latecomer

L

latecomer

Senior Member
Took the 29 tudor out last week, she's been purring like a kitten, stopped at friend's for half hour. I got in it and it was hard to start. finally got her home; back fired all the way home. l checked the timing twice; it was spot on. Then changed the carb. It'll start. It seems like it's running on two cylinders. Any help would be appreciated. thanks latecomer
PS: 300 break-in miles on engine.
 
sounds like it could be your points, on a lot of the reproduction points the ware blocks ware down fast and make sure you put a little grease behind the ware block. or you could have lost your condenser.
 
Thanks for the reponse jw the distributor parts were replaced about three years ago and not many miles on them, they look good but maybe its time to change them. thanks again.
 
I wouldn't change them. Inspect them and make sure the gap is set .018 to .020. Check the timing. Maybe the cam got loose and slipped a bit.

Did you fill up with gas? Maybe you got some bad gas? Do you have a fuel filter and is it clean or need replacement?

Is the choke opening all the way?

It sounds like something really simple.
 
jw hash said:
sounds like it could be your points, on a lot of the reproduction points the ware blocks ware down fast and make sure you put a little grease behind the ware block. or you could have lost your condenser.
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If your rubbing block wears FAST, after putting in new points, I've found loose/wobbly posts that the point arm pivots on. This causes the rubbing block NOT to fit square to the cam lobe & wears FAST! Just turn the upper plate over & TAP, TAP, TAP, to tighten it to the insulating plate. Both of mine were LOOSE as a GOOSE!!
If you have an extra old distributor, it's good practice to take it apart & assemble it, once in awhile, just so we remember how it works & goes together & where to look for problems.
One guy couldn't get current to the point arm, he just went, TAP, Tap, TAP, to the rivet that secures the pig tail to the plate inside the dist. & "all was well", even though the rivet seemed tight & showed NO corrosion.
I've also seen junction boxes with poor connections, even though ALL the nuts are tight & no visable signs of corrosion. Adding star washers & tightening them well, corrected the problem. FEEL your junction box studs & wing nuts & see if one or the other is HOT! A good sign of a poor connection, also, check for a HOT stud on the ammeter & tighten the slotted nut under the wires & tighten the thumb nut with pliers! On ANY power junction screws, I even put a tiny speck of Blue Loctite on the screw threads, YES, I'm PARANOID & haven't had my JET-FUEL COFFEE,:D yet.
Bill W.
 
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Do the easy checks first. Hold the coil wire 1/4" from the head nut and check for a hot blue spark. If that is the problem check the point gap. If that's OK I'd replace the condenser.
 
Hey guys my last words were id let you know when i hit it. Well i havent hit it.At
fter moderen points dist. body roter coil , new plugs three good working carbs.finally got it started let it run for about 15 mins. Sounded great turned it off and havent been able to get started since. any help would be warmly appreciated. thanks in advance latecomer
 
When it will not start have you removed a spark plug to see if the plug is saturated with fuel which would mean flooding? If it's not then I would spray some starter fluid into the throat of the carb and see if it fires. You have to determine if it's fuel or spark related first.

If it fires then we know it's fuel related if not then we know it's spark related.

If it's spark since you changed the coil, rotor, body, plugs and points the only other thing would be condenser, ignition switch and wiring, provided, timing points and everything you changed was set up right.

Keep at it and report back.
 
If it could be flooding, when you try to start it, pull your throttle lever all the way down and see if that clears up the flooding.
 
If it is only running on two cylinders you could have blown a head gasket between 1&2 or 3&4. I would do a compression check.

Tom Endy
 
latecomer said:
Hey guys my last words were id let you know when i hit it. Well i havent hit it.At
fter moderen points dist. body roter coil , new plugs three good working carbs.finally got it started let it run for about 15 mins. Sounded great turned it off and havent been able to get started since. any help would be warmly appreciated. thanks in advance latecomer
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OK, you say you changed all these things but did you check them?

What is the point gap?
What is the rotor gap?
What is the plug gap?

No, don't just answer the questions, go and check them please.

Do you still have "modern" points installed? Did you read about the rash of crap points/condensers that are being sold? Do you still have the ones that were 3 years old?

With the engine turning with the starter do you get a constant blue spark that travels 1/4" from the coil wire to a head stud?

Are you getting a spark to each plug by removing the wire and watching the blue spark going to each plug?

Is the wire from the bottom plate of the distributor that goes to the top touching the distributor body?
Does the top plate move back and forth on the shaft? (it should not)

Are you using a reproduction ign switch? Do you have anything more then two keys on the key ring?

Place your thumb over the spark plug holes (of course with the plugs removed) can you keep the thumb on the hole for each plug. Better yet can you get a compression tester?

What does the oil look like?
 
Only need three things to run.
1) Ignition: Check for spark at the spark plug as key is turned on and engine cranking.

2) Fuel: Remove coil wire and crank engine with fuel and choke on. Raw fuel should be present at carb and out the exhaust?

3) Compression: Do a compression test 45-65# at the spark plug holes.

Many possible things may cause any of the above three needed things to run. This will narrow down your trouble shooting by eliminating two of the above three.

You may have done all this and are way ahead of me. Just trying to be helpful.
 
nickair said:
Only need three things to run.
1) Ignition: Check for spark at the spark plug as key is turned on and engine cranking.

2) Fuel: Remove coil wire and crank engine with fuel and choke on. Raw fuel should be present at carb and out the exhaust?

3) Compression: Do a compression test 45-65# at the spark plug holes.

Many possible things may cause any of the above three needed things to run. This will narrow down your trouble shooting by eliminating two of the above three.

You may have done all this and are way ahead of me. Just trying to be helpful.
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Not that there is anything wrong with what you stated but actually I feel there are 5 things needed;

1) Ignition:
2) Fuel:
3) Compression:
4) Air: (in or out)
5) all at the right time
 
Mike V. Florida said:
Not that there is anything wrong with what you stated but actually I feel there are 5 things needed;
1) Ignition:
2) Fuel:
3) Compression:
4) Air: (in or out)
5) all at the right time
Click to expand...
Mike, as you said, "Not that there is anything wrong with what you stated but actually I feel there are 5 things needed;", without #4 you won't have #3 so, that is a redundancy. The rest is true.
 
Had the same thing happen to me a few years back. Found out the wire from the switch through the metal cable to the coil was shorted out.
Just a thought.
 
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