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Starting issue


FHMan1905

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Finally been driving my 720 after a year of working on it! Starting have a small issue in the past few days and we are all stumped! In the mornings and afternoons after it sitting at the office all day it is struggling to start. Will turn over about a turn and then you have to bump the key a few times, the it fires and runs great! And as long as motor is warm fires first bump everyttime as good as it did when it was new. We have checked water level. Not losing water so no leaky head gasket, put new battery still didn't help. Checked alt it is good. Only two things I can still think of; timing has gotten off or starter is going bad. Once it fires it runs great no smoke no ticking or tapping sounds doesn't burn any oil and like i said it starts fine after it fires initially! Any suggestions. It is a z22 with a weber carb conversion

Thanks guys!!!

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Does it crank slow when cold? Did you check the battery cable connections? Dirty, haggard, not tight?

A bad ground can cause all sorts of issues. Electricity has to go somewhere.

 

I had a gear reduction starter on my L20B, and occasionally it would end up filled full of oil and nastiness due to a leak from the inspection plate on the timing cover I ignored forever and a day.

It would produce odd issues like slow cranking, the click-click-click issue... I took it apart, cleaned it really well, checked that the brushes were still in good shape and not worn out. Put it back together, and that puppy cranked so hard and fast the entire car shook!

 

The fact that you say it turns over just once and then you have to bump the starter a few times before it actually goes tells me it's likely an electrical problem. It COULD be timing, only way to tell would be to slap a light on there and see where you're at - simple stuff. But I would be checking some battery cables and terminals for corrosion/breaks, etc. Make sure the block is grounded well, too. Although my experience was backwards, I had no issues engine-side, but everything in the car was flickering/dim. I ran a second ground from battery to chassis, and it was like I replaced everything in my dime with new parts. Bright, blinkers were fast, I could see the dash lights... all because of a cable between battery and strut tower.

 

If you have a new battery, new alternator, do you have a new starter? I'd at least clean or replace yours, just for the sake of having everything new in that system. And new starters look cool :)

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Oh hell, replace them already!

 

I ran marine terminals and welding cable for mine. Flexible and such, just a little expensive due to the price of metals being so high these days.

Some people say they don't hold up to grease and grime and will deteriorate... I've never had a problem in 5 years. I'll likely re-use them with the KA swap. They are just as good as when they were new.

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That's one of 2 problems I've been having with my 720, and today I decided to investigate. Problem 1 was a rattling sound at idle. Turns out, the cause of the rattle was a 3/8th extension I left in the fender rail from before :lol:. After that fix, I tried to crank it. As I struggled to crank it, I observed one of the grounds on the driver side firewall starting to smoke, so I cleaned up the grounds, added new grounds and put my red top back in. We'll see if this fixes my problems, come morning time after it sits overnight.

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There are plenty of 30 year old cables still working fine. Don't fix what arent broken. You can measure voltage drop with a voltmeter if you want to double-check it.

 

 

In the mornings and afternoons after it sitting at the office all day it is struggling to start. Will turn over about a turn and then you have to bump the key a few times, the it fires and runs great! And as long as motor is warm fires first bump everyttime as good as it did when it was new.

 

The most common cause of not firing up when cold, but no problem when warm is if the choke is not closing 100%. Especially when temps get colder. IT's easy to check, just take the lid off the air cleaner. Pump the gas once, and see if the choke plate closes tight. It should.

 

Or, if the problem is that the engine doesn't keep cranking, a worn-out battery can cause that. Batteries only last about 5 years, some a little more, many less. This too is easy to test. When the car is cold, add jumper cables from another car. If it fires right up, suspect the battery.

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