Still dying....

[mhsprecher]

Well, I finally took my 39 sedan out for a drive tonight after having the carb rebuilt. I was nervous, because it has stranded me every time I have tried to drive it in the last few months. The car was running better - it didn't stumble on acceleration like it had before the accelerator pump was replace. On the way back home after about 6 miles, I could tell it was having problems again, so I coasted into a parking lot and we walked home for the other car and some gas. After priming the car, it would run and then die. Just like before. I called my good friends and AAA and they were on their way.

For grins, I tried to start the car and it started. I drove about half way home and it died again. Same symptoms. I updated AAA as to my location and then tried the car again. It started and ran and got about half way home again and it died. I was fortunate to get it off the main road and onto a side street. I updated my friends at AAA as to my location. This time, I let them come and get me and take me home. I expected the car to start and let me drive it into the garage, but no dice. Priming worked like before - it would start and then die. Tomorrow morning I do expect to go out and start it and drive it into the garage.

Clearly a fuel problem of some sort. It probably isn't the carb, though I guess some crud could have gotten into it. I would guess fuel pump, but maybe vapor lock? After the carb was rebuilt, the car does not start right away, but does after priming. The car does have an electric fuel pump, but I have not been able to determine whether it works, so next up is checking the electric fuel pump and maybe rebuilding the standard fuel pump.

Any ideas?

[GB SISSON]

Disconnect the line at the carb and put it into a glass jar. Then crank with ignition off. See if there is a pulsing stream of gas into the jar. There should be. Now engage the electric fuel pump. You should see a stream of gas again. Do you have a fuel filter or just a glass bowl? Nothing should have gotten into that new carb. You really seem to be starving for gas. Does your fuel tank feed right from the bottom? I usually drill out the entrance to the shutoff valve and insert a copper tubing 'standpipe'. This pipe is about 1 1/2" tall and has slots cut part way across with a hacksaw. It is open at the top. This keeps the crud from stopping up the shutoff valve. The slots let you make it home if you don't have 1 1/2" of fuel in the tank. I don't have access to a shop that will put the fuel tank in a solution to completely clean it so I have adopted these measures. Best of luck with this.

[weemark]

Are you sure it's the carb? Seems if it cut out after 6 miles it would be getting hot, then it restarts after you wait and while, in which time it cools down. Have you checked the coil and condenser?

Electric pump is easy to check - if you have an electric pump does it have a regulator somewhere to keep the pressure down to 2.5psi?

[mhsprecher]

Coil was rebuilt by Skip circa 2007. Not sure about condenser. Yes, FP checks are pretty easy. Not sure about pressure. Something else to check.

If it was the coil and condenser, it wouldn't start after I primed the carb, would it? It will start when I prime it and then die like it is starved for gas. If I keep the choke pulled all the way out, it sometimes does help for a while. It does seem to be heat related. After sitting overnight on the street, it started right up this morning.

[JSeery]

Stick a fuel pressure gauge on it so you can see what is going on!

[weemark]

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to rule out any issues with your fuel tank take the pipe from the feed side of the fuel pump and stick it in a can of gas. that would rule out any crap in the gas tank blocking the pickup

could your gas tank vent be blocked? does it run any better if you take the cap off the gas tank?

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

Remove the gas cap, leave it off for awhile, I've seen more than one, the breather in the cap won't let air into the tank. Walt

[fordhistory]

Yes, it sounds like a fuel delivery problem to me. You could have sediment/rust intermittently clogging the fuel line, or the rubber flexible fuel line, the rubber line that connects the steel line to the fuel pump is deteriorated. Remove the rubber line, pull it straight, and look through it. You should be able to see right through it, but if you can't, or the hole is partially blocked, replace the line.

[big job]

This happened to me. My truck a very nice 1956 F350 express '9 ft body. 272cic V8
Ok I know I'm clean I know my pump is putting out but still get a couple miles and
flame out. Wait good for a mile or two. Just made it to my shop flame out. I now
blow the line back to the tank. Try it again it will run all day, go around the block same
thing.????????? I siphon most of the gas. Pretty easy tank behind the seat, and I
remove fuel sender and stick a flashlight nice and clean but I find a green sliver like
a snake. Now I drain the rest of the gas (dry) stick the shop vac. in there. My best
guess sometime before me, somebody siphoned gas with a green garden hose and
sliced a sliver on maybe the gas neck. Then I remember as a kid people dropping
pencil erasers in there ta make ya life miserable... Another high school prank was
to write with a lead pencil inside distributor cap-that will stump the best. How was
that, because in high school the teacher did that and nobody figured that out....
So there is suction from the pump and doesn't take much for some unknown to get
drawn in like a sink drain then acts like a foot valve...time to drop the tank. sam

[mhsprecher]

Great suggestions all. I will look into all of them. I was talking to a guy this morning who had some suggestions, too.

