Thread: ignition works but no cranking

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welp, I was gonna break in my new cam today, I have the engine all wired up with my american autowire kit. I tested my MSD by falsely triggering it and it sparks. I went to turn the key and crank it and nothing happened. I know I wired everything up as the directions said.
The battery is pretty old, is it possible that if a battery is low enough it won't even make the solonoid click? Nothing at all was happening.
Also, when I primed the engine the oil pressure guage wasn't reading anything. I know there was oil pressure because oil made it up to the rockers. The guage lights up if I pull out the headlight switch.
I'm pretty bummed so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Check your ground's if your gauges aren't working right , chances are you have a bad ground wire . It's got me more than a couple times. If you have a strong motor you will need all the c.c.a. your battery can throw at it . Put your battery on a charger overnight. Even if your battery is low you should hear the solenoid kicking in. But it may not have enough power to twist the motor over.

I wouldnt depend on the gauge, but if you are getting oil at the rockers, you've got it primed OK. The gauge should be working, but it may be NG.

Make sure the battery is good, and also the positive and the ground connections. You'll need a fully charged battery for the starting, as well as the MSD. Prime the oil again before starting up, and be sure you have the dist. timing about right and gas in the carb bowls, so you dont have to crank it a lot to get it to start. You dont want to have to crank it a lot with the new cam in there! Get it to start asap and get the rev's up during the break-in(2000 to 2500, vary it up and down once in awhile) Watch your temp during break-in too, it can get really hot, especially if the timing is a little retarded. Good luck with it.

I would suggest (assuming the battery is in a good state of charge) grabbing a multimeter and wiring schematic and start tracing things out (starting at the starter motor).Backtrack wire to wire until you find voltage.As far as oil pressure is concerned I would remove the oil pressure line from the gauge and have someone hold it in a bucket (cover with rags to avoid splashing) while you or someone else primes the oil pump with a hand drill and primer attachment (this will verify oil pressure to the gauge).Good luck!

Is it an electric or a mechanical gauge??? I always start my new motors with a mechanical gauge somewhere in the engine compartment so I can keep an eye on it while running in a new engine. Check the state of charge on your battery, and start going over the shcematic again to make sure things are wired correctly.

I took my battery to an auto store and had it tested and it was no good, I bought a bran new one with 900 cranking amps and 750 cold cranking amps. Still nothing when I turn the key.

I've been looking over my wiring schematics again and I have everything wired the way the directions say to. My battery has a big fat ground wire right to the frame with freshly ground metal under the contact. Same with the engine to the frame and body to the frame. The positive goes right to the big stud on the solonoid and to the MSD.
I figured my ground to the gauges has to be good because their internal lights work.
The starter isn't new or anything, but I assumed it was fine because it worked about two years ago which was the last time it was on an engine.
If I took the starter off to test it, should I just connect a positive right to it.
does the starter ground through the block? Is it possible that I don't have clean metal between the mating sides?

Yep, it grounds thru the block. Hook up a ground clamp to the starter body, and hot wire to the big battery terminal on the starter. Then do a jumper from that terminal to the small terminal on the solenoid. Careful, it will kick out and twist a little when it works. That will tell you if the starter is good. Or, just take the starter to an AutoZone, or someplace like that, and they can test it for you. Either it works, or it doesnt, so I would say the starter is either bad, or you have a bad wire somewhere.

welp, I took off the starter and hooked it up directly and it worked. I'm brain boggled, I'll have to call the wiring company tomorrow.

I am getting some noise from the msd when I turn the key all the way. I tried taking the coil wire off the distributor to see what would happen and when I turned the key all the way I could get a spark to jump from the negative post on the coil to the main wire post.

Hello,Just trying to follow along and rememberd that happend to me also . My starter was bound up cause I fogot to put the shims back .Not all starters just bolt right up. Just my idea? Good Luck

this one was on this same engine when I took it out of another car, and it was working then with no shims or anything
I sanded down the mating surfaces so there can't be a grounding problem either.

Run a hot-wire jumper from the + terminal on the solenoid and touch it to your battery + terminal. If it clicks, the problem is between there and the ignition switch.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I talked to the people at Am. Autowire and I figured out what I did.
The harness had a provision for a neutral safety switch, which I am not using. If you aren't using it the two wires must be connected together. I knew this, but totally forgot about them.
I connected them up and it turned over.
In the process I also found out that apparently I don't have an internally regulated alternator, mine is external, so I had to replace that too.

Problem solved.

one more thing, I am not using my gas tank yet to run this engine off of because I don't want vapors in there while I'm still working in the garage. I just put a short piece of fuel line from the fuel pump into a gas can.
In order to fill the bowls I just disconnected the line from the pump outlet and held it up and poured gas down the line (and down my arm), but most of the actual line is empty still because it is impossible to re-connect it without spilling out all the gas.

Will the pump still pull that fuel out of the can if it starts out with mostly air in it, or do I have to find a way to prime the entire system?

Also, I don't have a fan yet because I need an electric fan due to clearance issues. I have rigged up a box fan and taped it all up to the front of my radiator. Do you guys think it will move enough air to keep it cool?

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