why wont my 308 fire anymore? urgent help

[Vk-5ltr Berlina]

today i decided to clean under my bonnet...
i put a large tarp over the engine bay and covered the coil and distributor with a dry towel underneath the tarp..
when i finished i moved it off the grass into the garage and it ran like a pig, misfiring under load, not idleing etc..
i got it into the garage just... and she wouldnt start anymore..
i have fuel at the carby and the battery is full...
i left it for a while and finally got it started and it ran with very bad misfires and blue smoke out the exhaust..
i am giving up untill tommorow in the hope that something simply got wet but i maintain i had the entire bay covered so im at a loss to explain this one....

i really really need to solve this before monday as the vk is getting registered and what not on next week

thanks in advance
cheers

[VS Omega]

Quoting from some random website, hope it helps:

Blue Smoke: Blue smoke is caused by engine oil entering the cylinder area and being burned along with the fuel air mixture. As with the white smoke, just a small drop of oil leaking into the cylinder can produce blue smoke out the tailpipe. Blue smoke is more likely in older or higher mileage vehicles than newer cars with fewer miles.

How did the engine oil get inside the cylinder in the first place? The car has many seals, gaskets, and O-rings that are designed to keep the engine oil from entering the cylinder, and one of them has failed. If too much oil leaks into the cylinder and fouls the spark plug, it will cause a misfire (engine miss) in that cylinder, and the spark plug will have to be replaced or cleaned of the oil. Using thicker weight engine oil or an oil additive designed to reduce oil leaks might help reduce the amount of oil leaking into the cylinder.

http://www.trustmymechanic.com/troubleshoot_smoke.htm

[Vk-5ltr Berlina]

im in brisbane.. i will pay up to 50 bucks for someone to come and have a look at it.. i need a 308 expert hey...
sunnybank hills if anyones handy...
but yer no fix no pay lol

[burnz]

all your precaution's failed
the dizzy is wet dry and try again

[Vk-5ltr Berlina]

can i let it dry overnight or is it best to go and take the cap off and dry it plus wd 40...
is it hard to take the cap of...this is my first 308 so im still learning here guys.....
ps i have a hair dryer lol... just not sure on taking the cap off yet

[burnz]

the cap has a keyway it will only mount one way
but be gentle as it is pretty easy to damage sortove
rotate gently and it will drop into place on it's own

[Vk-5ltr Berlina]

cheers mate i will go and suss it out now...
will it do any damage if i leave it overnight man??

[burnz]

cheers mate i will go and suss it out now...
will it do any damage if i leave it overnight man??

no!
if the motor is still hot this will help dry the unit

[craigvk]

If it doesn't fire properly tomorrow after drying out. get a can of RP7 or WD 40 and spray ALL the ignition leads inside the boots, take off the distributor cap and spray some around in there too. You might have got the air filter wet but the running like a barge-ness is definitely due to poor spark. I have done this before on my brothers 202. I covered the dissy etc but ran like crap afterwards. RP7 and WD40 fixed it up nicely after a lot of head scratching!

[Vk-5ltr Berlina]

well i have taken the dizzy cap off and cleaned it..sprayed it with wd40.. i replaced the leads with brand spankers i had in the shed and much to my dissapointment...extreme dissapointment, still no luck..

the engine turns over and tries to start and momentary coughs and hisses but never fires up... i cant even get it to a point where i can rev it...

is it possible i have flooded the engine with petrol trying to start it?? i had a look at no 1 spark plug and it seemed okay..a bit black but not soaking wet or anything....

i am about to go and test for spark with an old plug but other than that i am totally stumped and totally shattered as its going for rego on monday....in its current state the only place it will be going it the ###ing scrap heap..

[craigvk]

Get a can of aerostart or start ya bastard. Take the air cleaner off and have someone help crank it over whilst you are spraying it into the carburettor. Of course make sure there is fuel in the tank. Can you see the jets spraying fuel when cranking and pumping the accelerator? Remember use long, quick strokes of the accelerator, not quick jerky levering.

[Vk-5ltr Berlina]

yeah there is plenty of fuel bud
i can see it squirting out...
could i have flooded it man?

[Vk-5ltr Berlina]

no luck i have turned the motor over without plugs, then installed new plugs and it chugged for a bit blowing heaps of smoke and had the same problems//
i have given up for tonight in fears of flooding it again.

