Ok, a little background first. My grandmother purchased this 1976 Maverick new in Patterson California. In 1986, she was unable to drive any longer and my father took possession of the car. From 1986 to 1996 the car was for the most part parked in the garage. I received from my dad in 1996 with 68,000 miles. The car has 155,000 today, with a complete engine rebuild about 10k miles ago. Now the problem: When my dad had the car, on occasion the engine would just cut off for no apparent reason. It would eventually restart, but only after considerable engine cranking. I remember him replacing the ignition module at least twice...which it would seem corrected the issue until the next time it would happen. I have had the same problem over the 13 years I have had the car too. I have replaced the ignition module about 6 times, most recently last week. Well, the car died again today. I have also swapped coils, voltage regulators, battery, battery cables, alternator, rotor, cap, plugs and wires, none of which have solved the problem. I have purchased a new module for the distributer but not yet installed. Any thoughts?
By ignition module, are you meaning points and condenser? or are you meaning electronic ignition? If you are still using points, I highly recommend stepping up to electronic (google pertronix) you will save yourself tons of headaches.
If its electronic the duraspark boxes randomly fail in my experience. My dads truck seems to need a new one every couple years. Is there goo running out of it
replace the duraspark box with a msd or you can use the module from a gm hei distrubor and wire it in place of the duraspark box. there is a post on here somewhere explaing how to do it. its alos on the web. im sure a google search will find it also.
No points no condenser...yes it's all electronic. I thought all 76's came witht he duraspark??? Duraspark box has been replaced...no goo running out...did not solve the problem. I would switch from the duraspark to msd (have one in the 67 Cougar) but wanted to see if there were any other suggestions. Just replaced the duraspark box last week, car still dies.
No goo running out. According to the computer at Autozone, I have replaced 6 times since 2000, most recently last week. They were complaining to me about giving a new one....has lifetime warranty.
Check the module inside the distributor. They go bad as well and can cause problems for months before they fail completely. At least it did on my F100. Also check the wires on the same. It is mounted the the vacuum advance plate which moves all of the time and this movement can cause the wires to wear in places causing an occasional ground that kills the engine. If the engine dies and has not vacuum when you go to re-start it and the wires are still grounding out then the engine won't start. I run the Dura-spark distributor with the HEI 4 pin module on my F100 and like it pretty well. Easy and cheaper than the Ford box. clint
I did purchase from summit the module for inside the distributer but have not yet installed. As far as I know, the distributer module is original. Not sure what you mean about the vacuum....I suppose I can check the gauge when cranking...never had any vacuum issue with this car.
Check the ground to the module. I usually cut the ground wire and run it to an intake or carb bolt. Check output of pick-up coil at module plug with a DVOM in Volts AC. Should show volts while cranking.(you should ohm it too) Check power input and start signal to module. check coil and coil power. check wire from coil to module. Did I mention check the ground to module?
This sounds to me like a fuel problem. For all the time it was sitting it probably has rust in the tank plugging the pick-up. I think its time to pull the tank and clean it, replace the pick-up filter and seal the inside of the tank.
Good suggestion, however during episodes where the car dies, I have pulled off the air cleaner. If the gas pedal if pushed, gas does spray into the carb. Have always had two fuel filters in place: the clear glass type, as well as the one that screws into the carb. Never any evidence of any contamination in the filters. I was unaware that there was another filter inside the tank...thanks for the info. Yes the car did site a bit, but it was driven about 2000 miles per year during that period (86-96). Rust is rarely an issue in so cal, but guess anything is possible.
I'd not rule out a fuel problem either. Usually when a module goes bad, it's bad. They don't magically come back to life for a while. If this generally happens when the engine is hot, I'd start to suspect "Vapor lock". If so, re-route the fuel line so it's further away from the exhaust manifold and/or hot spots on the engine. Also, fuel pumps can cause similar issues. I had a car that required that I replace the mechanical puel pump with an electric unit mounted on the inner fender well and route the fuel lines quite far from the engine before it would run properly.
