1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

Hello
New member glad to be here.
My name is Jim.
I am writing this for my father.
My father has a 1953 ford customline with the 239 ci flathead.
This 53 was given to my dad from his brother completely restored to factory 20 years ago.
My dad takes it to multiple car shows in south Washington state when the the weather allows, this car drives to each show. She is no trailer queen.
He has been having a stall issue when the motor gets hot (not over heating).
Carb, wires, cap, points and now a Pertronix electronic pointless module, has been changed.
Vacuum hoses and plugs have been replaced.
Engine comp is 95+-2psi all around.
The car does have a electric assisted fuel pump that is switch activated.
We have not adjusted valve lash.

My dad has 50+ years car experience and it has us dumb founded.

We would appreciate some incite or ideas into diagnosing this or has anyone had this happen to their flathead car?
Thank you

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

Welcome to FordBarn!! Coil ?

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

75% chance the coil has gone bad. 25% it is the Pertronix module, which is pretty reliable on 12 volt systems, but less so on 6 volt cars.

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

I’d suggest you be a bit more descriptive of when it stalls… pulling away from a stop vs. does when coasting to a stop, etc. And is it manual vs. Fordomatic. A better description might help focus the answers you get. Good luck

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

And condenser - change out both coil and condenser. And use copper core ignition wires. When it quits after getting hot, remove air cleaner and look down into carb while moving the throttle to see if gasoline is being discharged into venturi. Could be the fuel filter bowl on the fuel pump is leaking air if no fuel in carb. Cork caskets on the fuel filter are questionable - I prefer neoprene. When you think the problem is ignition, it is fuel and vise versa. All of the foregoing assumes you dumped the petronix and you cannot use copper core ignition wires with petronix. If you are going to keep the Pertronix, then use spiral wound ignition wire and try a new coil - condenser not involved. I had a 53 with OD - nice car. Enjoy.

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

If the problem is starting when hot, I had the same problem on my '51. It turned out to be a marginal starter that would crank the engine fine when it was cold. When it was hot and harder to turn over, the starter would struggle, drawing extra power from the battery, reducing the current available for the ignition system.

I made sure the armature was good, turned the commutator, and replaced the bushings and brushes (which were almost gone), and everything was fine. A marginal battery can mimic this problem as well. If both are on the edge, you can chase ignition and carburetion problems 'til the cows come home with no effect. If you find the battery is shaky, I would strongly suggest replacing it with an Optima.

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

Hello
My dad has 3 coils, he has done resistance tests to all 3 and tryed each coil and it still happens. When he was diagnosing before Pertronix, points, rotor, cap and condenser was replaced.
It has a new Pertronix unit.
After driving for approx 5 miles coasting to a stop engine stalls. Sometimes engine starts right away and other times he has crank it until it starts. When it is running he can slightly pull out the choke to raise the idle to help keep it from stalling. He has it at regular idle speed of 900 rpms. Vacuum is running in between 15 to 16 inches.
Transmission is 3 speed standard with over drive.
Sediment bowl on fuel pump has neoprene gasket.
Starter was just rebuilt and turns well.
Battery is approx a year old, he has not done a load test on it.
He has not done a charging system output test.
We are not sure which type of wires we have. Thay are an extra set that were given with a spare parts kit when the car was restored 20 years ago. All 8 holes were tested with a spark plug gap test and has bright orange spark.
With the Pertronix timing is set at 2 degrees plus 4 according to Pertronix, spark plugs are new and gapped an additional 5 thousands from stock.

The car can sit in the shop and idle and heat soak for a hour and with in 5 miles it will stall or he can start the car after it has cooled over night, idle for a couple of minutes then 5 miles down the road it will stall again.

Thanks for the great comments.

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

Spark should be white - blue. Orange is weak. Gap plugs to .025. Running 6volt? I would `run points and condenser - Dump the petronix. Drolston gave you good advice - petronix does no do well on 6v. And I would put an ohmmeter on those wires - you need spiral wires if using petronix and copper core with points and condenser. I have had good performance with Packard 440 copper core wires. You last post was very helpful.

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

The problem is either fuel or spark. Spark problem would be lack of ignition spark. Fuel problems can be either not enough or too much fuel.You need to diagnose which (or both). Once the car stalls pull a spark plug wire at the distributor cap and hold it so the metal parts of the wire and cap are close to each other but not touching. Try to start the car and look for spark. If you have a healthy spark as described above move onto diagnosing fuel. If spark is weak or not there at all diagnose the spark problem. Report back what you find and we can better direct your efforts.

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

Had a car that did that very thing. It turned out there was some junk in the gas tank that was floating around in the tank and would periodically shut off the pickup tube in the tank.
Pull the sending unit and look into the tank. Also check to see that no sealer was used on the sending unit gasket. If someone used silicone sealer it turns to "snot" when near gasoline.

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

I’m leaning toward fuel problems. Pertronix units/modules either work, or if they fail they simply don’t work. Basically, they work until failure. If you do replace the coil, the pertronix units are sensitive and must be paired to the Pertronix coil they recommend for your module.

Your engine may idle with a limited pressure of fuel, but when you drive it, it is demanding more fuel. In your case, there may be something inhibiting the flow of fuel and it dies. Whats going on with the carburetor? Old? Dirty? Rebuilt?

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

Thankyou gentlemen. We are checking all suggestions will post back when we find something. My dad has access to the post, he may write something.

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

Mine did the same thing on two different engines. Turned out to be the coil. When it got hot the coil was shorting out internally.

Re: 1953 Ford Customline dies after it gets hot.
 

I had a similar problem...It turned out to be the gas cap. It was non-vented.