StartsByItself

TudooR31

TudooR31

Member
I've been having some random dropping dead episodes while driving on my '31. Ignition would just stop but I generally was able to restart within a few seconds. Thought I traced it down to a new coil & cap I purchased. They were a loose fit on the coil lead cable and though the cable would not fall out of the coil, I figured that was causing the ignition to cut out suddenly & randomly. Put in the old coil & cap and she's run fine for over 200 miles... then had another ignition stall last night at 35 mph. The lights stay bright and the amp meter is centered. So it's slowing down to around 25 mph. I put in the clutch, retard the timing and before I touch the starter, the engine starts running again. I'm still coasting in 3rd gear with the clutch in and the motor just comes back to life. I let out the clutch and continue home dumbfounded. All the battery cables are new. Cables routed away from any moving clutch/brake arms. Shut-off switch mounted on starter is new. Safety switch is new. All connections are tight. Condenser & points are new. Ignition switch & cable are new. Good gas flow to new Zenith carb. Tank is clean. Alternator is new. Thought the carb might of had some clogged passages/jets but runs perfectly on a friend's model A. So I'm running out of weird situations that could make an engine quit, then start running by itself.:confused:
 
check the wire between the top and lower distributor plate. If any part of it is making contact with ground, it will short out and kill the motor. Retarding it could have opened the short and coincidentally cracked open the points as they moved back over the cam, causing a spark.
 
How far do you have to turn the ignition switch before the engine stops? If you barely move the key and the engine stops I'd guess the switch contacts don't make a very positive engagement. I've seen several repro ignition switches this way.
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
How far do you have to turn the ignition switch before the engine stops? If you barely move the key and the engine stops I'd guess the switch contacts don't make a very positive engagement. I've seen several repro ignition switches this way.
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Yes, I was going to say the same thing. Also, when the engine dies why are you pushing in the clutch/etc to hit the starter button? Why not release the clutch again and let momentun restart the engine? If the engine doesn't immediately start again with the clutch engaged, start adjusting different things (ignition switch, choke, spark lever, etc.) to see what makes the difference.
 
pat in Santa Cruz said:
check the wire between the top and lower distributor plate. If any part of it is making contact with ground, it will short out and kill the motor. Retarding it could have opened the short and coincidentally cracked open the points as they moved back over the cam, causing a spark.
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Good idea! I'll check this. Just happened to have a new one as a spare. ;)
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
Yes, I was going to say the same thing. Also, when the engine dies why are you pushing in the clutch/etc to hit the starter button? Why not release the clutch again and let momentun restart the engine? If the engine doesn't immediately start again with the clutch engaged, start adjusting different things (ignition switch, choke, spark lever, etc.) to see what makes the difference.
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That is certainly the most logical way of restarting while moving. The past few times I have engaged and released the clutch and felt the compression slow the car but it was not firing. By that time it's going pretty slow and I retard the timing, engage clutch & hit starter again. One constant thing I'm doing is retarding the timing before restart so I'm going to check that inner wire as Pat in Santa Cruz suggested. Thanks for the feedback, Brent. :)
 
It sounds like the key item here is moving the spark control. Perhaps the points are losing their ground and moving the control lever re-establishes the ground?
 
TudooR31 said:
Ha. My 1st thought was the car is just haunted.
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Believe it or not, back when I was a little kid there was a man (Jake Westmoreland) who had a Coupe that would "free start" on tours. I always thought that was the coolest thing and I can remember working for hours on my dad's As trying to make them free-start. Never could, -and don't really know what his secret was. Now my Model-Ts will do it many times with reliability. I have done it so many times it became boring to me. :D Sure would like for a Model-A engine to do it though... ;)
 
I was told everything has to be just perfect for it to start by itself. My 30 started by itself while I was in the car. Scared the daylites out of me before I realized what was happening.
 
Back when I was driving my "A", a good bit, I had it start, a couple times, as soon as I turned on the key. I had it to "cough", several times, but not starting though. I always wished that I could get it to do it on command.
MIKE :)
 
Back in the 80,s,I had a 26 TT truck & I had it out for a drive.I parked it in the garage & the next afternoon I went to start it and as soon as I turned the key,it fired right up.It was quite common to get free starts with a warm engine but I was quite surprised to have it start almost 24 hrs later.
 
I replaced the lower dist. plate and no more 'free starts' or better, 'drop deads'... so far. :) The old wire didn't look frayed but had a sharp bend in it since it looked a little short. Did notice the rivets holding the wire attachment were a little loose. Maybe that was enough for random drop deads? The lower dist. shaft seems to wobble some. Is that from the 'saddle' coupling to the upper shaft?
Am also missing the thin washer under the cam and read were the cam can loosen because of that?
 
TudooR31 said:
I replaced the lower dist. plate and no more 'free starts' or better, 'drop deads'... so far. :) The old wire didn't look frayed but had a sharp bend in it since it looked a little short. Did notice the rivets holding the wire attachment were a little loose. Maybe that was enough for random drop deads? The lower dist. shaft seems to wobble some. Is that from the 'saddle' coupling to the upper shaft?
Am also missing the thin washer under the cam and read were the cam can loosen because of that?
Click to expand...

Yes that is true.

Also some repro screws are too long and bottom out in the threads of the dist shaft before the cam is held tightly (even when using the stock lock washer and flat washer). Timing changes as a result.

The stock dist had a lock washer and a thin flat washer.
 
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Here's something else I learned when tightening the dist. shaft screw to stop the knock.
Once I snugged up the screw, I was tightening the lock nut too much & pulled the screw out by a tiny bit. Was enough to have the knock come back quickly. So now I snug up the screw, then just tighten the lock nut but not whale on it like I was. Knock has not come back.
 
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