356 help

wastintime · 03-09-2004, 08:24 AM

Hey guys, long time no post.

I posted this on the 356 BB, but I figured maybe someone here would have some insight into the matter... I'd appreciate any help you guys can give.

:

356 won't start
Hey everyone,
I'm working on a 356 SC, and am getting pretty desperate for help.

The car came into the shop with the complaint "it won't start" the starter was bad so we replaced it, and the battery wire to the voltage regulator was disconnected so we reconnected it. Also the spark plugs were replaced. After that it started and ran perfectly.

It has never run again. Every ignition component has been replaced, new rotor, cap, points, coil, everything. When you hook an oscilliscope up to it, there is no signal going to the plugs and we can't figure out why.

Since we almost never work on 356s this is kind of falling on my shoulders since I had a 912, but I'm really clueless as to why the car won't start anymore.

There is one wire in the engine compartment that we can't figure out what it does.... it's a very thick black wire and right now it's going to nothing... it could be something it could be something.

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Andrew

Steve F · 03-09-2004, 11:38 AM

Just some quick checks.....Can you hook-up a battery to the dist. directly and see if the points spark?Is by some freak chance the carbon "tit"in the dist. cap,directly below the coil wire, broken of short so that it won't reach the rotor?Are the points grounded via OHM meter check?Sounds like it's something really obscure,and I'd be curiuos to here the outcome.Good luck

wastintime · 03-09-2004, 12:59 PM

Steve,

we haven't hooked a battery up to the dist... i might try that tomorrow. but the cap is contacting the rotor, and everything has been ohmed, and everything is the way it should be.

I forgot to mention it's a 6V system which shouldn't change much, but it might.

At this point I kind of have a gut feeling that whatever is going wrong is inside the distributor, but I don't really have anything to justify that statement except that we know the coil is sending a signal to the distributor, but the plugs are not sparking at all.

Steve F · 03-09-2004, 01:09 PM

Yep.I think you nailed it,it almost has to be a gitch in the Dist.Can you borrow one from a VW bug and just see if it lites at all,regardless of ababtability.Hook the cars power to it ,out side the engine bay,ground it,then rotate the vw dist.(or any other points type dist.) and see if it makes sparks.

912Herman · 04:31 AM

Andrew, if your problem isn't already solved:
A similar problem appeared at my 912. Ignition overhauled, but no sparks. The problem was caused by corrosion at the earth strap connections at chassis and gearbox (should be the same at 356's). To check this, temporary connect ground from battery by a separate wire direct to the gearbox.

wastintime · 03-11-2004, 08:02 AM

Herman, lol, I had that same problem with my 912... I was right, the problem was inside the distributor. I just got the 356 to crank about an hour ago! There is a plastic bushing inside the distributor that prevents the spring clip on the points from being grounded out, and it had a crack in it so that the bottom was splitting and letting metal touch, we replaced it, and after an hour of trying to get it to start it cranked up and it ran fine.

whoever installed the webers did it incorrectly so it's a pain in the a$$ to adjust the idle, but I've got them tuned pretty nicely and the car seems to still drive really well. This afternoon we're going to bleed the brakes and give the car back to the owner.

I'm really glad too becuase this was throwing us for a loop and nobody could figure out why the car wouldn't start.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

Big D · 03-11-2004, 05:20 PM

How do you install webers wrong. DG

Steve F · 03-16-2004, 11:01 AM

You can invert them lefty/righty as so the adjustment screws are inboard(wrong)

vs outboard(tuner friendly)

wastintime · 03-16-2004, 01:46 PM

actually, the throttle linkage wouldn't fit around the air cleaners, so instead of fixing the problem they just bent the linkage and ground away the idle speed adjustment screw on the right carb, so the only way to adjust speed is with the length of the linkage.

those carbs have a lot wrong with them though, they really need to be rebuilt, but that's not something I really want to do.