[FlatheadTed]

Pull the tank of your ride on mower and place it in the passengers side hung from the sun shade ,fix a hose to the carb through the window if it drives fine you know your problems are south of the carb ,if it has electric pump its a indicator of having a history of problems that the previous owner was not able to to sort ,you could also run a wire from the spark plug to the dash attach a spare plug to that with a gap of 1/8 and monitor the colour of the spark as you drive ,I suggest you wear a flame proof cover all's if you do this test both at the same time, Ted

[Terry,OH]

When the car quits have you done the basics to see if there is fuel in the Carb. and the accelerator pump is squirting?? If you do the basics you can eliminate systems and narrow down the problem area. You said "Clearly a fuel problem of some sort" what makes this so clear?? I would only guess your carb is a 94. Did the Carb get a rebuilding kit from Dayton? Was the Carb rebuilt by a local tech or yourself? Was the power valve replaced? When was the time the ignition condenser was replaced? Was it replaced by a NAPA FA49?

[50fordcoupeman]

On my 50 coupe the same thing was happening. Let it sit and cool down and away we would go. After doing almost all mentioned above and as weemark says, it turned out to be the coil. Just sayin.................

[paul2748]

The events you describe could be a classic bad condenser. It will work ok when cold, but once it gets hot it fails. After awhile it fails completely.

It's also indicative of junk in the tank. The car will run, but it sucks up the junk closing off the supply. When it stops, the junk settles back and the car will run until the junk is sucked up again.

[mhsprecher]

Yep, it could be a bad condenser. I have a new one and I may swap it out, but I will focus on the fuel first. A friend rebuilt the carb using a kit from Daytona, so that should be good. Hard to do much all by yourself. I hope to look at it tomorrow.

[Mart]

I had exactly this on a couple of cars. In my case it was not the carb, or fuel. Also it was not condenser or points. In both cases it was rotor or cap. In the divers helmet type distributor the rotor can develop a weak path and the spark will track through and short out on the shaft. This plagued me for ages and gave exactly the symptoms you describe. I too, thought it was fuel.

I had the same problem with a crab dist too. In one instance the rotor had failed and the spark was tracking through to the end of the shaft. In the second case it was the crab cap, which was tracking through to the retaining clip.

For completeness, I also had the same problem with a Lucas dizzy. The rotor is the weak point on these ones.

I find it best to run modest plug gaps and try and keep the ht loading of the ignition as low as possible.

I hope this info helps you, because I spent a long time chasing fuel problems that I did not have. The symptoms were just like yours.

Mart.

[mhsprecher]

I spent some time on the car today, just chasing down a few things. The electric fuel pump does not seem to be working. At least it made no noise when I switched it on. There is juice to the pump. I did not disconnect the fuel line and turn on the pump. With just me working on it, that can be tough to do.

It looked like the carb was leaking, too. I was able to tighten the screws on the carb body, not really loose, but not tight, either. The bolts that hold the carb onto the manifold were not as tight as they could be, either, so maybe there was some air leakage. The car started and ran well. I did not take it out on the road as I had plenty to keep me busy and I did not want to get stranded again.

I did notice that the fuel in the bowl on the fuel pump is golden colored. The gas is fresh, but the car had not been run much in the past. There was some debris in the bottom of the glass bowl. I cleaned it out and the fuel pump drew gasoline back into the bowl quickly. I should probably drop the tank and have it cleaned out. There is still 1/4 tank of gas in it

I was trying to diagnose a short in my lights. I had this problem when I bought the car. I thought I had fixed it, but I guess not. I will see about replacing some of the wiring, as it is old and very tired. Working at it bit, by bit.

[JSeery]

If there is some debris in the tank that may be the issue with the electric fuel pump. Unless there is a filter between the tank and the electric pump it will plug it up.

[FlatheadTed]

If the carb is leaking then the fuel level is to high ,this can be caused by debris under the needle ,ted

[weemark]

If the gas looks a kind of golden colour in the glass bowl that's normal. As fuel comes into the bowl any sediment should fall to the bottom, again completely normal. It wouldn't do any harm to put a filter in line though.