The Ford Barn - View Single Post - How often does a Model A have a need for a tow truck?

Synchro909 · 04-26-2021, 07:46 PM

In 50,000 miles, I have had to put the A on a truck twice. First time was after it stood for hours in pouring rain and the top of the motor got wet through the middle hinge. If I had time, it would have eventually dried but the forecast was for 3 more days of rain. The second time was poor diagnostics by me. The distributor body was breaking down and causing the notorious #3/#4 cross fire. We were on our way home from a run of 12,000 miles and I'd lost patience with it after a few thousand miles of it misbehaving.
FWIW, once I got it home, I looked deeper into it and found the problem. I had a spare body with me and a rotor button so I replaced them both. I only got a few miles and it stopped again. After a tow home behind my wife's modern car, I found that the lug inside the rotor button was missing. It was not broken off, it was never there. That allowed the button to spin on the shaft causing the timing to be all over the place. It sounded like WW3 when it stopped and I was in traffic so I couldn't do much on it where it died, otherwise, I would have found that problem and fixed it in a flash.
Sometimes, no amount of preparation/maintenance can prevent a "failure to proceed".

04-26-2021, 07:46 PM	#13
Synchro909 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 7,497	Re: How often does a Model A have a need for a tow truck? In 50,000 miles, I have had to put the A on a truck twice. First time was after it stood for hours in pouring rain and the top of the motor got wet through the middle hinge. If I had time, it would have eventually dried but the forecast was for 3 more days of rain. The second time was poor diagnostics by me. The distributor body was breaking down and causing the notorious #3/#4 cross fire. We were on our way home from a run of 12,000 miles and I'd lost patience with it after a few thousand miles of it misbehaving. FWIW, once I got it home, I looked deeper into it and found the problem. I had a spare body with me and a rotor button so I replaced them both. I only got a few miles and it stopped again. After a tow home behind my wife's modern car, I found that the lug inside the rotor button was missing. It was not broken off, it was never there. That allowed the button to spin on the shaft causing the timing to be all over the place. It sounded like WW3 when it stopped and I was in traffic so I couldn't do much on it where it died, otherwise, I would have found that problem and fixed it in a flash. Sometimes, no amount of preparation/maintenance can prevent a "failure to proceed". __________________ I'm part of the only ever generation with an analogue childhood and a digital adulthood.