Engine losses power as I pull out of driveway

[drumyn29]

Originally Posted by jmeckel

Yes Mitch I agree. Time to start, in a logical approach, shotgun approach only increases frustration and spends $'s with poor results. The trouble shooting needs to start when the issue is occurring, not after the fact when all is working. A quick check of the "strap" on the points to make sure when it gets hot it does not touch the case of the distributor. I for one spent a lot of time tracking this issue down on my A. New points are not all made as they used to be.

On the testing spark front, here is the best tool I ever spent $5.00 on, use it on old tractors, old stationary engines, and old cars. It helps to see if there is spark under load, when running. And you can test the spark by yourself.

Home

| Inline Ignition Spark Checker
Pittsburgh Automotive - item#69014
Check your ignition system with this ignition spark tester



Only: $5.99
Sale: $4.99

Now thats a cool and useful tool!!!

[Fred K-OR]

In my olden days, if I remember correctly (which could be questionable) when I would turn off the key (power) with it running fairly fast and then turn it on again, it would let out quite a bang. So don't know for sure but it would seem like a electrical problem of some sort. Coil, bad key switch, loose connection somewhere, etc.. Have you looked at your amp meter when this problem happened? What does it do?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Generator problems too?

What's the ammeter read when driving?

[Mitch//pa]

Originally Posted by jmeckel

Yes Mitch I agree. Time to start, in a logical approach, shotgun approach only increases frustration and spends $'s with poor results. The trouble shooting needs to start when the issue is occurring, not after the fact when all is working. A quick check of the "strap" on the points to make sure when it gets hot it does not touch the case of the distributor. I for one spent a lot of time tracking this issue down on my A. New points are not all made as they used to be.

On the testing spark front, here is the best tool I ever spent $5.00 on, use it on old tractors, old stationary engines, and old cars. It helps to see if there is spark under load, when running. And you can test the spark by yourself.

Home

| Inline Ignition Spark Checker
Pittsburgh Automotive - item#69014
Check your ignition system with this ignition spark tester



Only: $5.99
Sale: $4.99

yep we say it over and over like a broken record. DIAGNOSE. i posted many times about the use of a spark tester

i believe HF sells that same spark tester everyone should have one. try it out when the car is running good to see what a good spark intensity and pattern looks like in the bulb. then when trouble occurs the neon bulb would be dimmer or it could have an intermittent pulsing pattern.

[Mitch//pa]

at work we use these snap on testers i have a half dozen in my tool box in case i want to put one to each cylinder at the same time versus from the coil. or on a modern COP car

[H. L. Chauvin]

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1. With a partially clogged inlet to a fuel line, & very "slow" flow of fuel, many Model A engines can idle like this all day long for hours with no problem.

2. Remember that if you had an electrical problem, during this long idling/running period a heated bad condenser and/or a heated bad coil could get hot enough to cause the engine to stop because of faulty electrical problems.

3. In your case, with your reporting that the engine kills only upon acceleration, (out of the driveway & on the street), what happens is that the increased engine revolutions are "demanding" far more fuel than the partially clogged fuel line can adequately supply with this increased fuel demand.

4. One sees this same Model A problem reported & happening often; however, to try to remember same, we all can relate to an old man siting in a rocking chair for (6) hours on the front porch of an old folks home doing just fine.

5. Then he sees a nice looking 20 year old female track runner jogging by at a fast pace out on the street, so he gets up & tries to follow in the rapid footsteps of this real good looking young jogger.

6. Even though the old guys lungs supplied enough air in the rocking chair all day long, when he takes off running, after 30 feet or so out in the street, he collapses face first.

7. After a few minutes, he gets up & walks back to his rocking chair & everything works fine -- but, also like the old vintage Model A engine, in a few minutes, he won't remember the fast street chase either.

8. Hope this helps to explain some of the problems with supply & demand accompanied with acceleration.

[Mitch//pa]

H.L. #3 on previous posting
engine bogs/ dies on accel
try giving it a hit of carb cleaner while accel and during the bog out. if it picks up its fuel related

[jmeckel]

Originally Posted by Mitch//pa

at work we use these snap on testers i have a half dozen in my tool box in case i want to put one to each cylinder at the same time versus from the coil. or on a modern COP car

That is a much better one, did not know snap on had them at that cost, I will be adding one to my tools the next time I see a snap on truck.

[Mitch//pa]

Originally Posted by jmeckel

That is a much better one, did not know snap on had them at that cost, I will be adding one to my tools the next time I see a snap on truck.

i have used both styles, the snap on light is clear ///easier to read compared to the HF style which is more frosted

[drumyn29]

Originally Posted by Mitch//pa

H.L. #3 on previous posting
engine bogs/ dies on accel
try giving it a hit of carb cleaner while accel and during the bog out. if it picks up its fuel related

Not a bad idea!

