Determine if you have spark by removing the coil wire from the distributor and holding it close to a ground point while cranking the engine.
If in 10 days your mechanic can't figure out why a 69 Mustang won't start, you might want to look elsewhere for a mechanic.

 

Since you had a "mechanic" involved, what did they test?When you offered it does "turnover", this typically rules out the cranking system wiring. Therefore, the problems seems to be in the primary or secondary ignition side, maybe fuel delivery. Ask your "mechnic for a list of what they did. Is he knowledgable of 50 year old vehicles? Are you handy?

 

The tested pretty much everything. $600.00 worth of diagnostic labor which they did not charge me for since they couldn't get it started. Their report says no compression in all 8 cylinders and no vacuum in the carburetor. They did remove the valve covers and found no obvious problem. How they would know there is no compression without the car running is something they could not tell me. They did a smoke test on the intake manifold and found not problem there... again a mystery since the car wasn't running. This mechanic has worked on the car before and their service has always been good.

I am reasonably handy, but my expertise is digital media, not cars.

 

Take the distributor cap off and make sure the rotor turns when you are cranking it.

 

Timing

 

how/why do you remove valve covers to prime pistons

a squirt of oil down plug all is all it would need

I never saw a motor with 0 compression in all 8 unless timing chain is snapped

how is your time and dwell. unhook the condenser and try to start

you also probably have the wrong coil. calls for a 1.5 ohm coil
best i ever found was for FD471 bluestreak

low voltage present at the ign coil is due to the resistance wire, you should only have 5-7 volts on the small wire (+) side

 

Timing chain or distributor shaft. As mentioned pull dist cap and turn over.

 

I’m bothered by the reference to “no”compression. In all 8? Really?

 

Sounds like the timing chain broke or fell off the cam gear after became extremely worn. Therefore, neither cam nor the distributor are turning. Likely whatever shop looked at it doesn't know how to troubleshoot without a OBD.

 

Even if the TC broke some of the cylinders would have the valves closed giving some compression... if the spark plugs are sparking the distributor is turning.

 

I'm thinking they "mechanic" don't have engine building/assembly experience either.

 

RTV to fix a fuel leak, terrible spelling, etc, look for a new mechanic. I promise if it had no compression any savvy mechanic would know that from the sound in 3 seconds of trying to start and the no start scenario would have been diagnosed...

 

RTV to fix a fuel leak...

 

Hello.

I have a 1969 Mustang with a 302 V8 engine. The car was running fine until the end of June 2021, then it refused to start.

The ignition coil, solenoid, distributor and wiring have all been replaced. The gas is new, the carburetor is ok. There is spark in the spark plugs. Starting fluid directly into the carburetor still won't start the engine.

The car does turn over. The battery is about a year old.

I had the car at a mechanic for 10 days and they were unable to start it or find out why it won't start.

Any ideas of where to look would be appreciated.

It'd be a good idea to complete your profile, including the area in which you live, so that we can refer you to a "mechanic" that employs English as a primary language and works on cars other than Hyundai's and Kia's.

 

No need. I am in Rockville, Maryland. There are three major classic car restoration places within 5 miles of me. I know where they are. I've been taking my car to that Exxon station for the past 15 years. Last year it was a cracked heater core and leaking power steering lines. The repair of both took time, but went well. This year I found my mechanic had retired but the manager said he had capable staff. Apparently not.

The car is unrestored and has nearly 882,000 miles on it. I got my drivers license in this car. It is probably time to bite the bullet and hand it over for restoration.

 

The wheels should have fallen off before 882,000 miles.
I have a friend who says hes got about 500,000 on his old Plymouth, but has had 5 engines and 3 transmissions.

 

“After replacing ignition coil, car ran for a few minutes and stopped”

I’m not a mechanic by any stretch, but on the surface that sounds like the carb fuel bowl may have run empty during those few minutes and isn’t getting enough fuel to refill it. Although that would essentially require both the coil and fuel pump to fail at the same time, which is highly unlikely…unless you’re running an electric fuel pump and had some sort of short that wiped the coil and pump out in one fell swoop?

 

IMHO, either you "learn to turn" or you dig into those deep pockets and send it to one of those "three major" restorations houses..... With those stated miles, you need an engine. 'Cause any professional(?) using RTV on a fuel system, like as mentioned and can't diagnose 8 Cylinders that don't have compression is seriously lacking somewhere. Too many fundamentals that are being overlooked. Good Luck!

 

I vote for timing as well.

 

You'd know if it had "no compression" as it would sound really, really strange when cranking over. The problem, now, is that you really don't know exactly WHAT the guy did to it so you need to go back to the beginning to find out.

