95_5.8

So I have a 95 f150 5.8 that I had to redo the intake manifold gaskets on over the weekend. After a broke bolt into the head, dealing with reinstall of the distributor, and all around pain of leaning into the bay... I finally got it all back together. Go to start the truck and the fuel pump turns on but the starter is turning extremely slow. Everything is hooked up except for the ground strap from the intake to the firewall which the end broke as I unbolted it. Is that the culprit? Also my hood will not latch down it gets to the latch and stops. Any ideas?

fltdriver

You may have something preventing it from going down, bolt laying on the weather stripping above lights (been there, dark bolts are hard to see against the black rubber).

The broken ground could be causing the slow turn over, this could be tested by running a length of wire from the block to the firewall bolt.

88xlt

Your timing could be advanced too far causing the engine to turn over slow. Turn the distributor counterclockwise to retard the timing and see if the engine turns over faster. Is your battery charged good?

95_5.8

The battery hasn't gave any issues. To retard the timing I turn clockwise correct?

95_5.8

Counterclockwise..
I planned to run a new ground anyways. I had everything marked and lined up as far as the distributor goes. So I'm not sure how that would be advanced

88xlt

The rotor turns counterclockwise, so to retard the timing turn the distributor counterclockwise also. So the rotor gets there later.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

You might have accidentally closed the main latch when you were leaning over it. Have someone pull the hood latch handle while you open it w/ a screwdriver or something.
Hook a booster cable from the neg battery post to a good spot on the motor to see if the ground is the problem. If so clean the engine ground up good.

95_5.8

I didn't even think about the latch closing by me laying on it... Any thanks guys hopefully it'll be running strong tomorrow.

95_5.8

So new ground is in, latch was closed preventing good from closing ( my bad). But it's still NOT starting rarely get any pops from the exhaust. 98% of the time it just cranks. with the balancer set at 10* btc on compression the rotor faces the number one on the cap. Can't locate this spout I'm hearing about. Would that being plugged in prevent the motor from starting?

88xlt

The spout connector would not prevent the motor from starting. The main reason for the spout connector is so it can be removed when setting the timing with the engine running, it takes the computer control from distributor timing. Forget the spout connector as the problem for it not starting.

At this point you would need to determine if you are lacking spark or proper fuel delivery. I would spray some starting fluid in the intake to see if I could get a response from that, or pull the coil wire and hold it away from the terminal while some hits the starter. Or turn the switch on and use a remote starter switch to crank the engine if you don't have a helper.