Problems With My 72' C10

[Jo-Jo]

I just bought a 72' C10 Fleetside with a 350 4:11 posii rearend and a 4 speed shifter but my big problem is the truck wont start and it hasnt been ran in a year coming from my friend a bought it from. The problem is that its not turning over fast enough to start. The carb is a stock p.o.s. supposubly a new distributer cap and a new starter but i see that most of the grounds for almost all the wiring is old and a little rusty one wire from the starter to the distrubter cap is spliced twice on the way up and i just dont know what to do to get it started. I want to think its something small but if anyone has any ideas im open to try it out
Please Help Thanks

[bobss396]

I would make sure that the starter is good, they come out easily enough on a truck and many auto parts stores will check it for free. Get hold of a repair manual, you need to see the wiring diagram for the starting circuit and see what that spliced wire does. Have the battery tested, or try to start it with a "known" hot battery.

Clean up all of your ground connections, battery terminals, terminals at the starter with a wire brush. They tend to collect corrosion from sitting around espcially if you live in a humid area. If the battery cables look bad, replace them.

Good luck, Bob

[JohnnyL]

I would do what bob is saying. In case you have not done this, I would drain the fuel tank, flush the fuel lines, and change the fuel filter. This is because gasoline gums up after sitting for a long time. I would also prime the engine with oil by turning the oil pump with a dummy distributor shaft and drill. With the fuel line and coil disconnected, turn the motor with the starter a few times to finish priming it.

[randy78]

we very often start up vehicles after sitting for way longer than a year without alot of trouble

if the fuel in the tank is not gelled yet then add alot of new gas into the tank

change the fuel and oil filter

change the oil

dump some gas down the carb


i have had vehicles that sat for almost a decade fire right up


for instance the 78k all original '78 grand prix that i bought off an old guy last year -who parked it in his garage 8 years ago and literally never touched it even once during all that time- fired right up after i only added 5 gallons of new gas to the tank and stuck in a good battery that i had brought with me to use in it

sure it rattled a bit in the top end and made some oil smoke for a few minutes- but it came out of it pretty quickly and i immediately drove it home down the freeway- 30 miles to here- from out of town

no problem at all

then i changed the oil for the first time in 8 years, once i arrived here

it needed a new master cylinder and a rubber fuel line replaced at the fuel tank from dry rot

the car was really sharp and had next to no rust at all, very minor surface rust a bit on a QP

very super insanely solid for IL, by far, it did have some frame rail rot in the rear driver side rail where the bumper attaches, it was weak there, in which is really common in the old G bodies

we have alot of old vehicles in storage some since the mid 80s and we leave them sit for many years and fire them up every few years no problem

old chevies mainly

the 57 bel air havent run it in about 3-4 years

the 72 chevelle ss in about 15 years

the 54 F100 in about a year and a half now

a buddy of mines 85 riviera we just bought out of a really old farmer guy's barn a couple months ago hadnt been run in several years, it fired right up without evne adding any new gas to it, the battery was about 12 years old, some gas down the carb and boom it fired right up and ran great



and so on

never a problem with bad fuel or anything

we just add more new gas to them every time


do have brake problems though often

master cylinders die

brake lines rot through

etc

happens

a year is nothing

no worries there

it will fire right up with some gas down it

some ppl are paranoid and will say to put oil down in the spakr plug holes and do this and do that

if the crank isnt frozen then it will be fine, it will fire up

just put gas down it and a very good shape battery in it and fire it right up and keep it running any way you can for many minutes straight

it will be fine

unless something is/was already wrong with it

IE worn bearings, worn rings, etc

[JohnnyL]

Yes, it's likely it will fire up after a year but you still run the risk of spinning a bearing or scratching a cam lobe. Better to be safe than sorry.

[G.A.S.]

pop the distributor cap off and clean the points.
This will help with spark. When they sit for periods of time, they glaze over.
as for fireing it up, Do your fluid and filters and crank er up.a year is not bad.
My son just bought a 1967 chevy p/u in dam near mint condition.
Sat for 5 years in a barn and the guy put a battery in it and fired it right up.
After we trailered it home, so far we have changed out all the fluids and clean, clean, clean.
there tough old birds but not the way I would fire up an engine after that time frame.
p.s. can you post a pic.?

[Jo-Jo]

[quote=G.A.S.]pop the distributor cap off and clean the points.
This will help with spark. When they sit for periods of time, they glaze over.
as for fireing it up, Do your fluid and filters and crank er up.a year is not bad.
My son just bought a 1967 chevy p/u in dam near mint condition.
Sat for 5 years in a barn and the guy put a battery in it and fired it right up.
After we trailered it home, so far we have changed out all the fluids and clean, clean, clean.
there tough old birds but not the way I would fire up an engine after that time frame.
p.s. can you post a pic.?

[Yea I will try to have one up in the morning]

[denisond3]

I agree with cleaning the points - might as well lube the centrifugal advance while you are in the distributor, and make sure the swivel plate the points mount on is well ground to the distributor case.
The negative cabling is just as important as the positive side. I have replaced the ground cables on a lot of my cars. The one from the engine to the frame is likely to be corroded, and probably wasnt that thick even when it was new. Im fond of connection a heavy cable from one of the bolts on the starter, to the frame. Then connect a new negative cable from the battery to the frame - and be sure to sand down to shiny metal when you are bolting a wire to that frame.

[mekaniclyinclined]

try some gas in the carb , if its a stick pop it , check all your grounds and if you have to use a jump box w/ battery and see if it works.

[jgrh01]

The negative cabling is just as important as the positive side. I have replaced the ground cables on a lot of my cars. The one from the engine to the frame is likely to be corroded, and probably wasnt that thick even when it was new. Im fond of connection a heavy cable from one of the bolts on the starter, to the frame. Then connect a new negative cable from the battery to the frame - and be sure to sand down to shiny metal when you are bolting a wire to that frame.[/quote] AND the motor to the firewall ground can cause problems too - trust me on that one

[MobileMom]

I agree with everyone. It could be anything, from spark to power to fuel.

personally I would start with the 'kiss method', keep it simple.

start with your battery, make sure its clean and not corroded and make sure your cables are not old or rusty.
I have found that most starting problems are battery related.

If your battery is fine, than move on to the next in line, check your alternator, check your starter, check your wiring connections, etc...

If you need a little more help, I have an article you might want to check out

http://www.helium.com/items/872056-p...othing-happens

http://www.helium.com/items/872056-p...othing-happens

There are also other articles on this sight that you might find useful

I hope this helped, good luck!