Step 1. Pull all 8 plugs. Block throttle wide open. Pull coil wire from distributor cap and ground the end. Fully charged battery. Do cranking compression test on all 8 cylinders. Acceptable is 130-170 psi with no more than 20 psi difference between highest and lowest cylinders.

Step 2. Assuming Step 1 is okay, locate TDC (Top Dead Center). Rotate engine by hand, clockwise from in front facing rearward, until line on crankshaft balancer aligns with 0* mark on timing pointer. Note location of #1 spark plug (front driver's cylinder) wire on distributor cap. Remove distributor cap. Ignition rotor should be pointing either directly TOWARD or directly AWAY from #1 tower in cap. If pointing directly AWAY, place finger over #1 spark plug hole and have someone rotate engine by hand, again clockwise, 1 full turn. As they finish, you should feel a substantial pressure on your finger, indicating the piston is coming up and the valves are both closed.

Step 3. Check breaker point gap. Remove distributor cap and rotor. Turn engine, by hand, until one of the 8 lobes on the distributor cam is aligned with the rubbing block on the breaker points, opening them wide. Check the point gap with a feeler gauge. It should be .017".

Step 4. Check breaker point continuity. Set multimeter to ohms scale. Place RED lead on ignition coil- post and BLACK lead on distributor housing with points open or insulated with something like a popsicle stick or the boxtop of a cereal box. You should have NO continuity. Continuity would indicate the points or condenser are shorted to ground. Disconnect the condenser lead from the points and check again. If now NO continuity, replace condenser.

Step 5. Check coil resistance. Set multimeter to ohms. RED lead on Coil+, BLACK lead on Coil-. Should be approximately 1.5 ohms. Remove coil wire and place BLACK lead on contact inside high tension tower. Meter should read between 7.5k and 15k ohms.

Step 6. Check coil feed. Set multimeter to DC volts. Place BLACK lead on battery positive post. Turn ignition key "ON". Place RED lead on Ignition Coil+ post. Meter should read no more than 6.6 vDC. If meter reads zero, power is not reaching the ignition coil. If meter reads more than 6.6vDC, high resistance exists indicating a poor connection, defective switch or defective resistance wire.

Step 7. Verify fuel supply to carburetor. Remove fuel line from carburetor and attach a length of hose into a quart or larger container. Crank the engine. In 20 seconds of cranking a minimum of 1 pint of fuel should be present. If no fuel is being pumped, check for fuel supply at fuel pump by removing rubber hose from pump and applying suction. Fuel should flow easily.

Step 8. Reconnect everything, pour half a medicine cup's worth of fresh gas down the carburetor throat and crank the engine. If you have compression, fuel and spark, the engine should run.

 

.....you need to go back to the beginning to find out.

Step 1. Pull all 8 plugs. Block throttle wide open. Pull coil wire from distributor cap and ground the end. Fully charged battery. Do cranking compression test on all 8 cylinders. Acceptable is 130-170 psi with no more than 20 psi difference between highest and lowest cylinders.

Step 2. Assuming Step 1 is okay, locate TDC (Top Dead Center)........

I just printed this, punched three holes in it, and placed it in my shop binder. These are the kind of basics that the OP (or his mechanic) can use to figure this out. Part of finding out what it is, is finding out what it isn't......Information like this is gold. Thanks!

 

Well it seems certain the fella only ran an amateurish compression test on one cylinder. No way to get a zero on all eight. Brian

 

Removed carburetor to check for vacuum?

They should give you all your money back. They have no idea what they're doing. Based on what they wrote on that invoice, I honestly can't believe they managed to get the hood open.

I'm reading between the lines here, but it sounds like you have owned this car forever but have never worked on it yourself. That's totally OK but clearly can result in a situation like this. I hope you are able to find a capable local shop. I bet there's someone here that can help you do just that.

Your car looks great. I sure am curious as to what is wrong and how they got so lost in the weeds.

 

Now, I'm thinking this car died on the operating table!

 

The OP says that there is spark at the spark plugs. Have you looked yourself? If spraying starting fluid doesn't cause combustion, the comments here are correct - there ain't no spark.

Put on some exam gloves. Pull the closest spark plug wire/boot. Remove the spark plug with a socket. Push the boot back on to the spark plug, you'll hear it snap into place. Hold the boot in hour hand while someone tries to start the engine for a few seconds. Do you see a bright spark in the spark plug?

 

Have you tried spraying some ether or WD40 or anything like that in the carb? Even brake cleaner from that aerosol can is good to help fire something up. Those seem to have a lower combustion point than gas and thus can start an engine with less spark

 

OK gotcha. All of that was to test the condenser, not the points. I've never had a bad condenser but read about the problem with the contemporary sources all the time.