Still having fuel problems.., updated!!

[Canadian1968]

   
Still have a fuel problem ....
« on: Today at 06:25:49 PM »
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I had posted about a vapour lock problem I was having with my car . Since then I have installed a thermal carb gasket, as well I got new mopar vapour separator and installed. I also fabbed up a new 3/8 hard line from stock location up to a T fitting to feed the Holley.

The car will still stall on me when it get to peak operating temp.  According to the gauge approx 190.  Difference between before and after the changes is that I am able to fire the car back up after it stalls but it has a hard time idelding and will die as I put it into gear. Approx 10 mins of cool down and I am able fire if up and drive untill it get to hot again.

Question i have iswhen I have cap off my rad, should I be able to see as thermostat opens. Should there be a very visible flow to the coolant?? What are some checks to see if my water pump is working right??

[Canadian1968]

Well no one seems be replying but, here is what i just did.

Started the car up with cap off. I could not see any visible flow thrwe the top of the rad, Allowed the car to warm up for approx 5 mins. A slight flow can be seen passing threw the top of the rad. I do mean slight, the only wat i can see it is, by putting a light in the top and watchin some very fine debris pass threw the coolant.

Does this sound normal or should it be more compared to a open garden hose. And should just check my thermostat first? 

[ACUDANUT]

Well no one seems be replying but, here is what i just did.

Started the car up with cap off. I could not see any visible flow thrwe the top of the rad, Allowed the car to warm up for approx 5 mins. A slight flow can be seen passing threw the top of the rad. I do mean slight, the only wat i can see it is, by putting a light in the top and watchin some very fine debris pass threw the coolant.

Does this sound normal or should it be more compared to a open garden hose. And should just check my thermostat first? 

That's normal. What temp. does your engine get to.?  Mech. or electric fuel pump. ? If u have a mech. pump, what is the PSi. have you looked at your fuel pump rod length?

[Canadian1968]

Well according to the gauge approx 190 - 200 I would say. But it is damn warm under that hood when I pop it. Mechanical fuel pump H/O stock replacement piece . I am not sure what my psi is
Has an aftermarket aluminum rad

[RIDELIKEHELL]

I'm in a similar situation and I'm still working the kinks out... hoping to do some road testing tomorrow.... my next step will be to check my fuel pressure from my pump but as of yesterday we think its not getting enough fuel. hoping firefighter Ron chimes in on this one 

[RIDELIKEHELL]

Well according to the gauge approx 190 - 200 I would say. But it is damn warm under that hood when I pop it. Mechanical fuel pump H/O stock replacement piece . I am not sure what my psi is
Has an aftermarket aluminum rad

i'm also running an aluminum rad(Wizard cooling) but my temp is around 175 max?

[Chryco Psycho]

what Thermostat are you suing , Motorad are problematic , I generally use stant , you could drop to a 180* , how new / clean is the rad , what water pump are you using , a high flow may help , do you have a spring inside the lower hose to prevent it from collapsing ?
I would be more concerned with the fuel pump pushrod , with off the shelf oils I have seen a lot of them worn down so it will not cycle the fuel pump fully & will starve the carb .

[Canadian1968]

I am not sure what thermostat is in there it was change along time ago !!! For argument sake I think I will just replace it.  The fuel rod problem is interesting but why does it only happen when the engine is fully warmed up???

The rad was used but is in very good condition, actually purchased threw a member on the site (firefighter) The water pump is stock.

Another problem I am considering is the return line from the vapour separator being clogged ?? 

[Cooter]

Sounds more like a carb problem too me.

[firefighter3931]

What is your timing set at ? If the timing is not optimized the engine will develop too much heat on the top end and be difficult to restart when warm 

What carb are you using ? Float level set properly ?

What gas are you using ? If it has ethanol that is another potential source of trouble. 

Here's what i would do :

(1) change thermostat to a Stant or Milodon high flow
(2) check and adjust timing if required
(3) check float level in carb
(4) drain off fuel and try some Shell 91 octane fuel (non ethanol based blend)

*Several things can cause overheating on the top of the engine and if the carb is jetted too lean the top end will get very hot.

