Have you checked your distributor cap? I had a similar issue last year. Had a nice drive and car was running great. Was at a redlight and when I turned it cut out on me. Restarted, but cut back out after 100ft. Had to get it flatbedded home, which wasn't a couple miles thankfully. Turned out the distributor cap was bad, the center carbon button was all but gone. This in turn must have taken out the MSD box. Replaced both & running great since. The coil tested good, but I replaced it anyway.
I didn't check anything else because, frankly, I was so annoyed by the car that I just put it up on the quickjack and went inside to enjoy the rest of my Sunday in front of the TV, haha! Unfortunately, with work, I may not be able to really look/test anything until the weekend. But all these posts give me a lot of research to do.
You said you just had a ton of work performed on the car including electrical work and now your headlights don’t work. I would start there with that as the culprit. How much did you drive the car after all the work? Why not get the shop or person that did all the work to take a look at what they did before going down 15 rabbit holes.
Headlights work now. I just meant that when I initially got it back, the headlights failed the first night I drove it, so took it back there for them to fix, and then they found other electrical issues as well and fixed those too. All for more money of course, so I’m hesitating on taking it back there now again (even though I’ve used them a lot) just because I’m scared of how much more it’s gonna cost me.
Agree with everyone proposing narrowing it down to fuel or spark.
If it just dies, without warning - it’s probably spark.
If it hesitates, and coughs and stutters, then dies, it may be fuel.
Rene’s suggestion (pull a plug after a stall) is a good one.
You want to narrow it down to reduce the troubleshooting possibilities.
Good luck -
Rocky
(Easy for me to say, but I’m betting it’s a coil or loose wire!)
@Riley posted:I didn't check anything else because, frankly, I was so annoyed by the car that I just put it up on the quickjack and went inside to enjoy the rest of my Sunday in front of the TV, haha! Unfortunately, with work, I may not be able to really look/test anything until the weekend. But all these posts give me a lot of research to do.
Above all, do not explore them all otherwise you will get lost!!!
Troubleshooting is a logical step-by-step process and certainly not following the advice of the neighbour's uncle's grandfather who had the same thing on his Ford T 90 years ago.
It is true that with experience you can "feel" where the breakdown is coming from, sometimes even without being able to say why, an impression which is in fact based on the multitude of those you have already seen. With experience you can also know that on this type of car there is a weak point often at the origin of this kind of breakdown and start by checking this point but you do'nt have this experience and it cannot be shared not or very difficult, therefore METHOD, METHOD and again METHOD.
As I told you above first determine if it is the gasoline or the ignition.
Assume it's ignition (wet spark plug and no sparks) then you go up the current path:
- Spark at coil output? Yes/No? To do this, you disconnect the high voltage wire that connects the coil to the distributor on the distributor side, you bring the end of the wire close to a metal mass (1/4'') and you operate the starter. Sparks ====> it's probably the distributor cap. No sparks ====> we continue but without replacing the distributor cap because the brother-in-law of the neighbor opposite solved a breakdown by replacing his.
Coil energized? Yes/No? For this you need a voltmeter and check if there is the right voltage where it is needed, this voltage and the terminal supplied vary according to your type of ignition. The voltage is good ====> there is a good chance that the coil is defective. The voltage is not good ====> we continue to go up the current circuit but there is no point in replacing the coil because that of the neighbour's uncle's grandfather was faulty 90 years ago.
etc., etc.....
I don't know what ignition setup you're using, I've got a Duraspark II. My car behaved just like that as my module was on it's way out.
Here's an easy way to test for spark without getting zapped. My preferred tool is a #2 phillips screwdriver. Next time it dies, try this. You will need someone to crank the engine while you observe. You should be able to pull a solid 1/4" spark arc.
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Riley,
Seems like a lot of information coming your way. Stay the course, you will find the issue. This is a great example of a car community helping each other out. It makes the hobby enjoyable knowing you meet so many people willing to help you enjoy your passion. Good job all.
Good idea the screwdriver!
Here´s another little nifty tool for checking spark, you can even place it so you can crank the engine yourself and see it through the rear window.
