Early Ford V-8 Club Forum

EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / shuts down

Reply to Discussion | New Discussion << previous || next >>

Posted By Discussion Topic: shuts down -- page: 1 2     46fordnut 09-01-2012 @ 7:09 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 332 Joined: Oct 2009 i have weird issue..maybe you guys can help. my car runs fine in drive way but when it goes on highway it runs for abut five minutes then shuts off.if it sits for enough time it will restart.. i do have a small float bowl gasket leak. would this cause the shut down? leaks inside not outside the carb . car is a 1946 ford super deluxe flat 8. 6volt system. new fuel pump installed and half tank of fuel. 100 horse running wild 51f1 09-01-2012 @ 8:23 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 573 Joined: Oct 2009 I've had a similar problem that I haven't gotten around to diagnosing. My truck runs fine, until, after some period of running, it quits. After cooling a while, it will start and run fine. This has happened twice and never happened until I replaced a perfectly good NOS fuel pump with a new one from NAPA. I suspect it's the pump. I'm going to put the old pump back on and see what happens. If you are wondering why I replaced a perfectly good pump, I suspected that the vacuum section of the pump was not working properly, and I wanted a spare pump anyway. The new pump didn't help the wipers any better than the old one. Richard supereal 09-01-2012 @ 8:44 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Sounds like the usual coil and/or condenser failure. supereal 09-01-2012 @ 8:44 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Sounds like the usual coil and/or condenser failure. We ran into a problem like that last week. The car stopped out on the road without warning. It turned out to be a wire that came loose from the generator. When the charging stopped, the battery ran down until the ignition coil voltage fell below operating level. Ordinary six volt batteries don't have much reserve when that happens.' This message was edited by supereal on 9-1-12 @ 9:17 PM Old Henry 09-01-2012 @ 10:23 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 738 Joined: Apr 2010 There are two ways to shut down. Is it like turning off the key immediately? Or, is it like running out of gas - spitting and sputtering a little bit then dying? If it's the second, that's exactly how my 47 died for years until I figured out it was good old vapor lock. I finally figured that out by taking along a jug of water and, when the engine died, pouring some water on the fuel pump to cool it and it started right up. I got tired of dying at the most inconvenient times and places and having to get out and pour water on the fuel pump so I installed an electric backup fuel pump in the frame back by the gas tank to turn on when vapor locked so I could keep going. It's amaxing how much I've had to turn it on this summer. Must be the new gas. If your engine is dying like it's running out of gas you might try the water trick. If it works you know what you've got and what to do about it. If your engine dies like turning off the key, it's more likely one of the other ideas that have been offered. If electrical is suspected I hook up my timing light and clamp the pickup around my high tension coil wire, tape the light trigger down so it's stuck on, string the light wire under the hood so the light is secured on the cowl where I can see it, close the hood, then go for the drive. Every spark from the coil will show in the light. If the light goes out then the engine dies you know you've lost spark and can start isolating and testing ignition components (coil, condenser, points, plugs and wires) to find the culprit and fix it. My two cents, and then some. Old Henry (The older I get, the better old looks.) This message was edited by Old Henry on 9-1-12 @ 10:28 PM 40 Coupe 09-02-2012 @ 4:55 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1676 Joined: Oct 2009 It sounds as if something has gone thermal and this problem is usually ignition related. The easiest thing is to change the ignition condenser with a new one from NAPA. The problem could also lie with the coil. The carb leaking does not sound like the problem, unless the leak is very big, even if the condenser does solve the problem you may want to check the float level and fuel pressure, make sure the inlet valve is metal and not vitron tip. fla48 09-03-2012 @ 2:49 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 128 Joined: Nov 2011 I have had bad coils do this to me. Once it was like I turned off the ignition switch. Another time the car sputtered and then died. Both times, after the coil cooled down the car would start and run normal. Skip does an outstanding job of rebuilding coils. 46fordnut 09-05-2012 @ 11:41 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 332 Joined: Oct 2009 Ok , thank you. I'll check this out and let you know 100 horse running wild Mercury8 09-15-2012 @ 4:25 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 16 Joined: Dec 2011 I had the same problem with my 40 Merc. After all the usual diagnostics, quick fixes, parts changes, tearing my hair out, etc., it turned out to be something everyone overlooks. What is that? RESISTOR!!! The resistor can be a real difficult problem to identify, because no one thinks of it. You can check the voltage to the coil, and it appears OK. A few miles down the road, the resistor gets hot and can drop to almost no voltage in a second. This problem drove me crazy until an old Ford mechanic told me to check the resistor. Try idling the car with a volt meter on the coil wire and see if the voltage starts to fluctuate after the engine warms up. I even caught mine dropping to less than half a volt, and the engine quit. Give it a few minutes rest, and the voltage can go back to normal. I changed my old original resistor to a NOS unit, and problem solved!!! There are a few articles about the resistor in the V-8 Times, but back several years. These articles go into a lot of detail on this subject. If you have a bad resistor, you can change the coil, distributor, points, condensor, carb, spark plugs, plug wires, ignition wire, etc. and never solve the problem until you replace the resistor. Alan supereal 09-16-2012 @ 11:09 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Carry a jumper wire with you that has clips on the end. If the car stalls, or doesn't want to start, put the jumper between the coil input and the hot side of the battery. If the engine starts and runs, you will know the problem is between the input to the ignition switch and the coil. In any case, it will get you home. Don't forget to remove the jumper when you get home, or you will cook the coil.

<< previous || next >>

PAGE: 1 2

NOTE: YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED USER AND BE LOGGED IN TO POST (and reply to) messages in this forum. If you are a first time user, please click the CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT in the masthead above to register and Log In. After that, all you do is LOG IN to enjoy using this site.

DISCLAIMER: The V-8 Club does no independent testing of any of the opinions, thoughts or suggestions presented in the website on the Forum, in the Tech Tips section, or any section. A reader should consider the website to be a forum wherein differing solutions to a particular set of circumstances may be discussed. Ultimately, the selection of an item for an individual's vehicle must be based upon the independent study of the vehicle owner in consultation with people in the hobby and restoration experts.

EFV-8 Club Forum Home | Back to Home Page | Contact the Webmaster

Copyright © 2009 - EFV-8.org
Powered by < CF FORUM > v.2.1