Ford 223 Restart

[philford]

back when you checked comporession they were very low.

then you entioned it was struggling to crank.

check the ground cable to your battery is actually grounded. to the body and as well to the starter. Id remove the cable completely clean it and replace it.

I just had that issue and it caused bad charging and bad cranking.
youc an check the hot to starter as well,

when doing the comporession test your crranking speed really should be normal it will skew your readings.

if your compression is still that low borrow a different guage make sure its not just the test guage.

you can buy one , but being cheap I I just knocked the porcelain ffrom a spark plug then took a tubeless tire valve from an old rim . I ground ithe rubber down enough ( bench grinder) that I could shove the tubeless tire valve in the spark plug..

then connect the spark plug to your compressor tank , let your compressor charge its tank then turn it off so its quiet.
you can hear it leaking , if the engine gets either way past TDC ,

if you rock the engine either direction from TDC it will try to turn the engin suddenly driven by the compression in the bore, toward BDC so be careful , it can move suddenly !

if you put it so both valves are closed then compress it right at the top of its stroke, then assuming both valves are closed you can hear air leaking. you may decise one is real bad/ you might open ethe oilpan or hear it coming from the manifoild or out the exhaust pipe.

to get the engine ot that position turn it until #1 expells, put a wad of moist pa[er towel int he plug hole or your finger over it to detect air leaving.

once air is leaving that is the compression stroke. you are turning its normal direction nto backwards.

you can put a plastic drinking straw in there and watch so you can find the peak of the piston , you are now at TDC of cyl 1 with both valves closed.

other piston holes , similar process,,

if one piston has a huge leak you may hear it that may indicate a chunk missinng from a piston or a valve.

if you have a chunk missing from a piston or valve you' ll also have low compression readings for the same cylinder.

the reason you'd wan to do all this is to prevent taking apart an engine that doesn't need to come apart. or to verify the above is the case..

I think you need to figure out why your compression readings were so low, you should be seeing 150 on each or somethign close. if you had 100 on each that may run, if you have really low compression I'd open it. but make sure the low readings are not just the result of the compression check not being done correctly.

to turn the key and hold the compression guage get a helper or you can rig up a button ...lots of test kits came with a ( jump ) button and cable for that. you basically need ot energise the relay in a ford it wont be on the starter motor , maybe near the battery, folloow the battery hot cable. many other cars have the solenoid as part of the starter motor. energise the solenoid and it cranks.

if you do that make sure its not in gear as you are over-riding any prevention and you can run yourslef over or it can possibly run away and cause harm if it does start. that can knock it off a jackstand etc.

 

[Adeleandre]

Thank you very much for this very detailed technique. I hadn't thought of injecting air into it to detect a possible leak at the valves or pistons. For now, I run it regularly to evacuate all the dirt accumulated during all these years of inactivity and I will resume the compressions in a while, after having done a new oil change. Otherwise today it starts very well instantly and it revs well so I am hopeful that the next measurements will be good, at least I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[philford]

if it runs and starts ok no harm in changinng the oil and trying it a while, maybe that will help settle things down.

when motors loose compression it can make them harder to start , also I find that if its worn and loose sometimes they will sort of wind down to a stop nrather than stopping quickly at key off.

adding a quart now and then is cheaper than rebuilding your engine ...

the compression guage should really hold its setting of highest pressure reached,, mine leaks down a little and it may need a new tire valve to make it seal up better.
a lot of the ones you find around at garage sales and such these days have a rubber end thats a bit hardened from age.

maybe after a run some break in a good battery. and a maybe trying a different tester, you may find you are actually higher than you thought after your first check.
also I'd take all the plugs out, then check otherwise you are fighting comporession and it wont turn so fast under the starter with the others in place.
you can also feel it , if you turn the engine by hand, with one plug installed youll feel the comporession as you turn so you could try just turning it with one plug then do the next with only one plug and so on , If one cylinder has very little feeling of resistance, it will basically say you have no compression without any fancy numbers applied.. just common sense.

if you get to one that makes a whooshing sound accompanied by free turning then it stands to reason you don't have compression and maybe a bad valve or bad piston. sometimes an exhaust valve might get a chunk thats burned or sometinmes the rings can work themselves up above the piston make a small hole near the edge of the piston, ive seen it where bits of the top ring were actually rattling between th etop of th piston and the head so if you look with a nboroscope I'd try to look for little dents of scratches or for a small hole near a piston ring, near the edge of a piston. if you see a wal lis scored look there near that ege of the piston , up close to the bore.

