? they look "wet" or "crusty"??? replace them... or one at least and hold the NEW one to the block and see if you get spark.

I guess old cars still have coils??? then i suppose the coil(s) could be bad also...

check for loose electrical connections - especially ground wires. Even "good looking" connections can become corroded - look for "burnt" connectors.

I thought it might simply be the plugs as starting a car like that several times just for a couple of mins will eventually foul the plugs.

[oblongmelon]

ok here is the update:...late yesterday my brother and nephew came and towed the car to their house to work on...my brother was taking the battery out so that he could go get it recharged..I overheard him telling my nephew that he thinks it might be a bad powerpack (?)..or at least I THINK it was called a power pack..it's a thing that comes off the alternator that the alternator is plugged into. It was sad seeing it leaving on the back of a flatbed...I want to thank everyone for their help though..especially Mech.Mike :) -thanks for the PM's *mwaaah*

[johnnymk]

The only thing I can visualize coming from the alternator is a voltage regulator. Maybe that's what they use to call power packs, but that's a new term for me.

[oblongmelon]

The only thing I can visualize coming from the alternator is a voltage regulator. Maybe that's what they use to call power packs, but that's a new term for me.

it's a little black thingy..about the size of half of a soda can..the alternator plugs into it-whatever it is..I swore he said power pack.

[thresher]

That would be the coil and it was, oh, me that told you to replace it since it was so cheap? :) We called them powerpacks in the old days because they keep stored energy after the car stops running. Will knock you on your *beep* if you touch one grounded.

[sizemic1]

ya, it's definately an ignition problem. By not having any spark (as indicated by the sparkplug to the block test). Probably the coil. Wouldn't hurt to change out the distributor cap, points, rotor, spark plugs, and possibly wires just to cover all of the bases. Probably $50 worth of parts.

[mechmike0034]

No start test for old cars with points:

Pull high-tension coil lead from coil, hold terminal about 1/2 inch away, crank engine. If it sparks, ignition primary (coil, points, condenser) is OK. Then, do the same thing at the coil wire to distributor cap junction. If it sparks, coil wire is OK. Then, pull any plug wire out of the distributor cap. crank. If it sparks, cap and rotor OK. Then pull spark plug, put wire on and hold to good ground. Crank, and look for spark.

Work from one end of the system to the other before drawing conclusions.

I once had an old ('60s) V8 Buick in the shop (this was 20+ years ago...) that baffled another "mechanic". It was towed in as a no-start. Charged battery (run down from cranking), removed air cleaner to look for choke malfunction or fuel problem, and it started right up. It would start and run with the air cleaner off, but not while it was installed. The air filter was new.

What do you think was wrong with the car?

[sizemic1]

I'm guessing it wasn't getting air for some reason.
Air cleaner still shrink wrapped, installed incorrectly or something else blocking the air intake? ;)

[mechmike0034]

I'm guessing it wasn't getting air for some reason.
Air cleaner still shrink wrapped, installed incorrectly or something else blocking the air intake? ;)

Nope!, NEXT? :)

[Daedalus]

I would have guessed the same thing--something inside the filter housing or intake hose, like a rat's nest or something.

[sizemic1]

How about an electric choke wire shorting out on the air cleaner?
Not sure if they had electric chokes in the 60's or not...

[mechmike0034]

How about an electric choke wire shorting out on the air cleaner?
Not sure if they had electric chokes in the 60's or not...

Nope...

[johnnymk]

Vacuum leak? PCV Valve? Lean mixture?

[Winston]

wrong air cleaner top shutting off all air

[mechmike0034]

The coil and distributor on this vehicle were mounted behind the carb, between the carb and the firewall. The coil wire had a crack in the insulation. With the air cleaner installed, the coil wire was effectively grounded out - the crack would allow secondary ignition voltage to leak to ground through the air cleaner rather than going to the distributor cap, rotor, and eventually the spark plugs.

Started fine with no air cleaner, since there was spark to the plugs. With air cleaner installed, no spark to the plugs...

[sizemic1]

dang..i was halfway right. Should've thought about the coil wire.