background: 1955 ford fairlane, 272 y block 2 barrel Was running just fine till oneday I started her and she just died out. Things I’ve tried so far.... Installed new fuel pump Ballast resistor New points and adjusted New ignition coil New voltage regulator New condenser Rebuilt carburetor New gapped plugs New battery That’s all I can recall atm of what I did. So at this point, she starts but will die out if I don’t keep foot on accelerator. Advice???? I’m at a loss
Will it keep running if you keep foot on accelerator? My first thought was if that was the case you had a vacuum leak somewhere.
Frustrating as it is, best keep chipping away. It sounds like you have done all the things that can be thought of other than new plug leads and air filter. I had a buddy who never changed is air filter, then one day it just would not let that engine run and it was the last thing you would think of as the culprit. It would idle but once under load it would just die... Best of luck and I hope it is the air filter for your sake.
Yeah, vacuum leak where a manifold gasket has decided to fail. Do some reading about vacuum gauges on the internet and how they can be helpful in discovering some engine issues.
by "died out", you mean have never been able to get it started since? or can start it, she just dies?
Ok, going to check on vacuum. Any other ideas, keep ‘me coming. Lol I’m willing to try everything at this point
Try spraying some wd40 or carb cleaner on those areas while keeping it running. If it speeds up a bit you should have found the leak.
An old back yard trick is to rev the engine up and close the choke completely and open the throttle wide open. You may have got some junk stuck in your carburetor, this may pull it through. Bones
I use a piece of old hose, with one end to me ear and the other as a probe to move it around the upper engine area and listen for louder than normal air ****ing which can some times help to pin point a place of vacuum leakage. Don't cost anything and similar to the WD40 trick is a good starting point.
Until the last line of your opening post I was thinking the primary wire from your distributor had a break or bad connection. Since you have fuel, spark and air, I have to go with the vac leak consensus. Stop spending money on parts and just spend a little time on tracing the possible leak. I prefer a light weight oil, in an oil can, like diesel or mineral oil. It's messier than a spray but you can easily put it on very focused places. Start with the gasket between the carb and intake, the carb shaft, then the intake to head gaskets. When the engine is stumbling, the fluid will temporarily fill the leak and should smooth things out. Next check the vac hoses. The older engines don't have many but it only takes one. And by "check", I mean you take every one off and inspect for cracks or splits, mainly at the ends, but sometimes there can be wear or a split somewhere in the middle. I once had a split around the cir***ference of a hose at the barbs of a fitting. The more I tightened the worm drive, hose clamp, the more I split it. The problem was hidden to me and only a R&R could find it. You have to remove the hoses to inspect them and replace any that are damaged or hardened from age. Good luck and keep posting about how and what you find. There is a huge brain trust here that can and will help.
No one has mentioned the Vacuum Advance on the dist. If that diaphragm goes bad it will have the symtoms described.
Early load-o-matic distributor advance gremlin. Bit me once and changed to the 57 and later distributor. All good now.
What carb? I've had Many carbs that just need the p***ages cleaned, sitting an poop fuel these days makes it a Much more reoccurring problem! Sounds like a clogged p***age to me..
Check vacuum advance and vacuum leaks. Y blocks are notorious for intake gasket leaks. Try a different source of fuel in case the fuel in the tank is bad . Connect the fuel pump to a hose in an external fuel container.
Hard to diagnose from a distance. Ive had engines that wouldn't run correctly. and it was sometimes a combo of several things. stuff like a loose timing chain. Bad powervalve. bad vacuum advance and frozen centrufical advance. Best to get a 57 and newer dist for your Y block. find a large flange 4 BBl intake that's a great upgrade for any Y block.
Did '55 have Load-o-Matic distributor? They are kind of tricky, they depend on the special carburetor venturi vacuum for the advance, and will not run right otherwise.
I would try fresh fuel + clean inspect carb. Rebuild as needed. Todays fuel is awful as someone else mentioned. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
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