Recently I got in a small wreck and dinged up my car and had to replace my rear axle, as I was doing so I left the keys on and I am pretty sure I burned up the points. After replacing the points, cap, rotor, condenser, spark plugs, and coil, and rebuilt the carb, the car still has a really hard time starting and will not stay running. Using a timing light I have found the wire going from the coil to the distributer is inconstant and that is how I have narrowed it down to maybe the resistance wire. Any tips or different ideas? Anything helps.
There are two wires that run from the coil to the distributor. The negative wire to the points and the wire from the top of the coil to the distributor cap. To which one are you referring? Have you checked the positive side power into the coil?
There are two wires that running from the coil to the distributor. The negative wire to the points and the wire from the top of the coil to the distributor cap. To which one are you referring? Have you checked the positive side power into the coil?
I've never seen the resistance wire bad in any Ford... Ones I've seen with sw left on and points closed overheated the coil... To check read voltage on battery side of coil with points closed, should be 6-8v depending on resistance of coil...
I have checked the positive power to the coil and it is 6 volts while the car is running. The car sputters and dies after only about 20secs and I have to restart it again. The positive wire going from the coil to the distributor is new. When I put a timing light on that wire from the coil to the distributer it is highly inconsistent. Shouldn't it be almost constant because it is sending power to the distributor 6 out of 6 times?
Yeah light should have a steady flash, just 6x normal... Connect a jumper wire from battery to bat side of coil, start engine and see how it acts... If problem is power to coil it should run OK... Of course a flaky coil may well run OK with 12v instead of six... Note you'll have to disconnect the wire at battery in order to shut off engine(well if that cures stalling problem)... Don't run it in this mode more than minute at a time...
I connected the coil directly to the battery and it still ran poorly then died just like it was before i connected the battery
How many miles on the distributor? Check for play. What is your plug gap? What about the plug wires? Micah
You mentioned runs for 20 secs and sputters and dies, sound more like fuel issues? You said you got into a small accident, was there any damage to the steel fuel lines? Just one other thing to check in the AFI.......air, fuel, ignition picture. Possible that accident dislodged dirt/rust and could be in fuel lines, do you have fuel filter? David
I have a brand new fuel filter and rebuilt the carb so there is no rust in it and i checked the lines and they are good and all the wires are brand new as of last night and it still doesn't run the plug gap is just what it was from out of the box
should still check plug gap, never assume it is correct just because it came out of box..........said it is hard to start and once running will sputter and die after 20 secs. During the time it is running, how is it? Smooth, rough? did you check for any vacuum leaks, this can also cause issues, rough running, sputter and then die. What about the carb rebuild, did you do it yourself or was it an exchange/rebuild, did you have a chance to tune it? Timing, what is it set at (initial)? How many miles on the engine, it is possible that timing chain has jumped a tooth if it is worn and can cause harder starting. As you can see, there are many things that can cause your issues, without actually being there, can take time for members to try and figure things out for you. After the car sputters and dies, when you pull on the throttle, is there still fuel squirting into the carb?? Where the points set up correctly?? David
