I am confused. Would like some ideas.

Fred K-OR

Fred K-OR

Well-known member
My old 29 coupe is giving me a pain in the thing you sit on. It will run great but then it decides it wants to take a break. I have had this problem off and on for the last month or so. I took off the gas tank to clean out the crud in it, lined it to contain the rust and put it back on. In taking off the tank, I re installed all wiring to the switch, amp meter, etc. so all connections should be tight.

So the problem now is: I had the old rig sitting with the motor running with the gas advanced a bit to get it warmed up so I could change the oil, and out of the blue, it decided it wanted to quit. Just like I turned the key off. I wasn't even close to it! I was able to get it restarted again but it almost seems like it was flooded. Second similar problem is when I drove it to coffee this morning. I was cursing along at a constant speed, and again it almost seemed like I turned the key off. This time I pressed the gas peddle a couple of times before it had stopped and it took off again and got me home.

So need some ideas. The distributor was rebuilt by me (that does not make it a good distributor) with all new replaceable parts, I took off the carb and blew out all the crud in it. The only thing I was thinking about doing was to install another carb I have and see it that solved the problem. Thinking there being that there may be still some crud floating around in the gas/carb that gets things plugged up and kills it. So does anyone have any ideas what could be the current problem. Would appreciate any ideas because I am out of them.
 
Fred,

Sounds to me like the carburetor is your problem. I suggest you disassemble the carburetor, including the removable secondary well and all jets and use your compressor to back blow the jets and passage ways in the lower housing. Also check the passage way from the bowl to the choke seat; the is the next to lowest point in carb , the lowest point is the bottom of the main jet and anything that may have come out of the gas tank prior to repair could settle at either of these points.
Good luck,

Ron
 
I had a similar situation where the car would just die like that. I pulled the zenith carb apart and THOUGHT I was thoroughly cleaning it. But all I was doing was basically rinsing out the crud. You could have a chunk of crud or who knows what plugging a jet. Do what Ron suggests above. When I found the jet in my carb that was plugged, I was able to blow out a clot of rusty gunk and I was back in business. You won't always be able to see what you are blowing out so go through the carb methodically. Also make sure you use the standpipe filter in the gas tank. It will still pass fine rust but at least catch the big chunks.
 
When you say it quits like you shut the key off it seems to me that it may be electrical. I'd pull the dash panel again and check my wiring.
Did you pull the tank because you were having this trouble or did it start after you pulled the tank?

Dave
 
A few months ago,my coupe acted about the same way.I remembered that I had changed the speedo cable a couple days before,so I pulled the dash & guessed that the ign switch was touching the armoured wire for the dash lite.I rerouted the wire & its been fine ever since.
 
Also make sure all battery connections are clean and tight.... Make sure the ground cable to the frame is down to the metal.... If its acting like you turned they key off its got to be electrical
 
1crosscut said:
When you say it quits like you shut the key off it seems to me that it may be electrical. I'd pull the dash panel again and check my wiring.
Did you pull the tank because you were having this trouble or did it start after you pulled the tank?

Dave
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Dave it was doing a similar problem before I pulled the tank. That is the reason I pulled it and cleaned it out. I do have all filters in the system, gas tank outlet, put in a new glass settling bowl and have the filter in the carb inlet.
 
bogdonj said:
Also make sure all battery connections are clean and tight.... Make sure the ground cable to the frame is down to the metal.... If its acting like you turned they key off its got to be electrical
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It could be electrical. I will have to clean the battery connectons again. This may be the problem because at times it almost will not turn over with the starter and the battery seems to be fullly charged.
 
Do the easiest checks first. The next time it quits DO NOT touch the key. Just shift to neutral, open the left hood, hold the coil wire 1/4" from a head nut and with your other hand push the starter switch to check the coil for spark. If no spark turn the key off and on and try it again. Many repro switches have poor contacts that don't make a very positive click to the ON position.

If you do have spark then pull the choke while cranking the motor and see if gas drips out the carb.
 
I agree with Fred, electrical, shuts of like a switch! a faulty coil will do that when hot, cool down and run sweet again, in the days of old a wet rag was used to cool down the coil to you get home
 
Fred make sure the metal conduit into the terminal box doesn't slip inside and hit the terminal or wiring. My 29 had that happen occasionally and most times it would blow the fuse at the starter. I used some silicone adhesive to prevent the tube from shifting when the chassis flexed.
 
I had the same symtoms with our 1930 Phaeton. It turned out to be a loose terminal nut on the ampmeter. It took me a few tries to eventually find the loose nut because the ignition would go dead when I would put the brakes on, and then the car would usually start right up again after I had release the brake pedal. Finally it got so bad that I had to push start it to get it to go again. I finally found the problem while stalled on the shoulder of a busy road.
 
Thanks guys for all the ideas. I will have to check out some of them. Right now Oregon has opened up again and the rains are pouring down again so may have to wait for a good day to go for a cruise and check things out.
 
Fred K-OR said:
Thanks guys for all the ideas. I will have to check out some of them. Right now Oregon has opened up again and the rains are pouring down again so may have to wait for a good day to go for a cruise and check things out.
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Fred,
Take off the gas cap in case it's NOT venting, sometimes the gasket turns & blocks the vent passage. I've also seen poor connections in terminal boxes, even though all nuts are tight & NO appearance of corrosion. Adding internal/external star washers behind the nuts is a great help.
* Once, I almost screwed the ignition cable too far into distributor, as it warmed up, expansion caused it to short out against the plate in distributor. Loosened it 1/4 turn & it ran O.K. They usually only need to screw in by 2 or 3 threads. Bill W.
 
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Michael Cooper said:
I agree with Fred, electrical, shuts of like a switch! a faulty coil will do that when hot, cool down and run sweet again, in the days of old a wet rag was used to cool down the coil to you get home
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Michael, I took your comments and applied it to what I experienced when the old rig shut down just as if I had turned the key off. When it did it the other day, I had the rig outside of the shop and had it sitting there running to charge the battery. If you remember after awhile it quit dead-just like a key being turned off. I was not driving, the rig was not shaking around so there was nothing to jar something loose.

Well today I put another coil on the rig. I did the same thing, let it stand outside the shop, had it running just above an idle and let it run for about 1/2 hour. It ran great! No shutdown, nothing else except the old rig just purring away. Maybe we have found the problem!!!.

In the next day or so when the rain lets up a bit around good old Oregon, I may take it out for a 10 or 20 mile drive to see how it works.

Thanks guys for the ideas. I hope we have it fixed. Just though I would share this with you all to let you know the progress and maybe the solution. Will keep you posted.
 
Timothy Kelly said:
I cast my vote with Michael and suspect the problem is attributable to a defective coil that functions fine while cool but fails when warm or hot.
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Just thought I would do a follow up on this situation. I did replace the coil with another one I had. The other day I took the rig out for a drive of 20 to 30 miles and never had any problems. So, maybe, changing the coil out may have solved the problems. Will have to do some more driving to see how it goes.

Just thought I would keep you all posted on what happened so far.
 
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