59A Starting issue

Jakno

Jakno

Senior Member
I have a 1935 pickup which has been giving me problems starting the engine.

The problem is erratic and happens more on cold starts than warm. When the starter is engaged and the engine turns over multiple times without a hint of starting, as soon as I lift off the starter button the engine will fire. Doesn't do it everytime, maybe one out of three times. If your quick enough you can catch it but more often than not it's too late.

The 59A engine is a new rebuild with new carb, sparkplugs. distributor. coil &
condenser. I use an 8 volt battery and the generator is currently charging at approx 9V. After getting the engine started it runs fine.

Would anyone have any advice. Thanks
 
Sounds like the starter is drawing down the voltage at the battery enough to prevent a spark. The instant you get off the starter button, the voltage pops back up but the engine will continue turning on inertia long enough for it to kick off.

To confirm this, put a volt meter on the battery side of the coil and see how much it drops when cranking. A bad starter can cause this, but the problem is often cable internal corrosion and/or bad connections at the battery, starter solenoid, starter terminal, ground straps, etc.
 
drolston, thanks for that information. Having a place to start is encouraging. Would you happen to know an estimate of what the starter should draw for amperage ?.
 
What kind of coil? a beer can coil does not require a resistor. Just for kicks put a
jumper wire coil to battery and try that. It should be running as fast as you hit the
start button. mine does and its 6volt too. Not need 8 volts, if all is correct it will
whip over like it has 12 volts..sam
 
Jakno said:
drolston, thanks for that information. Having a place to start is encouraging. Would you happen to know an estimate of what the starter should draw for amperage ?.
Click to expand...

I do not know the amperage draw for your starter, but it is a good question. What is important is the voltage drop, and the amount of voltage drop is directly proportionate to the current draw.

Start with the cables and connections. If any cable shows green fuzz at the ends where you can see the wire you can be pretty sure the cable is corroded internally, and should be replaced. They aren't cheap, so maybe check cables and across connections with an Ohmmeter. Any cable or connection over one Ohm is very suspect.
 
knowing your ignition setup would help but it sounds like what the others are saying and you have an electronic distributor /ignition control while these units are good they are very sensitive to voltage i would get your battery load tested as its sounds like its starting to fail and collapsing under load
 
Thanks for all your sound advice. Just to clarify some of the issues raised , I do have a rebuilt crab dist from Charlie with a new NAPA coil he recommended. Carb is a new Stromberg. The ignition switch is repro stock. I have run a 6 volt battery and to be honest it runs as good as the 8 V battery,
Something happened yesterday after I had sent my initial post about starting hard which may be related. Driving home after a 3 mile run the motor suddenly quit and the wires attached to the ignition switch on the steering column started smoking a burning.
Got the truck home and found loose wires attached to the switch. Also found the same overheated wires on the generator.
Havent got the motor to start yet but I can engage the starter.
I plan on replacing and cleaning all the ground wires & connections. Any thoughts on what I should or should not do are welcomed . Thank You
 
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