Dead at Car Wash

[dennislp]

Well I just bought my '68 F100 short bed 2wd after looking for over a year to find one that was not rusted out. I plan on tearing it down to fix it up down the road but plan on driving it around for a bit to get acquainted to her first. I took it up to the car wash and left the motor running while I hosed it down so I could locate where the leak is on the power steering system and it died. I did wash down both sides of the motor to clean it up. The distributor cap inside was dry and has spark going into it. It just turns over and will not fire. It is getting gas and like I mentioned it has spark to the distributor. I am not a mechanic but simply a "tinker on it guy". Any help, or suggestions, would be greatly appreciated. I had it towed back home and it is sitting in the garage hopefully drying out what ever I screwed up.

Thanks;
Dennis

[Montana71-F100]

Congratulations on getting the truck! I'm no expert either. You're getting spark to the distributor but it might be a good idea to check to see it you're getting spark to the plugs. If you are, then you can eliminate the distributor as the culprit. I'm wondering if the points got wet even though the inside of the cap is dry.

Good luck

[forrestbump]

Try this: pop your dizzy cap, liberally spray WD-40 inside it, reattach it. WD-40 is a water displacing penetrant that usually drives water / moisture out of electrical components.

[terry1167]

Try this: pop your dizzy cap, liberally spray WD-40 inside it, reattach it. WD-40 is a water displacing penetrant that usually drives water / moisture out of electrical components.

I've had this same exact thing happen while spraying down an engine at the car wash. I did what Larry suggests with the WD 40 and fixed the problem. I now, when spraying down the engine, cover the distributor area.

[dennislp]

Thanks for the input on this and sorry for the delay on my end responding but I have been under the hood of my ugly green project and spending time with my boys back from college for Thanksgiving. Three boys in college and I bought a project...didn't think that one through very well but my wife said I could get an old truck and I didn't want to give her a chance to change her mind.
Well I decided to switch it over to the Pertronix setup replacing the dual points and put a flame thrower coil on it as well as a new Solenoid and Voltage Regulator just to cover all the bases and figured when I tore the old girl apart to fix her up that I would probably replace them anyway. I don't have the best of luck and have taught myself what little I know about old cars by trial and error (an expensive education at times). I put it all together and still no luck. I got frustrated and left her alone for a bit and when I came back I had a coil boiling out (actually sprayed the oil out of the top of the coil). Decided to send it to a friends shop and he just called and told me the solenoid was bad out of the box and was causing it to stay hot which boiled the coil. He is going to put more new parts on her and let me know if that is the fix. I guess new parts doesn't always mean good parts.

[Bob]

Good chance that your new Petronix was fried as well. If there was juice to the coil while it sat and if the pick-up was on a fire spot on the rotor most likely the thing is fried. I just cooked one myself... My ignition switch went bad and wouldn't shut off. I stalled the truck and went into a funeral home for a half hour or so and when I came out it wouldn't start. Long story shortened... Switch fried the petronix.

If this is an older bump you'll need to bypass a resistor also for the Petronix use. It's mounted up on the firewall in the engine compartment at the top center. It'll look like a ceramic thingy about 3" long with flat tab wire clips at each end.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!!
Bob

[papabug71]

I agree with Bob, im willing to be the petronix is toast.

You simply got water on the points. I bet it's happened to me 100 times at the carwash. Pop the top, & wipe it out with a rag. You don't even need to pull the wires off the cap. Takes about 20 seconds.

Hate to hear you threw parts at it only to have them fail. That sucks a big one.

[ezernut9mm]

hey dennis. welcome from north of the river.

[dennislp]

Thanks for all the input guys I really appreciated it. The bad Solenoid out of the box was the problem. Like someone said it was like leaving the key on and it cooked everything. I put it back in the garage and finished the tinkering on little tune up things and took it to my In-laws lake place and put it in the work shop I have down there for all the other projects. It ran great and my dog is getting used to riding around in it. He has been a little spoiled riding in the back seat area of my '09 Supercrew having the whole area to himself. Now I get to start gathering all the new things (motor, front and rear suspension components, a few replacement metal and interior pieces) then I will tear it apart and build it back the way I want it.