The neverending saga of my "69. Engine continues to die........>>>>>

[Johnny SixPack]

Well, the latest fix didn't cut it.

Thought it might have been a missing vent tube was creating a vacuum in the fuel system, but sadly it wasn't.

The shop doing the work took it out for a 30 min test drive and didn't have a problem.

The only difference is that when I drove I had the headlights on.

I made it for about 20 mins before the car sputtered and died.

Got it to restart once, but it died almost immediately.

After that the starter would not spin.

You could hear the relay click, and see the light dim, but no spin.

I would have tried the ol' bridge the relay trick, but the car was dead in the middle of Interstate 45's quittin' time traffic.

One of the last times this happened the coil was roasting (very hot to the touch).

The time leading up to this the float bowls were empty.

Didn't get a chance to check either tonight, as guys from the shop showed up and trailered the car back to the shop.

Gotta give 'em credit for that.

The vent tube should have fixed the fuel problem, but there's something else going on here.

The starter relay is brand new, as is the neutral safety switch, so no idea why the starter wouldn't engage.

Like I said, I'm at my wit's end on this one.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated.


Johnny

[Chryco Psycho]

sounds liek the battery is low check to be sure the alt is charging it & you have good postive & ground connections everywhere

[Johnny SixPack]

Will do, Neil.

The battery is a new Optima Red, and the connections are all new, as the battery was relocated to the trunk.

I just don't understand why the car can sit overnight and then fires right up.

That's what happened last week.

Towed the car home, and when Mike (the mech) showed up the car fired right up.

He took it for a 5 min test drive and noticed it bogging.

Brought it right back to the house.

Let it sit there idling, and sure enough it died.

That's when we found the float bowls were empty.

Let it sit for about 5 mins, fired it up.

Limped it to the trailer, and it died again.

The shop noticed the lack of a vent tube and some blockage of the fuel line.

Fixed all that up, and then Mike took it for a couple 30 min test drives and had no problems.

The only things I did different is that I put an additional 5 gallons in it, and was using the headlights and heater (no fan).

Could it be that the headlights are putting too much of a draw on the charging system?

Maybe the electric fan the shop added could be playing a part?

[y3chargerrt]

Charging system draw wouldn't cause the float bowls to go empty. Is the fuel pump mechnical? You tested it's pressure? Have you tried changing the fuel pump rod?

[RECHRGD]

Rust or garbage in the gas tank, clogging the sock, is a strong possibility on the fuel starvation side of it.  Bob

[firefighter3931]

sounds liek the battery is low check to be sure the alt is charging it & you have good postive & ground connections everywhere

The charging system appears to be overtaxed with the headlights on. Try running the car for awhile with the headlights off and see if you can duplicate the symptoms. If the engine continues to run strong w/o the headlights on....you've isolated the problem. Low voltage will make the engine run like crapola. Get a voltmeter on the battery and check it at idle with the lights on/off. You may need to upgrade the alternator to something bigger, especially with the electric fan.

Ron

[Johnny SixPack]

Just talked to the shop, and their latest theory is that the pushrod (and the lobe on the camshaft that accutates it) are worn.

Going back to the ol' electric pump (beginning to think that's why it had one on there when I got the car), but they're only charging me for the part.

We'll see if that works.

They're going to drive to the car back to me as part of an extended test drive (75 min commute), so hopefully that'll prove if it's the holy grail on this deal.

As for ampmeter, i didn't notice it dropping right before this happened.

And just talked to Kevin, and he confirmed that there was a normal draw with the lights on.

I'm still not convinced the tank isn't full of crap and possibly clogging the fliter 'sock' on the sender, but we'll see.

[rt green]

sounds like the old grain truck trick. kids would put soy beens in the gas tank of a truck. the truck would run, and one by one the beans would collect on the sock untill the sock was cloged and no more fuel. the engine would die, the suction would stop, the beans would fall back to the bottom of the tank. the truck would fire up and start the process all over again.    with all the starting of the engine, is the  battery ever fully charged ?   check for a bad conncetion at the fire wall plugs. the three big wire blocks that connect the wires from the engine wires to the inside wires,  lots of problems have been found on the commections.    good luck,   bruce

[Johnny SixPack]

Woo-hoo!

Car is finally on the road.

Some small bugs to work out (seems to want to surge at times and the idle doesn't always drop back down to 1000 rpm), but it was a blast to finally take it out and not have to have the wrecker's # already entered.

The electric fuel pump seems to have done the trick (will post pix of the pushrod for the mech. pump), but the noise is pretty intense.

Will have to mess around with isolating it.

Thanks for all the hints and tips guys!