Motor barely turns over, any ideas?

Asked by spmarrow Jul 22, 2007 at 01:57 PM about the 1965 Ford Mustang

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 65 Mustang and I'm putting in an 87 302 motor. I'm having trouble getting this motor to start. I have the firing order set to the 87 Mustang and have removed a few plugs to rule out a compression issue. The starter, solenoid and battery are all brand new as well yet the motor barely turns over when the key is turned. I've also removed the coil wire to rule out a timing issue. I tried using my old starter first and it seemed to crank it over ok but died shortly there after. Now the new one barely turns the motor over like the old one did right before it died on me. Any ideas anyone??? Help!

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littlehorn answered 17 years ago

How is your ground connection for the battery? This is the long black wire that runs all the way down to the frame. Also, do you have the firing order set-up right? Is your '87 motor a Mustang motor (5.0L High Output) or from another '87 5.0L (standard). The firing order is different from the HO and the standard engines. Another thought is that you have some head gasket or hydro-locking issues with the new engine.

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Tom answered 10 years ago

If your black battery ground is going to frame, make sure you have one going from frame to engine block, because just going to frame is hard to get electrical trough motor mount's.

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