No start at gas station

fourfords

fourfords

Senior Member
I came off the freeway today. Warm, about 90 degrees average speed 55. Pulled into a gas station, bought gas. '37(All stock) would not start back up. Switched the electric fuel pump on. A good Samaritan pushed me out downhill. Finally started back up after popping clutch a few times. Is this a Coil/Condenser issue? A fuel issue?

What do ya think?
 
My guess, based on my 47 is fuel boiling over in carb or vapor lock. I suffered from very slow starting when hot and replaced damn near everything. The ground straps were good and the battery cable was clean. After doing everything else I bought a ground cable to connect between the studs on the firewall where the engine ground strap and the battery ground strap connect. Also replaced the star washers and added new ones both on the firewall side and the head of the bolt. That did the trick and it fires now hot or cold. Still has a tendency to vapor lock unless the fuel pump is turned on. This is in spite of the fact that I have a carb insulated. Hope this helps and I'm sure people smarter than me will chime in.
 
Most likely vapor lock. Even when one does everything to relieve the problem it might not clear out. I'm wondering if your electric pup was working. When a car won't start you need to figure out why. Just looking into the carb and watching to see if fuel squirts out the jets tells a lot. If it needed to be pushed to start it may be flooded. My 49 when hot needs the throttle wide open to start.
 
I am leaning towards "vapor lock", both suggestions are wise adjustments to make.
You can never have too many grounds.
How long have you had the car? I know that we all develop little remedies for the quirks of our old rides. I am planning on selling my 52 truck and do a model A project before I am too old to enjoy the adventure. I want to work on something older than me.
All that to say that I have been compiling notes of how I have learned to deal with little "quirks" of my truck which I will pass along to the next owner.
When you find a combination, fuel pump, choke setting, amount of throttle needed to get it started, make a note because you will no doubt get the chance to use or share the combination that worked for you.
 
under the dash there is a resistor for the ignition run a by-pass around it. Use this only to start, it will give the coil a full 6 volts. USE it only to start as full voltage with pit the points. This will not help if you are vapor locking. Try to buy non-methanol gasoline, flatheads forever.
 
I would say vapor lock also. When you stopped and shut the engine the temperature rose enough to boil the fuel. Has this happened before?
 
Clean all connections on the ballast resistor including ring connections on wires, I had same problem with my 41. It would not start after a run ,unless it had time to cool off. The ballast resistor is located under the dash above steering column on inside firewall. This is an easy fix if this is your problem. Al
 
Battery A-OK. Starter would just grind as usual but wouldn't start. I tried every variation of the choke and throttle. I will clean the associated wiring connections. Pushing the car and popping the clutch was the last resort. Even that was sketchy, but It finally succumbed to my persistence! Thanks to all of you. Happy Thanksgiving!
 
Since you had just filled the tank, it's possible you picked up some trash in the fuel. If your vehicle has an in-line fuel filter, check to see that it's not clogged. If it doesn't have a filter, now might be a good time to install one. Just a thought.
 
Push starting works because there is no voltage loss from the starter. Trust me a resistor bypass works.

fourfords said:
Battery A-OK. Starter would just grind as usual but wouldn't start. I tried every variation of the choke and throttle. I will clean the associated wiring connections. Pushing the car and popping the clutch was the last resort. Even that was sketchy, but It finally succumbed to my persistence! Thanks to all of you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Click to expand...
 
I agree with the last post. The next time it happens run a tempory jumper from the battery neg. post to the coil batt. post. If this fixes the problem, run a wire from the starter side of solenoid, through a diode, and to the batt post on coil. Of course, this assumes that we are talking about a 6 volt positive ground system.
 
When you stop for fuel, or any other reason, the ignition coil will "heat soak" resulting in low or no spark at the plugs. If you have an old original coil, it is likely it is failing. Have it rebuilt or replaced. George "Skip" Haney does a fine job of rebuilding. He can be reached at 941-505-9085. Failing coils have long been the real cause of "vapor lock". The original internal insulation is paper that disintegrates and allows shorts between the windings, resulting in poor or no spark.
 
Shorted turns in the secondary of a coil are sometimes hard to spot, it will ohm out more or less nominal and the spark is "OK" but not what it should be, it will be attenuated. Maybe need a scope for that.
 
Do the quick coil check when it is hot and not starting. Pull the coil wire out of the distributor and hold the metal tip near metal on the engine. When you crank with the ignition switch on, you should get a white or blue spark that will jump at least 3/8". You can use a plug wire if that is more convenient. No spark or short yellow spark says coil is the problem. I put phenolic spacers on the carbs and added an electric fuel pump before I discovered that the coil was a bigger problem than vapor lock.
 
The gap on the points. These dists require a special machine to set the points but in a pinch make sure the are approximately .018 to .019 gap if they are in the .014 .015 range open them up if the situation seems to be better my guess is one of the set of points is not opening when the distributor hits approx 170 degrees F if this seems to help send the distributor to Skip he is fabulous! !!
 
I am stumped. Stock '37 Car drove fine getting home on last excursion. Will not start now -A week later. Doesn't seem there is electric getting to wherever. I cleaned every contact I could find. I switch out coil with brand new coil. Tried several condensers, switched out fuses. Poured a little gas in carb to prime, -nothing. Is there a malfunction inside distributor? What is the next step? Any suggestions?

Many thanks, -Dirk
 
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