1961 356b

[Sterek]

I am trying to get my Porsche started but the thing is being stubborn as hell. It has been sitting for about 6 months since it last ran. The car has spark, fuel going to the carbs via seeing the accelerator pump spraying when throttle is pushed and new spark plugs. It had sputtered and almost turned over but went back to just cranking. Any ideas on how to trouble shoot it not starting?

[Daves911L]

New plugs? Any chance plug wires mixed up. Or one or two not seated correctly on the plug? Mess with the timing/dwell at all while you were in there? 356's are pretty forgiving on startup. If you have fuel, and you have spark, they pretty much ARE going to start. If your a battery is low the spark can be pretty weak. Try giving it a brief jump from a 12volt car. Makes em crank really fast and it won't do any harm for a short burst.

[Sterek]

Originally Posted by Daves911L

New plugs? Any chance plug wires mixed up. Or one or two not seated correctly on the plug? Mess with the timing/dwell at all while you were in there? 356's are pretty forgiving on startup. If you have fuel, and you have spark, they pretty much ARE going to start. If your a battery is low the spark can be pretty weak. Try giving it a brief jump from a 12volt car. Makes em crank really fast and it won't do any harm for a short burst.

I replaced the plugs and the two on the left side of the engine were fouled, I'm thing that maybe the car is flooding?? Is it easy to flood the car? It reeks of gas. I noticed that the right carb doesn't have a spring activator for the accelerator pump.

[Bunka]

If you keep on cranking it over, its going to flood. When was the last time you replaced the coil? I had a starting/running issue for a long time. Took it to an old timer, he called and told me the coil was almost dead. I had discounted the coil because I knew I had replaced it. Checked my records, oh yea, I replaced the coil in 1969. What you should hear now is the sound of me slapping my forehead. New coil, runs great! Also, newer coils are not going to last near as long as the old stuff.

[Sterek]

Originally Posted by Bunka

If you keep on cranking it over, its going to flood. When was the last time you replaced the coil? I had a starting/running issue for a long time. Took it to an old timer, he called and told me the coil was almost dead. I had discounted the coil because I knew I had replaced it. Checked my records, oh yea, I replaced the coil in 1969. What you should hear now is the sound of me slapping my forehead. New coil, runs great! Also, newer coils are not going to last near as long as the old stuff.

I'm getting spark though, which would indicate the coil is working. I just cant get the car to start, some times it will fire, but it doesn't wanna kick over.

[kltarga72]

Where are you getting spark? Be sure the points are opening and closing properly.

[Daves911L]

Coil advice is good. You can have spark, but it be intermittent or weak due to dying coil. Old original Bosch coils pretty much last forever. Almost. Newer coils can have unpredictable life spans and performance. Sometimes they fail spontaneosly our even out-of-the-box. Same with condensors. Old original Bosch last forever. Modern made-in-whatever-country-has-cheapest-labor Bosch are notorious for sudden death.

Spring for accelerator pump? Do you have Zenith carbs or something else? Picture? Could be a float level problem?

[Cunning1]

If car has been sitting, smells of gas, fouling plugs, my guess is you have a carb float valve stuck open. If you're lucky, pull the cleaners, tap both carbs, and see if float valve drops. If not, pull tops off carbs and see if valve(s) is/are stuck. Been down that road more than once.

[hienz]

Could be any of these 3 conditions:
1) condenser is bad.
2) battery too low on voltage. ( Do not jump your battery with 12V if your car still have 6V) I noticed one person above replied to you and said jump it with 12V.
3) Fuel has too much ethanol. Try using Shell fuel.