start, died, no re-start after new head gasket

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"she sounded so nice for that 45-60 seconds" makes me think it ran whatever fuel was in the carburetor then starved for fuel...I would check fuel pump, lines kinked, filter, etc...first.

Yes! I tried to go outside and check the hoses that run off/to the fuel pump today but the stupid weather was hailing and blowing and cold as heck, so I thought okay ... this is not going to work right now. Then my mom called and of course she talked for an hour, which is FINE but it was the hour before the sun went away and the thunder clouds came back -- freezing & frustrated do not mix well!!! I'm betting on kinky more than on a hose not connected or leaking because there was no fuel smell, but I couldn't SEE under the carb when I put it all back together so for sure something could be kinked down there! I'll use a mirror and a flashlight too just to be perfectly positive

3 things for the engine to run...Air, Fuel, Fire...I'm betting on Fuel... the idle increased...going lean running out of gas... check the spark while your at it (fire).

Yeah, I'm thinking that too now that I've read so much so far, that or the spark... so I'm going to pull all 4 plugs too and make sure they're not covered in anything. If nothing else that'll let me know I didn't screw up TOO bad. I kept thinking that, too, air, fuel, fire, over & over, come on girl, you know this, it's something SIMPLE, and still reading the book and trying to be logical even without the book, but frustrated because it was JUST running.

Thinking maybe instead of just focusing on what makes a no-start situation, what makes a stall AND a no-start, what's the common denominator. Blown fuse or no fuel. Unlikely it suddenly stopped getting air, just sitting idling, my foot wasn't even on the gas at all, so the air to fuel ratio shouldn't have had the opportunity to go out of whack. Maybe air in the fuel line somewhere? Hm, air, maybe a vacuum line? if it was electronic maybe a fuse blew? but for what?

Going through the list of possibilities & ran outside to start checking for kinks & connections but the weather put me back inside to think some more about how to go about it without tearing more things apart than needed.

Get a oil pressure gauge installed. so you can see for sure if pressure is present. Sounds like a fuel issue so far, when an engine stops on a seize you will usually hear like a fan belt screech just before it locks the engine. Though at idle, 40-50 seconds is a little too fast to seize a motor and you'll usually get some heat evidence or smell. Just doing a head gasket also shouldn't cause an oil pump to stop working. Sounds like fuel cut off. Could pour a little fuel in carb and see if it runs for 40-50 seconds again. If not, spark would be next. Don't panic, that won't help. Were here...



LOL she said "F*ck" she is one of the guys now!

OH hardy har har Mister Brad lol. Yeah I was cussin' up a darn storm, couldn't believe it!!! And then the BF is saying maybe it's the battery, where's the charger? I'm so mad at that point I"m throwing stuff out of the back of the shed, stuff that should be ON the patio, but it's winter, I hate winter anyway. BBQs belong on the patio, not in the darn shed in my way of the shelves. So genius am I that I must have lost my glasses somewhere in the shed rage incident and I've been using a magnifying glass since yesterday afternoon. Ugh. Battery was FINE anyway. Figures. Frankly I haven't been this frustratingly mad for years!!!

YES I want an oil pressure gauge, I want all the gauges in the world that I can figure out to be installed, seriously. Oil pressure, tach, every temp gauge possible, everything. Drives me batty when a vehicle makes me guess every darn thing. Oh it's running = must be fine (not!) My mom's truck is like this one, too, in that it doesn't have any dang good gauges, just water temp, fuel, and speed. Oh and some idiot lights that are basically useless because there's no idiot light to say when a lightbulb is blown out. Ridiculous.

Pouring some fuel in the carb is a great idea - why didn't I think of that? Was too busy trying to learn where all the hoses go and which directions the fuel travels from the tank to the engine. Okeedokes. But FIRST I need to check what pennyman said because yes, I can be just that dumb. w00h00 /sarcasm

Check your fuel pump arm - if its on the wrong side of the cam it won't pump and you will run out of fuel. It goes under the cam - it may fight you if the lobe is in the down position.

I'm so suspicious it's wrong... I couldn't get it to go in, about 10 minutes before patience wore out & had the BF figure out how to twist it in there, And I have NO PIC!!! I am feeling so dumb, I just know I was trying to put it on the top, I don't know why just a very bad feeling. I didn't even think about takin pics on the putting back together steps. I know I was trying to get it to go on the top of the cam, I just know it. Unsure where the BF put it in though or how... I can ask him but he'll give a punt answer anyway probably I'll HAVE To pull the valve cover off to be sure. I can't thank you enough for mentioning this, seriously tons bunches and loads, thank you.


Really appreciate the comments here because it IS something basic but I'm so frustrated thinking of all the possibilities of what I touched & what could be messed up.