As for coolant circulation ; when the themostat is fully open you should be seeing lots of flow across the top of the rad when you rev the engine up. 




Ron

[Canadian1968]

I will try these suggestions and see what happens !!

[Canadian1968]

So I am waiting on a new thermostat. 

I did a check tonight that I had read in another thread.  I started the car up and let it run until it died.  As soon as it died i removed the plug from the fuel bowl. A tiny rock and fuel comes dripping out. So I am not out of fuel as I thought.  The bowls are still full of fuel when it dies. 

I also tired swapping out ballast resistor just to see if maybe the currnet one was over heating or something??? But no change. 

The carb itself is reasonable cool, as are fuel lines, and fuel pump.  The ignition coil on the other hand is burning hot, I can put my hand on it for only a second.

I checked the timing before it died, approx 15 which is actually a bit much I think, the car runs very smooth and pulls 20' of vaccum???

The temperature gauge still reads about 190 in between stalls.  I can fire it up after the initial stall but run time after that is limited to approx 2 mins. 

Suggestions??

[firefighter3931]

It is possible that the coil is overheating. Next time it dies check for spark.  

It"s one of two things....carb flooding or no ignition.  



Ron

[Canadian1968]

Well I picked up a coil (street fire MSD) threw it on and fired up the car. Let it run for prolly 15 mins , good and hot the car did not die!! Now I was not driving it just letting it run in the drive way but it has died on me before in he same senerio . AnywAy finally picked up the new thermostat, the new one was 185f I was surprised to see when I pulled the old one out it said 160 !!!! On the bottom. Put the new one in and fired it up my temp is reading approx 210 -215 deffinantly a lot higher than the old thermostat. Again I let the car run and it did not stall . The new coil is still getting very hot though!!! I think I may throw the old thermostat back in . I would rather have cooler temp then hotter ??!

[firefighter3931]

Yes, cooler is better than hotter.  I've had great success with the Milodon 160* high flow thermostat 

Where is your timing set at ?  You should have at least 16* at idle 

If the timing is retarded or the jetting is too lean it will overheat 


Ron

[Canadian1968]

Timing is at 12 degrees I will try advancing it a bit more

[firefighter3931]

Timing is at 12 degrees I will try advancing it a bit more

Here's a good test ; keep advancing your timing until the engine stops increasing in rpm ; that is how much "base timing" your engine wants. Snug the distributor down and record the timing number. Disconnect vacuum advance if you are using it and plug the port in your carb.

Get your vacuum guage out and install it on the baseplate of your carb (full time vacuum > not ported vacuum) and adjust your idle mixture for maximum vacuum. This is the ideal A/F ratio on the idle circuit.

Re-adjust your idle speed to 850 rpm and let it idle to see how the engine runs 

Depending on how much mechanical advance is built-in to your distributor you may have to make some adjustments.


Ron

[Canadian1968]

Well good news for those that are interested!!! I got new coil (street fire MSD) put it on and ran the car for a good 25-30 mins without problem.  Let car sit over night , put the old super stock accel coil that I had on before did a trip around the block to warm it up and pulled into the drive way and waited. Looking for a couple screws to keep myself busy it wasn't 10 mins and I heard the engine start to miss slightly. Hoped in gave it a rev or two put into drive , it was deffinantly doing the same thing as before. A reverse and forward in the drive way and it does almost on cue.

I pop the hood immediately and throw on the new coil . Turn the key and fires up like a champ, take it for drive around the block , with out even a slight miss as far as I could tell . So conclusion is a bad coil no doubt. Still a little confused as to what exactly would be happening inside the coil to cause but glad I found the problem!!!

Other point to share- I put the 160 stat back in and have timing set 15 and increased idle slightly.

[firefighter3931]

Good detective work. 

The Accel supercoil has reached the end....all parts wear out eventually. 

The probelm had to be electrical or fuel delivery related based on the symptoms. Marc (Ridelikehell) recently resolved a very similar issue and his was electrical as well. 



Ron

[Mopar Nut]

Nice work!