[craigvk]

If you did flood your carb, after an hour or so it would be cleared because fuel in an open space evaporates. Flooding I wouldn't be worried about. Take off spark plug one and crank it to make sure you are getting a spark. Have it shorted to ground to see a spark. Try aerostart like I said as this does wonders and can bring dead motors alive. Of course you need fuel in the carb but because it's a vapour, it ignites much easier, like lpg and can burn at any temp whether the motor is iced over or hot.

[craigvk]

If my suggestions haven't helped, maybe if you have NRMA or RACV you could get them to have a look? They do this all the time.

[bigg_vin]

i think there are two seperate issues, the blue smoke, and the no-starting....
im guessing the the no starting is due to electrical issues or vacuum issues.... i would suggest checking all the small vac lines going into the carby, and the electrical lines from the battery to the starter, coil, etc... but if you have spark, then probably it will be a vac leak.... have you checked all your plugs, or just number one? the blue smoke is definantly burning oil, but you need the car running first to figure out where your oil leak into the block is..... is your radiator water milky? and is there water in your engine oil? just incase.... also check your engine oil level so you dont cease it..... hope any of this helps slightly.....

[DANNY8]

I know it sounds dumb, but have u made sure the leads are on the right spark plug?

When we washed the engine bay in our VH wagon, we removed the leads, and put them back on afterwards....it had a really hard time starting. It would turn over, and sometimes fire, but not enuf to keep it goin...but after about 10-15 mins of keeping on tryin it got to the stage where it was just run, but like a bush pig.....I even drove it to a job interview.....was the most frustrating drive ever.....it was running like a barge, and a lot of the time it wouldn't pick up speed. After a few days a mate came over and said he'd bet us $10 that we had the leads hooked up wrong. He changed them around, I turned the key and it went like a dream again haha.

So yeah, maybe just double and triple check ur leads, then get 2 mates to do the same and make sure they're right. We thought we had them on right, even double checked.....but still we f**ked up haha.

[craigvk]

Haha yeah VH good story. Can't believe it took you so long before you figured it out! Man I put two of my leads around the wrong way in my 308 once and boy it ran like a total barge! From that day on it reminded me to look at the firing order on the manifold!

[fatboy2869]

PM sent mate. But it might sound dumb but did u do it when the motor was hot if so u could of cracked or blown your head just a throught the other thing is what colour is the water in the rad

[Goon]

PM sent mate. But it might sound dumb but did u do it when the motor was hot if so u could of cracked or blown your head just a throught the other thing is what colour is the water in the rad

Yeah was she a hot engine before the rain hit her?

Maybe the battery's flat or has to much water in it... check your start motor yet?

Your air cleaner casing has no way of getting allot water into it?

Wiring could be wet, REPLACE YOUR PLUGS AND LEADS IF U REALLY WANT.

Dont take your dizzy out, just take the cap off and let it dry.

Invest in weather cover

[DANNY8]

Yeah was she a hot engine before the rain hit her?

Maybe the battery's flat or has to much water in it... check your start motor yet?

Your air cleaner casing has no way of getting allot water into it?

Wiring could be wet, REPLACE YOUR PLUGS AND LEADS IF U REALLY WANT.

Dont take your dizzy out, just take the cap off and let it dry.

Invest in weather cover

If the car is turning over ok it wouldn't be the battery or the starter motor.

[Vk-5ltr Berlina]

thanks everyone i got it started today
feeels really good with new plugs and leads...

i figure first it couldnt fire, then it was flooded and then it was flooded again lol...
i just left her over night to dry and she kicked first time after lunch no worries....

THANKS EVERYONE FOR ALL YOU HELP...ITS YOU PPL THAT MAKE THESE FORUMS WHAT THEY ARE: BLOODY HELPFUL
rwc and rego.... here the 308 comes

[fatboy2869]

Mate no probs did u get my PM if so can u contact me pls

[Vk-5ltr Berlina]

pm sent mate...i got yours....cheers

[Goon]

If the car is turning over ok it wouldn't be the battery or the starter motor.

Though if the batterys flat and there no power to fire, or the starter needs the power to make her fire, im just thinking in steps, things that might help

Have u done a tune or timing recently?