I tried looking in the tank for a chunk of something blocking but couldn't see the drain.

[drumyn29]

Originally Posted by H. L. Chauvin

1. With a partially clogged inlet to a fuel line, & very "slow" flow of fuel, many Model A engines can idle like this all day long for hours with no problem.

2. Remember that if you had an electrical problem, during this long idling/running period a heated bad condenser and/or a heated bad coil could get hot enough to cause the engine to stop because of faulty electrical problems.

3. In your case, with your reporting that the engine kills only upon acceleration, (out of the driveway & on the street), what happens is that the increased engine revolutions are "demanding" far more fuel than the partially clogged fuel line can adequately supply with this increased fuel demand.

4. One sees this same Model A problem reported & happening often; however, to try to remember same, we all can relate to an old man siting in a rocking chair for (6) hours on the front porch of an old folks home doing just fine.

5. Then he sees a nice looking 20 year old female track runner jogging by at a fast pace out on the street, so he gets up & tries to follow in the rapid footsteps of this real good looking young jogger.

6. Even though the old guys lungs supplied enough air in the rocking chair all day long, when he takes off running, after 30 feet or so out in the street, he collapses face first.

7. After a few minutes, he gets up & walks back to his rocking chair & everything works fine -- but, also like the old vintage Model A engine, in a few minutes, he won't remember the fast street chase either.

8. Hope this helps to explain some of the problems with supply & demand accompanied with acceleration.

Ok, so here's the question.

I watched the clear fuel filter and it doesn't change as it dies, AND I checked for blockage throughout the fuel line going to carb and it's great, is it possible that it ISN'T blocked in the tank?

[drumyn29]

I just did my half assed test!

I took spark plug wire off the cap, started the car and watched the spark jump to the terminal. While it started to die out I noticed that the spark disappeared completely.

Point gap?

[jmeckel]

Check the point gap, check the soft copper strap that follows the spring strap on the points theses can short and be very intermittent. Check the wire between the upper and lower plate, make sure it is not shorting to the case. If all is good, check your coil, when they heat up they can fail.

[Mitch//pa]

hahaaah an ignition system diagnosis

[Jim/GA]

Originally Posted by drumyn29

I just did my half assed test!

I took spark plug wire off the cap, started the car and watched the spark jump to the terminal. While it started to die out I noticed that the spark disappeared completely.

Point gap?

I have had new condensers dead right out of the package.

Don't assume new equals good.

When it acts like this, it is often the condenser.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi 29,

Two (2) Very Important Specific Key Questions:

1. When your engine dies, what is the minimum number of seconds or minutes do you have to wait before the engine will easily re-start again?

2. Now that it is appearing to die in the driveway, (as opposed to just dying out on the street), once your engine is successfully re-started, & supposedly with the engine running fine, what is the maximum number of seconds or minutes the engine runs well before it either begins to misfire or dies in the "driveway"?

[jmeckel]

Further note:
Only make one change or adjustment at a time, or you will never know if or what it was that caused the issue.

[Y-Blockhead]

Originally Posted by drumyn29

... I watched the glass fuel filter and the gas stayed the same as it died...

If the partial clog was upstream of the filter you could expect the level to go down but if the partial clog is downstream of the filter the glass would stay full even if the carburetor was going empty.

I'm going to get me one of those spark testers tomorrow. Big Labor day Sale and I have a fistful of FREE coupons I have to use up (course I can only use one a day, haha).

[H. L. Chauvin]

Are you talking about the original Model A glass fuel filter mounted on the firewall that stays full after the engine dies?

If so, you have a gravity fed fuel system where fuel only flows downward just like water flows downhill; hence, the original glass bowl should always stay full of fuel as the engine supposedly dies of fuel starvation because gas cannot flow upwards.

Also you cannot see the drain opening on the in-side of the tank because the metal baffles are blocking the view.

Hope this helps.

[drumyn29]

Originally Posted by H. L. Chauvin

Hi 29,

Two (2) Very Important Specific Key Questions:

1. When your engine dies, what is the minimum number of seconds or minutes do you have to wait before the engine will easily re-start again?

2. Now that it is appearing to die in the driveway, (as opposed to just dying out on the street), once your engine is successfully re-started, & supposedly with the engine running fine, what is the maximum number of seconds or minutes the engine runs well before it either begins to misfire or dies in the "driveway"?

20 seconds