87 Olds 307 questions

[81Regal]

I just picked up a 87 Cutlass Salon today and it has a stock 307 in it. The previous owner had an upper radiator hose blow off the waterneck and he said it got up to 285 before he shut the car off. Now the car wont start.
1) What could cause the hose to just blow off, hose and clamp are fine, no longer has any antifreeze in the radiator.
2) Its getting spark, fuel and air, checked compression on 5 of the cylinders, ranged from 85-100 so while the compression is low it doesn't appear to have a blown headgasket or melted a piston. what would be the next spot to look? The engine cranks over normally, just no start.
Not looking for it to run like a new car just need to be able to move it around for now.

 

[jetsetw31]

Go through your checks again. You had to miss something. Also take the cap off, check rotor movement for too muck timing chain play. Rock the crank pulley back and forth with a socket.

 

[81Regal]

Will do, along with checking the other cylinders for compression. I took the cap off and had somebody crank the engine over, dist seemed to turn normally. One thing that did seem odd was that I took off the fuel line and cranked it for a few seconds the fuel didn't come out evenly, it was "pulsing" or spray out then stop for just a second.

 

[565bbchevy]

I remember an old school trick of pouring some trans fluid down the carb to build up compression though it is a temporary fix and smokes a lot initially it did work.

 

[foxtrot]

I'm thinking that your compression @ 85-100 is wicked low. Atry some starting fluid..

 

[81Regal]

The compression is low but it should still start, starting fluid didn't help at all.

 

[jetsetw31]

Base 307s didn't have great compression to begin with. The stock fuel pump does pulse, so that's ok. check the condition of the plugs and plug gaps also. What I meant with using a socket to turn the crank is first you turn the engine in the opposite direction by hand then slowly turn it in the correct direction watching how long it takes the rotor to turn. A good chain and the rotor will have almost no lag time between the crank. On a bad chain the rotor will wait before beyond about 30 degrees of a turn before it moves with the crank. That's how you know if you need a new chain. I do that on any new engine or car I get.Iy works on any engine with a distributor.

 

[81Regal]

Just a quick update, haven't had much time to work on the car lately. The distributor turns like it should when you turn the crank pulley. Checked the other three cylinders didn't find anything different. Plan is to pull a valve cover and see if there is anything broken.

 

[MuttCut]

How did you check for fuel and spark? Did you check spark at the plugs? Did you check fuel at the carb?

 

[81Regal]

I did check for spark by taking out the #1 plug and having it in the wire while turning the engine over, weak spark but it was a steady pulse. The fuel I pulled the line off the carb and turned the engine over, put the line back on without the fuel filter in the carb, fuel came out the accelerator pump nozzles when the linkage was moved.