A Question For All You Mechanics

[napa 1]

I'm not a mechanic, but have enjoyed becoming familiar with my Alpine's engine, and learning as I go. While my car has proven reliable, I've often wondered what I would do if the car konked out on me somewhere between A and B. Would I have the ability to diagnose the fault and get it up and running again ? A question for all of you with real mechanical experience and ability.. What would be the sequence of things to check in the event that the car stops running en route. I've heard people say things like, 1) is it getting spark 2) is it getting fuel 3) etc.
Is there a mechanic's mantra or order of things to check to hopefully find the problem?

thanks in advance.

John.

 

[Duke]

You are onto it. Fuel, spark and air.

All of this following is if the engine is turning over normally but does not start.

Air - the easiest. Make sure air filter is not clogged. Better yet, remove air filter and check to make sure carb is open.

Fuel - manually open throttle and look into carb to see if fuel is being injected. If fuel is not being squirted into the carb when activating the throttle, no fuel. Check fuel filter, lines and then fuel pump. Easy way - spray some starting fluid or WD-40 into carb and then turn engine over. Engine starts then dies, you have a fuel problem.

Spark - the most fun. Easy - pull coil wire from coil. Insert a plastic handled Phillips head screw driving into coil where wire was. Hold the coil wire 1/4 from the metal shaft of the screw driver and then turn over engine. If spark jumps from screwdriver shaft to the coil wire metal conductor, you have spark. If it does not then that is your problem.

No spark -
Check wire connections to coil and distributer.
Check the point gap.


Spark but no start -
Check cap and rotor
Check coil wire resistance

 

[todd reid]

Question

Just an addendum to Duke's excellent answer, since Jon has an Alpine.
Fuel - First, look at the clear glass bowl on the fuel pump to verify fuel is present. Second, not all Alpine carbs have accelerator pumps (like Duke's Tiger does), so the step recommending looking down the carb for fuel when stepping on gas pedal might not apply.

 

[SIVAllan]

Install a solenoid that has a remote start button on it before leaving home.

If stranded and on yer own along some lonely highway, it is helpful to run these tests while peering into the engine bay, not sitting inside the cockpit ...

The solenoid is on the opposite side of the engine bay from the coil. If your arm is too short to reach across the engine, pull a plug wire and short it against the rocker cover with a screwdriver.

Allan

 

[Tom H]

I once had what I thought was a perfect "teachable moment" with an associate who had little tech skills. His car had stopped in the middle of the road not far from our office. He called me to help push the car into a parking area and give him a ride home. I had been looking for an opportrunity to teach him some basic electric and mechanical stuff , so I told him I would come and give him a ride home, but first we would try to resolve the problem. The car was a Datsun 280Z, IIRC. When I arrived I told hiim pop the hood and that there are basically 2 things that can go wrong- no spark , or no gas. So first we'll check for spark. Just like Duke says. I told him find the distributor - where all the spark plug wires go. He found that. Then follow the wire from the middle of the round distributor cap to the coil. When he traced that wire it was laying about 4 inches from the coil!!! I saw my "teachable moment" slip right through my fingers.

But then I realized it WAS a teachable moment after all. I told him "even if you have no idea about how something is suppposed to work, you can often solve the problem by simple inspection - LOOK and see if something looks out of place". Even he could see that the wire was supposed to be plugged into that other thingy I called a coil.

He pushed the wire into coil and I told him to start it up. He looked at me incredulously - "do ya really think it'll start?" . I explained that there was no way it COULD start without that wire being plugged in and since it was running just a few minutes earlier, I felt a very high degree of confidence. He was still amazed when it started right up.

So add this to the sequence - LOOK and see if something looks amiss.

I have used that method many times with great success!

Tom

 

[napa 1]

These are exactly the hints that we novice mechanics are looking for to make us a little more confident in our ability to solve an on-the-road problem. THANKS!

 

[Nickodell]

My mantra (apols. to those who have heard it before):

IF Your engine turns over and sucks in the correct fuel/air mixture, and
IF The valves open and shut when they should, and
IF A fat spark arrives at each plug in sequence, and at the right time,
THEN
The engine must run. If it doesn't you need to check each possible problem in turn, stating with the most likely:

Mixture. Either none at all reaching carb (out of gas! faulty pump, clogged fuel lines; or reaching it but not filling float chambers [stuck needle valve], not getting to the cylinders in the right ratio [clogged jet(s), choke not working (cold), choke stuck on, or punctured float (hot)];

Spark. No spark (bad coil or condenser, no low tension getting to coil [broken/disconnected wire somewhere], high tension lead loose or broken internally, spark tracking to ground inside distributor cap, distributor gears or dog chewed up (the dog at the end of the dissy shaft will wear away in time.

