I have a 1930 Ford roadster with a 392 Hemi. I am having a problem that makes no sense!! I have injoyed the car running for 3 years without any problems, until now. I was driving the car at the Lone Star Round Up, in the rain and it started to miss very bad. I seemed to only have been running on a few cylinders. I played with the timing and the fuel regularor, but nothing made a difference. I changed the plugs at the hotel and she was back in action, but shortly it did it again (two more times). I figured it must be a weak coil with the distributor I was running, so I ordered a new one. In the mean time, I noticed that if you plugged a timing light to the alternator and squeased the trigger, the engine would run right. (Weird!) I changed the distributor to a Joe Hunt and it still did the same thing. I changed the alternator to a new bigger one (I also put in a new larger battery). The car seemed to run better, but still not right. Now you can start the car and keep the RPMs up at about 2000 until it smooths out. Only then can you let off and it will idle. If you don't, it just dies. This is where it really gets wierd. If you start the car like I just said and immediately kill the battery kill switch, it will idle just fine. Only thing is the tac jumps a bit. The only thing that the switch shuts off is the positive on the battery. I have also put a new fuse block, wired a new key switch and re-cleaned the ground connections. I have no idea what else it could be. Please give me some ideas! Thanks for all your help. By the way, this car has about as bare bones as you can get as far as wiring goes. Also the lights are always bright.
Sounds like a possible ground problem or more like a direct short. Have you traced all of the wires going to coil, distributor, ignition ? Where in Tx are you ?
I could keep guessing. You may have fixed the original problem. And know need to dail in all the fixes..?
This is my guess too. Also could be a wire going to the coil that has come loose or has a break in it.
yeah, just keep touching wires and stuff on the engine (running) until you get bit, there's your problem! or look at the running engine in the dark...
Sounds primary voltage related. Check voltage at distributor. Check ballast resistor ( if your system uses one ) Check distributor, alternator & block to ch***is ground. Could be dirty contacts in ignition switch. Try to "hotwire" it as a test.
It does have new plug wires. Yes the top was up when it started raining. It has a second new Joe Hunt set up with new coil built in. I have chased every wire and found no problem. It makes no since at all to me. I changed the ends on the battery cable already, but tomorrow I am going to change all the cables and maybe run an extra ground cable to the engine. I think what was said that I may have fixed the problem and just need to dial in everything sounds good to me. I will go over everything again tomorrow and I will let you know what I end up with. Thanks for all the help everyone! By the way, I am near Houston.
I did check all of it and even called Joe Hunt to verify my findings. I agree with what you say, the car just does not want to let go of her illness. Maybe she is pissed about my new car coming. LOL
Based on what you have said about the timing light and the battery kill switch your problem is in the wiring coming from the alternator and returning to the battery or the main positive wire from the battery. There is a short in that wiring somewhere. One way to check that would be to disconnect the battery and alternator and use a good set of jumper cables connected to the starter positive and ground to the engine. If it runs good then it is probably in the feed back from the alternator to the battery. If it still runs bad disconnect the main line from the battery to the started and try it again. If it runs good then the problem is in the main positive wiring from the battery. If that doesn't work do what Squirrel said.
I'm with the ground guy. I think the problem is in the electrical sys. faulty grounds cause funny things to happen to good cars..
Hunt w/Internal coil? Is it based on HEI? IF so, try running a #10 wire from the battery to the + term on the dizzy and see if that helps. Also, make sure the coil housing has a GOOD ground.
Might try a "fine mist water spray" with tap water from a spray bottle, in the dark, and watch for arcs, and listen for engine changes. Works well sometimes!!!
I Read your post on the problems that you are having,disconnect the Tach,what the heck you have tried everything else,as silly as it seems i had a boat with a small block chevy in it,a real nice newer boat,anyway it drove me nuts for 2 weeks,finally out of desperation i disconnected the Tach,ran fine,replaced the Tach,ran fine,sold the boat,boat ran like ****,hard to start,and when it did it ran horrible.just a thought ,good luck.Gerry
The car does not have an electric fan on it or any other electric powered item. I am going tonight go over every wire one more time, then change all battery and ground cables. If it still is doing it I am going to print out this post and go right down the list. I really appreciate everyones help!<O</O
your alt. is overcharging, you say you changed it, seperate reg?. I bet it will run right with the headlites on also,
It is my guess that it is your alt. Disconnect it and see how it runs. If that is not it then start to disconnect things until you find what it is. I mean everything, Lights switches everything. Water has got someplace it shouldn't. Also keep a can of WD40 handy and when you think something is it spray it with WD40 and see if it clears up. Good luck Fuzzy
With the battery on, you can turn on the head lights on and it will kill the engine. If the battery is off it will not. Go figure.
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