VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1932 engine, will not start

O.K. here goes. Can't get the car started although it has run in the past. Timing is fine, compression over sixty, poored gas in carb as well as sprayed in starter fluid, all to no avail. Good spark at the plugs, used battery boost along with good battery. I am baffeled! Have not taken valve cover off to see if the intake and exhaust values are closed at top dead center (slipped tooth on cam gear?) but will look at it tomorrow. Gas is relatively new but will change it just in case. Possibly a muffler bolt?... Any suggestions will be appreciated. Jim

Are sure it's not firing 180 degrees out of time? Check that number 6 valves are in overlap when number 1 is firing. You might try powering the ignition from a separate battery or power source so there's no voltage drop in the ignition when you operate the starter.

Hello delong,
You did not mention if the cylinders were trying to fire, or backfire. If mechanically ok (timing is correct) then double check your fuel, air and spark. Also look for vacuum leaks (too lean to burn) and blocked exhaust. If you flooded the engine, clean the spark plugs and air out the cylinders. Bad fuel is also suspect. Check your coil, points and condenser and all plug wires for spark. Verify your fuel pump function. If you have to use starting fluid to get/keep the engine going, then suspect a weak fuel pump and/or a dirty carb. Try not to use starting fluid, use your choke per normal to see what happens.

Thanks for the ideas. I does not fire at all now, it did earlier in the week although with a pronounced miss. For some time we had a timing problem but now the timing mark is right where it should be. I'll continue to look for the problem. Jim

If timing is right, have spark at plugs and fuel to cylinders it should fire. All it takes is 1 part of gas vapor mixed with 14 parts of air, a properly timed spark to ignite the mixture and some pressure in the cylinder.

If you recently (after the problem started) obtained 60 psig for the cylinders then there is not enough restriction in intake or exhaust to keep it from at least trying to start. You also will have cam timing at least close.

So that leaves fuel and spark. Has to be one or both of them. The run, then miss then not run highly suggests intermittent power (or ground) to coil/distributor. I am sure you will eventually find the problem.

Sequence of annalyzing: Pull any plug, connect wire to it and hold to block. Crank and you should see Spark at electrode. If none check condition of Cap and Rotor, Look for Spark out of Coil by holding wire from Cap near ground. If none look at Coil as suspect. If new Coil has same result, (no spark), I'd change out the points even if they look good. All to often a bad condensor causes a flat, as to a sharp/crisp spark. If you can see a big arc of spark at points that is not desirable. A small crisp blue spark at the points is needed for an old engine to best perform. Keep us posted as I'm about to start my 31 which hasn't run in 10 months and is cranky these days. Al W.

I had a problem with my engine dying while driving and it would not restart immediately. After a short time it would restart. I got it home and started trouble shooting. The carb float was checked several times to no availe. At the same time I was checking the spark. When I saw a blue spark, I quit looking. On my last check of the spark, I disconnected a plug wire and held it close to the top of the plug. As I rolled the engine over(distributed cap off) I saw a beautiful blue spark. I kept the engine rolling over and on the next pass for that plug the spark had turned from the beautiful blue to a sickly yellow. As I was told later, condensers can totally fail or intermittently fail. Installed a new condenser and problem solved! My 32 now travels with 3 new in the box condensers. Hope you find this useful.

I had this problem and a friend told me I had the spark wires in the wrong firing order. I am on the road --perhaps someone that has a 32 chevy book and supply the correct firing order. I know that the 32 is different than others.

The firing order for the 1932 is the same as the other six cylinder vehicles......153624.

Well with one exception still no luck. The individual that suggested we had the timing 180 degree out was correct. Somewhere along the line when we were pulling up the distributer we lost track, hence the lack of any ignition. However once we got it back, while it can run with some pumping on the accelerator, it runs extremely rough and will kill without the pumping of the accelerator. It will run fairly smoothly on occasion but not regularly at about 2000rpm but then will "die on the vine". Next step will be to change out the gas but I'm not optimistic. Still wonder if I have slipped a tooth on the cam shaft sprocket. Engine sounds like its way out of time. Buy the way, changed out the distributer and condenser but the results were the same. Jim

Your engine doesn't have a cam shaft sprocket....it has a fiber cam shaft gear that meshes with a steel crankshaft gear.

Bad gas!!!! go figure.... Jim

Just to share my experience with those who might not know. After not running the car for close to a year but having pulled the distributer for what ever reason, I topped off the tank with about three gallons of gas, and went to start the car. Sputter, poping, and a sometime clank like a rod going led me to believe my timing was way off. Removed the distributer a dozen times looking for the perfect tooth (one time installing it 180 degree off) with no luck. Changed distributers, put new condenser in, checked wires for proper resistance, did compression check, and fiddled with carb for more hours. No favorable results. Changed gas, ....ran perfectly. End of post. Jim

The gas is like many other products, the quality isn't what it once was and we have no protection against being scammed by BP and Exxon/Mobil.