Valves Not going up and down as they should (busted timing chain);

 

[husky drvr]

My mantra (apols. to those who have heard it before):


Valves Not going up and down as they should (busted timing chain);

If the cam does not turn to operate the valves, then you will not have spark or oil pressure.

 

[Ken Ellis]

A couple of other things.

In general, if a car coughs, sputters, and dies, it's likely a fuel delivery problem.
If it just stops running, like you turned the key off, it's likely electrical, and pre-sparkplug at that.
If there's a great big noise, followed by eerie silence, it's likely expensive.

This was the case last year as my engine just stopped while cruising down the highway. I had determined it was electrical before I pulled off the road. The quick visual inspection revealed all the wires were still where they were supposed to be. Pop the distributor cap and quickly note that the brass contact at the top of the rotor was no longer attached to the rotor, electrically or mechanically. Diagnosis time: 30 seconds flat. Repair time: 30 seconds flat. Time it takes to include a rotor in the tool/parts kit: 30 seconds flat. Delivery time of part, after steering my wife to it in the garage by phone, and requesting roadside delivery: somewhat longer than the aforementioned 30 seconds.

Ken

 

[howard]

That reminds me- I use to have a fairly smooth running pickup truck. One day while I was out galavantin' I stopped at a stoplight. When the green flashed, I put the engine in gear and just sat there. No power. Then I realized it wasn't running. So I attempted to crank it... no luck. Broke the timing chain. No warning, no audible disturbances, nothing. These things happen.

 

[napa 1]

A couple of other things.

In general, if a car coughs, sputters, and dies, it's likely a fuel delivery problem.
If it just stops running, like you turned the key off, it's likely electrical, and pre-sparkplug at that.
If there's a great big noise, followed by eerie silence, it's likely expensive.

This was the case last year as my engine just stopped while cruising down the highway. I had determined it was electrical before I pulled off the road. The quick visual inspection revealed all the wires were still where they were supposed to be. Pop the distributor cap and quickly note that the brass contact at the top of the rotor was no longer attached to the rotor, electrically or mechanically. Diagnosis time: 30 seconds flat. Repair time: 30 seconds flat. Time it takes to include a rotor in the tool/parts kit: 30 seconds flat. Delivery time of part, after steering my wife to it in the garage by phone, and requesting roadside delivery: somewhat longer than the aforementioned 30 seconds.

Ken

LOL. I'm on my way to the garage right after this to stock up my little tool kit. Murphy's law of diagnosis would suggest that you could immediately rule out the problem coming from any part for which there is a replacement in the tool kit.

 

[65beam]

question

around here it's dangerous to work on a car on the road . pull out the AAA card and call for a rollback and take it home.lots less hassle ! then take your time to get it running .we have a younger person in the family that forgets that the fuel gauges ( all of the gauges actually ) never did work right so when he runs out of gas and it quits in the middle of nowhere, rollback to the rescue !

 

[Nickodell]

That reminds me- I use to have a fairly smooth running pickup truck. One day while I was out galavantin' I stopped at a stoplight. When the green flashed, I put the engine in gear and just sat there. No power. Then I realized it wasn't running. So I attempted to crank it... no luck. Broke the timing chain. No warning, no audible disturbances, nothing. These things happen.

Had it happen on my company car - 1970 Impala 350cid. However, this time it happened while cruising at 60. Lots of expensive noises as the valves that should have been up, but were down, were hit by the pistons. Luckily, not my expense.

 

[mikephillips]

I always have an extra rotor, point and condensor with the car just in case one of them gives up the ghost. And for those who don't know, the original solenoid for the Alpine did have a remote start button. Used the same one as a series 1 XKE, and probably other LBC as well. You can get them from Moss and other dealers if you want to look original.

 

[Bill Tubbs]

This remote starter is a workshop lifesaver for me. My first (now in Alpine heaven) SV had one but it had a cap over the button and for several years I didn't know it had one.