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...It's Much Easier than that! Borrow a Coil...Start the engine, (IF) it fails again, You KNOW it's NOT the Coil! Pull the Air Cleaner and Check the Carb Accelerator PUMP...Fuel Shoots Out, Or NO FUEL! If it 'WILL' NOT Fail, then You Know it WAS the Coil! Proving a Spark at the Plug or other...does Not Prove the Coil will Not Fail in Time! And a 'Spark Test' done wrong will Blow the Coil, as the Spark will Not fire to a Ground, but will burn through the Windings, 'Seeking' ground to the Primary wiring! The very reason a novice will buy a brand new Coil, 'Bench Test' it, slip-up wrong, blow it out and then think they received a 'Bad' Coil. It only takes One Time!
MJ
I've never grilled a single coil, even when I was young and inexperienced but I'm not saying that, with a lot of bad luck, it can't happen.
But if your neighbor has just THE right coil to lend you, it's actually easier.
I'll ask the Pantera guys near me and see if any of them have one...
I have definitely fried at least one coil. Most likely by leaving the key on. In any case, the car would not start. It surprised me because the coil was almost new. Depending on the ignition system that is in place, the coil can get too hot to touch.
Thats why I suggested the late model e-coil. The can-of-oil type coils are designed to start on 12VDC, then switch and run for hours on 9 VDC. When you leave the ignition on but not running, it feeds 12VDC continuously and the coils are not designed to take that energy. The Ford solid state transformer-looking coils WILL take 12VDC all day long.
That bit me years ago when I was doing something under the dash and decided to listen to the stereo while I worked. Turned the key to IGN instead of ACC and less than 10 minutes, the OEM coil went "POP" & began to leak insulating oil.
If you decide to run the TFI coil (the one Bosswrench is suggesting) and have a Duraspark ignition, I found that you don’t want to run a ballast resistor or you may get a miss at high RPM.
Rocky
Good catch, Rocky, Yes, NO ballast resistor ('71-'73 or resistor wire ('74-up) with the TFS e-coils. I use a Ford but speed-shop e-coils work the same. I'd like to stress that you do NOT need the entire TFS ignition to use those solid state coils.
What has been described are not the symptoms of a failed coil. A failed coil will do one of two things. 1) It will not fire the ignition at all at cold start up 2) it will become "intermittent", i.e., it will start a cold engine but when the engine is warmed up or hot, it will not fire on a restart.
This is fuel related. Look at your own title to this thread.
It should be mentioned that Holley carbs have a tendency of clogging the idle air bleeds in the main body which will also give this stalling effect. What is confusing is that the carb will show fuel in it when you squirt the accelerator pump and will start but will almost immediately stall the engine, That's because the idle system is not engaging.
While you are on the subject of ignition, you may want to consider upgrading it to a solid state distributor like the Motorcraft, a better control unit like the Pantera-Electronics Ignition Controller and one of the aftermarket coils that P-E recommends with the Controller.
If we do not proceed methodically but instinctively, checking the venting of the tank seems to me to be a good lead. Plus it's easy to check and it doesn't cost anything, just open the tank cap as soon as the engine stalls, if that's pchittt, that's it!
So I replaced the fuel filter yesterday, and it was pretty bad. Drove the car for about 20 min to lunch and home, and no issues. Seemed like that was the issue. Then this morning, was supposed to meet our local Pantera group, and the car made it 30 miles no problem, and then while I was just pulling in to park, the car dies. This time I noticed that all the electrical died as well. Started back up, then died... and now no power at all. Luckily was there with a couple other Pantera guys, and they were able to help me push it into a safe parking space while I waited for a tow. After 30 min, the tow arrived and I was able to start it enough to drive it on the tow truck.
After discussing with the guys with me, it seems like it's really electrical. PIM just installed new Fluidyne radiator with their dual fans setup, and we're wondering if it's pulling too much power. My headlight motor burned out the first day I got it back, as well as the electrical connections with my gauges were overheating... which they had never done before. Then PIM fixes those issues, and now this.
I ordered a new coil per all the suggestions here, but we were also talking maybe I need a new 3-wire alternator to handle the much more powerful fans. Thoughts?