223cid, 1-2-3 not firing

59F100

Well-known member
Cylinders 1,2, and 3 are not firing. Just so happens that it is every other wire on the cap.

Plug will spark when removed/grounded to the block.
Rotor, cap, points, etc... all new
Gap/dwell set to factory specs...

Cylinder 4,5,and 6 fire normally....

Still troubleshooting, but thought I would toss it out there for ideas.
 
:unsure: Will toss out a couple ideas for you to check.

1. Is the valve clearance set to spec.?
2. What is the compression test showing for each cylinder?
3. Is this an engine that has sat unused for years? If so make sure that the plug threads and seat in the head are cleaned well so they will ground.
4. Also make sure all the electrical connections plus grounds are clean and tight
 
If it was 4, 5, and 6 i'd say the cam was broke nut this ????

pull the carb look for a rag stuck in frount half of the intake??
You could pull the dzzy out reinsert some where else and fix the wires where it should run properly and then see if the problem is still on 1, 2 and 3.
 
What bubba said plus...

When you installed the new cap, are you certain you didn't cross any spark plug wires? (153624 just in case).

Lou Manglass
 
Okay people. Thank you for all your suggestions. Some crossed my mind (even the rag in the intake) some didn't. So my buddy and I started into it and here's what happened....

Original carb gave me problems prior to the rebuild on this engine so we scored another single barrel from the salvage yard just for testing....no difference in performance (this is good because it sort of indicates that my original carb is not the culprit and may be good)....then we moved to:

Point Gap (to spec)
Point Dwell angle (to spec)
Plug gap (to spec)
...plugs 1,2,and 3 were fuel soaked but would spark when removed and grounded to the block
Plug wire routing (correct)
Compression (145psi on all cylinders)
Voltage to the coil
Voltage through the coil (to the cap/rotor)
We also closed the points and manually opened them to test the spark...good spark every time (my dad walked me through this procedure over the phone)
Then we bought a new rotor and cap because somebody didnt install the rotor properly and it broke in half and ruined the cap.

THEN....we sprayed brake cleaner around the front two intake runners and found a huge vacuum leak evidenced by the increase in rpm when we sprayed it. I torqued down the bolts and noticed an immediate improvement in idle quality.

I removed the intake/exhaust manifolds, installed a new gasket on the head and also between intake and the heat riser port and re-installed everything ensuring that everything was torqued and fully seated. I re-installed the original carburetor (the one that exhibited the huge bog....if you've been following my incredibly slow truck project) and the bog seems to be GONE!!

Now, not all is perfect just yet...I have two issues that bother me. The engine still misses occasionally (heard in the exhaust) and the valve train sounds noisy to me...at least noisier than it was way back when I first had the engine running. So two steps forward on step back....
 
the valve train sounds noisy to me...at least noisier than it was way back when I first had the engine running.

With these engines using a solid cam there will be some noise. They could be set too loose now and the noise would be more. You should verify the hot clearance as the engine performance can suffer some if they are not set to proper spec. i.e. too tight or too loose. If you are after it being real quiet there was an optional set of rockers offered (about 1 ½ years) on the late 223 cars called zero lash. They are getting to be hard to find I have a rebuilt set with a new correct cam.
 
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