if the engine is tight you'll feel the "springyness" of the air compressed in the cylinder against your wrenching. you can expect that is all is well they would also each have a similar feel.

with an outboard motor or lawnmower in a good engine you can feel the compression when you pull the rope even without quantifying it. same idea..

the pistons near the oiutside of the block may run cooler so it may be more common to see failures on the inner ones than the first two or the last one, just because of differences in heat dissipation. I bet you are more likely to burn an exhaiust valve in 3,4, 5 than the others. the front two are closer to the fan. the back one is near the rear edge of the block.

on a 4 cylinder # 3 is probably the most susceptible to a burned exhaust valve.

 

[Adeleandre]

For the moment, by ear, it seems to be working well so I will continue to start it regularly and as soon as the truck can be driven I will test its performance and I will go further in the research in case of problem, I think that for the moment it is the best to do, thank you very much for all this advice which could be very useful to me.

 

[philford]

sometimes with an old engine Ill use sea foam, you can add it to your fuel to help clean injectors or Ill dump it in the oil run it maybe 100 miles and do an oil change. or you can spray it into the intake, past the MAF sensor, it might polute that.

from info Ive gathered its not really necessary to do that if you do regular maintenance and keep the engine clean. If I was going to open up an engine Id rather it be a bit cleaner inside.

If I spray it in the valvetrain Ill let it soak a little then when I start up itll blow out a bunch of crap.

Ive added it to gas and found it hard ot note a lot of difference, maybe just changing for rebuilt injectors is better .
In my ford with FI especially being a van , well I had to do it twice as the first time I didnt have a good seal on the fuel rail and that took lots of time.

I think if its an old carb engine I might be tempted to install an additional in line fuel filter, at least for a while . then you can watch it see if its pulling rust or dirt or water from the tank. maybe it adds a bit of insurance for rust flakes entering the carb and such.

I replaced my van's tank soon after I bought, it wasnt; too bad.

I also tried the kit described here

Fuel Tank Restoration

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I usedit for some specialized fuel cans and it seemed lik ea decent product. I have a porsch 944 that I want to do that to , only thing is with that thing, the transaxle has to come out to get the fuel tank out. and you need ot be able to tip it about.

I found the hose from the fuel filler in my van leaked and I was suprised to learn that if the tank is full the fuel sits within that hose. its part of the "container" so Id just say have a look at it , especially if you smell gas after filling right up. I found it only became evident with a full tank.

newer vehicles usually have a pre pump and the hose doesn't come out of the bottom of the tank but drawing from the bottom of the tank was normal. in my 85 porsche what happened was that fuel hose leaked and it let go of ALL the fuel.. very dangerous!
So all Im saying is I'd inspect that and maybe replace any fuel hoses if they are OEM because rubber has a lifespan and its been exceeded. and if its a hose that may cause all your fuel to drain if it fails I'd pay extra careful attention due to the obvious dangers. new hose isn't so expensive. its a thing best caught before failure.

I bought some marine rated fuel line its really thick and heavy and it seemed maybe a bit large in physical size but it made me feel secure that its at least higher quality.

the mechanical pump has a rubber or rubber like diaphram and some of the new ones might be of questionable quality. if you did have a small tear in that diaphram it might run but cause trouble? the others will know more on that or have more valid opinions on its lifespan. an electric pump might be an option. you can measure and quantify fuel flow and pressure of course.

i have an old volvo with a mechanical pump and in that thing it takes me a while cranking to get the fuel going if it sits a long time, but after its first astartup it seems ok. I suspect I should replace the pump or it's diaphram.

if I park cars I try to run chevrom 94 without alcohol and I like ot buy a jerry can of fuel add some fuel stabilizer then give it a shake and add a gallon or so to each car. if it sits more than a year I might siphon its gas and maybe burn it in something else just so I can refiull with fresh. also that way any gas I use in a mower or soething is chevron 94 with fuel conditioner. with any small engines I always let it run all the way out of fuel and then also drain anything left in the float bowl.

 

[Adeleandre]

Everything will be new on my truck, I have a new tank waiting to be fitted, I installed an electric fuel pump with a pressure regulator and for now the fuel supply is from a can