It's a 78 landau, has a 351W under the hood. It only has 80k mile and RAN fine. It has a leak in the haedgasket. I could see traces of water in the oil, it had froth in the radiator, and it would be empty on coolant every 2 days. I let a friend borrow it. They drove it empty on coolant for about 8 miles where it laid down. I put a new starter on it, its getting fuel, but has a weak orange spark when I check the spark at the plugwire. And it is not even attempting to start.
What in henry fords name is the problem here?
I've run lesser fords w/ lesser motors red hot before. Even if the head gasked breached fully into one cylinder or more, it should still start or at least try. Could it be the coil?
2006-12-16 02:32:02 · 4 answers · asked by NIGHTSHADE 4 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
It turns over at about the same rate it did before, I don't think it's fast enough, but it used to start without giving it any pedal on the third turn. There is no smell of burn bearings in the oil. The ignition electrical is in poor shape, the plug wires are old, there were deposits on the contacts in the distributor cap, the rotor contact was very pitted. After turning it over many times I can smell fuel and it smells odd, not like fresh gasoline. The fuel in it is only a week old.
2006-12-16 02:47:07 · update #1
What is the problem here, is that a)you don't know how to take care of vehicles. b) you're dumb for running this perfectly decent car to death, and c) even dumber for lending it to a friend so he can run it even further into the ground...possibly beyond repair. But, laying that aside-
My educated guess on this is that the gasket indeed blew, big time, and you're pumping at least some water into one or more cylinders...and it may not necessarily try to start under those conditions. (Water doesn't compress.) And your buddy likely fried some bearings, meaning rebuild time.
Why would you continue to drive the car with a head gasket blown? (if it runs out of coolant every 2 days, it's not a leak...it's BLOWN.) And just because you've run other cars to death without a problem doesn't mean you haven't roached the engine on this one. If you have spark, then there should be nothing wrong with the coil. Pull the heads, clean out the water and crud, check the cylinders for damage and scoring, replace the head gasket, and hopefully you haven't ruined a perfectly good 351 Windsor. But don't be surprised if you have.
2006-12-16 03:12:04 · answer #1 · answered by answerman63 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would start with the coil. The check the ground wires attached to the motorblock, poor ground to the block=poor spark at the plug.
Another, dreaded, possiblity is that by driving it hot until it died your friend has hurt the bearings. Now that the bearings are unable to do their job correctly, the starter requires much more amperage to turn over the motor so the coil is not getting enough juice to create a hot spark.
THe 351 motors do not take overheating as well as some of the smaller motors. I hope this is not your case.
Hope for the best, check the simple things!
Happy Holidays
2006-12-16 02:40:48 · answer #2 · answered by shovelkicker 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You've cracked the heads, and now you're destroying the rest of the engine by running it like that.
2006-12-16 06:02:42 · answer #3 · answered by Nomadd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its an LTD. Junk It.
2006-12-16 03:14:34 · answer #4 · answered by Urban Informer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