Dead A on the side of the road question

[Mister Moose]

Drove the Tudor today and it was 85 degrees. Car got up to operating temperature. Pulled into a gas station to squirt in a few gallons. Started right up, drove 200 feet, and it was like turning the key off. No sputtering, no surging, just dead. On a 4 lane busy road no less with no shoulder. Luckily a few guys from a business across the street came over to help push me to the next driveway.

After 10 minutes it occurred to me to check the temps of the condenser. The exhaust manifold was about 350 and the condenser was 210.

After the condenser cooled to 100. I tried the starter and it fired right up. Ran great.

In the past when I had a bad condenser it would run sputtery and weak. This just went dead. Is this symptomatic of a condenser as well. or something else?

[Ivan in southeast va.]

Possibly vapor lock.

[nkaminar]

As Ivan said it could be a vapor lock but also could be the condenser. Carry some water and a rag to wrap around the fuel line. The later Model A's had a heat shield over the exhaust manifold to protect the condenser. In my car I have the modern points and condenser that lives inside the distributor body and I have a dummy original type condenser for cosmetics.

As you said, not the usual failure mode for a condenser.

[Mister Moose]

As you can see with the manifold heater, the usual condenser heat shield doesn't fit. On top of that, there's more mass of hot iron closer to the distributor. When you stop and there's no airflow, it's easy to see there's a lot of heat there.

Where does vapor lock usually occur? In the carb? Fuel line?

I'm going to try to rig something out of aluminum flashing to deflect some heat.

[Tacoma Bob]

Could be crud in the gas cap blocking the vent. Next time immediately turn the gas cap. If you hear a swoosh that's the culprit.

[jb-ob]

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Mister M.

Very common in summer months, usually from the gas in the carburetor boiling and flooding the engine while you where stopped. Hard to re-start & initially runs very badly. Next time in the same situation, turn off the gas and let the engine run the carburetor dry. Restarting with fresh cold gas from the tank much easier.

My second thought might be the condenser cooking from the heater manifold.

Experiment.

[McMimmcs]

I’ve experienced the exact same and it was vapor lock.

[Big hammer]

Check your points gap......check your timing...... Are you still running antifreeze? water runs 20* cooler!...... I'll trade you my flat top Otwell manifold for yours..lol

[Ranchero50]

Pretty easy to check for spark on these old girls but your arm might go numb.

[700rpm]

I’m sure you know that FORD stands for Found On Road Dead, right?

[MickyD]

And I thought it was Fix Or Repair Daily.

[700rpm]

That too. Like FIAT: Fix It Again Tony.

[Stew Masche]

How about
F’d Over Rebuilt Dodge
You know, in the early years, the Dodge Brothers did manufacture transmissions and chassis components for the Model T’s.

[updraught]

From my reading the Dodge Brothers were the backbone of Fords success in the early days. I gather they slept, eat and breathed machining and manufacturing.

[DBrer]

Originally Posted by 700rpm

I’m sure you know that FORD stands for Found On Road Dead, right?

First on race day.

[Synchro909]

Found On Rubbish Dump!

[Jacksonlll]

This happens all the time in hot weather. Just pour about half a bottle of water on the carb bowl and keep going. Don't change anything.

[Bob-A]

I use to have a vapor lock problem until I started using Marvel Mystery oil.
Even had the problem in my '29 Chevy and it had a mechanical fuel pump. Again MMO to the rescue.


Bob-A


Skirts are for women not car fenders!

[nkaminar]

Moose, You might try a heat gun to see if you can replicate the failure. Be careful with the heat gun around gasoline. Start out with a low setting, maybe 250 F. Have a fire extinguisher handy.

Please let us know what you find out.

[ryanheacox]

I see you're in the Hartford area. We just moved to Newington. The A is still back home but I can imagine driving it around here will be a tad more stressful than back home in the country.


My money is on vapor lock too.

[gdmn852]

Hello, you may have also gotten some winter blend gas ,gas is formulated to compensate for seasonal temperature change.Winter gas is somewhat more volatile to burn at colder weather so can lead to vapor lock in warmer weather.If your Model never did it before,that could be the problem.