Re: Stuck on side of the road
[Re: strokin73cuda]
#349916
06/17/09 08:48 PM
06/17/09 08:48 PM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,295 Someplace you aren't
SomeCarGuy
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,295
Someplace you aren't
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I wouldn't worry about it being something big at this point. 4 hours run time isn't very long, and gremlins can take some time to flush out. Could be as easy as something loose that worked on out in the run time.
I had a slow to a stop deal a few weeks back. It was the VR. I also heard a real loud pop when it fully died. Do you have voltage in the rest of the car?
I want my fair share
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Re: Stuck on side of the road
[Re: SomeCarGuy]
#349917
06/18/09 02:13 AM
06/18/09 02:13 AM
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 5,037 hi
sharpie
OP
Moparts Linguist
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OP
Moparts Linguist
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 5,037
hi
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Alright, I am back and with some long-winded updates. Bear with me.
I got home this afternoon from work, and immediately jumped in the car and tried to start it. I cranked on the starter for a good three seconds, and it still didn't start. Cranked like a champ, but no start.
Then my neighbors came around to help. I had one crank on the starter while I held the coil wire out of the distributor and near a ground. It arced, I got a nice shock, so I knew I had spark. We then tested the voltage at the coil, and came up with approximately 8-9v, while the resistor had 12v on its hot side.
I then pulled the plugs. HIGHLY carbon-fouled, and reeked of gasoline. I'm not sure if they reeked of gasoline because I completely doused them with gas trying to get the car moving this morning or not, but they smelled of gas and looked of charcoal.
I put new plugs in and hooked this fancy old contraption (read: test light) up between a spark plug wire and the plug itself. Then I cranked the starter and it arced inside the contraption.
So from here, I know I have:
12v to the resistor 9v to the coil spark to the distributor spark to the spark plugs good new gapped (.040) plugs fuel is spraying into the carb when the butterflies open up
Larry (MrBelvedere2 on Moparts) comes over, and we try to start it again, and it starts up without issue. We let it run, and it sounds a bit rough, so we put the vacuum gauge on it. I lean it out and it sounds better and is at 15" of vacuum, so I lean it to the point that it gets rough, and then turn it 1/2-turn richer. It idles fine, and as we're congratulating ourselves, right in front of us, not thirty seconds from finishing the adjustments, the car sputters and dies. It runs strong for the 20-25 seconds that it's idling, then slowly dies. It takes maybe 5 seconds to die, and during this time, it loses about half its RPM. I will have to have Larry corroborate the sound it made, but to me, it sounded like the engine was gasping and trying to breathe as it died. It didn't sound like the 'knocking' sound you get when you run out of gas.
So we then thought it might be the carb. Maybe something's stuck in the idle air bleeds or something? Anyway, so I took my entire carb apart (Holley 4160), cleaned it with brake cleaner (half of which I got in my eyes), and then blew it out with compressed air. I also checked the power valve by sucking on the large end, and it was able to pull the diaphragm and the spring/metal piece inward and hold it there. So the power valve seems to be good.
I finished too late to try to start it again, so I will test it with the cleaned carb tomorrow. If anyone has any other tests that I can do, or has any other ideas or advice, please post them. I'm kind of frustrated and really lost at this point.
What gets me is, the damn car runs fine for a little bit. And it ran fine before this morning. It just suddenly took a turn for the worse, and I can't find what's causing it.
Thanks for listening, and again, any information is appreciated.
Last edited by sharpie; 06/18/09 02:26 AM.
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Re: Stuck on side of the road
[Re: sharpie]
#349918
06/18/09 02:19 AM
06/18/09 02:19 AM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,295 Someplace you aren't
SomeCarGuy
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,295
Someplace you aren't
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Bad ECU box
or
bad ground to the ECU.
Try a new box and run a dedicated ground to it to rule that out and prevent problems down the road.
Might get by just cleaning the box back and the firewall with some sandpaper.
The ECU can do some wierd s*** sometimes.
I want my fair share
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Re: Stuck on side of the road
[Re: 1965_PLYMOUTH]
#349926
06/18/09 10:37 AM
06/18/09 10:37 AM
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 12,481 Chino Valley
RodStRace
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 12,481
Chino Valley
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Be happy the coondition is present often enough to diagnose and fix! It's those "every two weeks after driving 50 miles at 65" that can make you drink! Before you install the carb, check the plug's condition. Install the carb and run it again. Be ready to look down the carb when it acts up (flooding?), and have the MM connected to the coil to see if the input changes. If the carb isn't flooding and the voltage doesn't crop, it's most likely going to be the coil or ECU or ECU ground. Also be happy it isn't the expensive internal stuff!
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Re: Stuck on side of the road
[Re: SomeCarGuy]
#349930
06/18/09 01:53 PM
06/18/09 01:53 PM
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,382 Iowa
burdar
Owen's Dad
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Owen's Dad
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,382
Iowa
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Quote:
Might get by just cleaning the box back and the firewall with some sandpaper.
SAND his firewall...he just got it painted.
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Re: Stuck on side of the road
[Re: burdar]
#349931
06/18/09 06:13 PM
06/18/09 06:13 PM
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 5,037 hi
sharpie
OP
Moparts Linguist
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OP
Moparts Linguist
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 5,037
hi
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Yeah, I don't actually mind sanding it, and I'd probably sand it just enough to ground. Does the ECU ground through its box or does it use one of the wiring harness grounds (i.e. coil connection)? Also, I wonder if the ECU is going bad because it's laying on the inner fenderwell instead of being vertical on the firewall? I heard the connections might get problematic, but I thought it'd take a while for the connections to fail because of water-log or corrosion. Anyway, I will do a loaded voltage test this evening, as well as hooking a MM to the coil and letting it idle till it dies (if it dies). I do have a pretty dirty fuel filter. I wonder if that is maybe restricting fuel flow? But I adjusted the floats and the level of fuel seemed to be reactive Also, is it a problem to run two fuel filters - one before the pump and one after? I am scared of what's in my fuel tank from all those years. But I also know the tank is venting fine. Is the fuel cap vent the same thing, or does it need to vent from the fuel cap and the tank?
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Re: Stuck on side of the road
[Re: sharpie]
#349932
06/18/09 06:54 PM
06/18/09 06:54 PM
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345 Marysville, O-H-I-O
70Cuda383
Too Many Posts
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Too Many Posts
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 21,345
Marysville, O-H-I-O
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if the tank has a vent, then it shouldn't need a vented cap, unless you're pulling more fuel out of the tank than what the vent can let in, but that is highly unlikely...you'd have to be at WOT, 7500 rpm, for like...5 minutes for that to be your problem.
**Photobucket sucks**
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