I'll check for flooding. The flap looks OK. It only opens the inch or so you mentioned. I'll try and fire it up in the morning.

 

still doesn't want to start. Is there a strength of spark required?

I just found some old service records. The former owner had one that read "needs cap & rotor" and then service mentioned where they CLEANED the cap & rotor. 5 thousand miles ago.

I'm wondering if this is the ol cause.

 

something else I justnoticed. the coolant was low. when I refilled it and accidentally left the cap off, then turned the key the coolant was bubbling out of the resevoir. Does this sound like a blown head gasket to you?

 

It does sound as though you may have a blown headgasket, but the car should still start

 

Unless of course there's not enough compression.

I'd give it a compression check.... then go from there....

 

Yes, that's probably a better idea from 600SL_CRUZIN

 

pull out 2 two spakplugs.

are they WET?

 

I take it wet plugs mean the head gasket is a goner. I'll have to check.

As for the spark. Under the distributor cap there was fair corrosion. I was hoping this was what was making it not fire up.

I'll check for wet plugs first.

thanks again, everyone.

 

wet with gasoline i mean.

it won't start if it's wet with gasoline. you will need to clean and dry them well.

 

The first thing I'd do is get a compression tester and give the car a compression check.

This is not that hard to do and it can save you heaps of time chasing your tail.

This will give you a quick "picture" of the condition of the engine.

If you don't have good compression you are just going to be throwing parts (and money) at it to no avail, because without the compression you can throw whatever you want to at it and it's still not going to run.