Hard to start.

jerry shook

Well-known member
51 ford truck. Cranks easy when cold altering driving an turn it off after 10 min it just turns a lot before starting. It has an electrionic chip. Do I need to adjust carb.
 
A very well tuned and efficiently working ignition system is a must. All components of the ignition system need to function 100% to eliminate hard starts, from my experience. I run a traditional points system, Skip Haney rebuilt coil, new wiring also. My distributors have been set up on a Sun machine by both Bubba and Michael Driskell at Third Gen Automotive.
 
Does it have a coil, when they get hot they can fail.
You need to trouble shoot before you go adjusting stuff.
Pick one either fuel,spark,compression, and trouble shoot each until you find the problem.
 
Sounds like the carb is over rich for some reason.

By cranks easy I suppose you mean starts easy.

Try slowly opening the throttle before trying to start. slowly enough so you don't pump even more gas down there.

Mart.
 
It is still 6 volt. I put the coil that is suggested for the electronic chip. Starts an runs great when cold an when you stop for 5 min just touch the button an it fires right up. but if you are 15 min it turns a lot before starting. Then it runs great. I have moved timing an adjusted carbutor still the same.
 
Jerry Tyi a little gas down the carb ,see if its drain back, OK not that ,does it puff smoke out the pipe when finial fires
 
I presume you are running Pertronix ignition, which has a good reputation on 12 volts and has been very reliable on my 12 volt flathead. But Pertronix has a less reliable record on the 6 volt version. Solid state electronics get flakey if they get too hot. So starting and running with the distributor directly in the fan breeze may keep the 6 volt unit running fine. But sit for a while with no cooling and the engine heat transfers to the distributor to the point that the ignition fails. Just a theory!

This theory can be tested. Run till the engine is hot. Shut down and immediately check the spark to see if it will jump half an inch with a blue spark. Then wait 15 minutes and check it again to see if the spark is weak, like yellow spark will barely jump a quarter inch. It that is the case, swap out the Pertronix to get a more reliable unit, or go back to points.
 
That sounds similar to a problem I once had with excessive gas leak down from carburator into intake manifold caused by a faulty power valve, or PV seal.
 
From everything I have seen and heard, aftermarket electronic ignition systems have caused more problems than they have solved.:rolleyes:
 
From everything I have seen and heard, aftermarket electronic ignition systems have caused more problems than they have solved.:rolleyes:

Agreed .The more I go on the more I realize that most modern improvements aren't improvements at all !
 
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