Model A - Pickup help

luchoster

luchoster

Junior Member
Hello everyone!

I'm getting a 1931 Model A pickup truck, from my wife's uncle. And I'm loving it already.
I don't know much about these cars and I need some help.

I drive it the other day, for about an hour, to get it to my house. When I got there, I try to start it again, right away. The issue is that it seemed like the battery was dead, but it was running for an hour, we thought it should've charge while I was driving. Anyway, after about 1 hour, I tried again and it started like nothing happened, went for a few rides around the block, and it happens again. Waited for about an hour again, and same story, started without any hiccups.

Please if someone can point me in the right direction, for what I should be looking at, I'd really appreciate it.

I'm leaving a picture of the beauty.


312b053d8e466bd45b0a30cf874ac2bb.jpg
 
Sweet looking pickup and welcome to the family!

As you did not indicate a battery recharge, I would begin by checking for loose connections between the battery and starter.

Next item is the lug on the starter to ensure it's making proper contact - You will see the starter switch problem is well documented by reading through the archives.

Could also be heat soak of the starter as I see you have Arizona plates. Bet it's pretty toasty there right about now :)

Always a good idea to indicate what voltage battery you have when asking for electrical guidance. A 6 volt battery with 12 volt cables, will make the starter drag.

Good luck and post back with your findings.
 
Dollar Bill said:
Sweet looking pickup and welcome to the family!

As you did not indicate a battery recharge, I would begin by checking for loose connections between the battery and starter.

Next item is the lug on the starter to ensure it's making proper contact - You will see the starter switch problem is well documented by reading through the archives.

Could also be heat soak of the starter as I see you have Arizona plates. Bet it's pretty toasty there right about now :)

Always a good idea to indicate what voltage battery you have when asking for electrical guidance. A 6 volt battery with 12 volt cables, will make the starter drag.

Good luck and post back with your findings.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip, I will check and post back.

I'm in Vegas, so yeah it's pretty hot around here. That was one of our questions, if maybe the heat was doing something. I can see the car's temp going up when going on a hill road.

Oh and it has a 6 volt battery.
 
Make sure the advance / retard lever is full up when you start the car,,, hot or cold.
Read through this owners manual if you have not yet
http://www.motormayhem.net/wp-uploads/2009/04/Model-A-Instruction-Manual.pdf

Nice truck good luck and welcome

Ck the battery cells and do a charge and load test...

CK your charging rate with an external meter

Ck and clean all connections especially the ground at the battery cable to frame, remove and grind it to shiny metal

Do some searches on the forum your not the first one with this issue
 
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I will bet you need thicker battery cables, as mentioned................

Nice looking truck!

should provide lots of fun and great hauling vehicle!
 
NICE Truck! :) Hum the dragging starter is the same problem I got I will have to check into that cables and make sure they are for 6 volt BUT that old car starts every time. The fordor got to the point I had to crank start it for a year. Once the battery got so dead it wouldn't even do that so I had to get a new battery and walla. When my cars or trucks are running that amp meter needs to be in the + side to show its charging. The old tractor runs on the plus side but once I shut it down it drains the battery so I got a battery shut off for that part but that still don't answer why you would be running on the - side. Of course i'mma NooB so what do I know lol. Good Luck and Keep on Truckin'!
 
FYI, your truck appears to be an early model of the late 31's. Wide bed, but still has a soft top. Does it have the indented firewall, with the fuel shut-off on the front side of the firewall? And the steering column brace to the dash, not on the fuel tank?
 
Welcome and here is my two cents worth. Possibilities are:

Amp meter wired backwards
Possible vapor lock-maybe a side issue?
Gen not charging at full capacity

Again thoughts

Mike
 
"Could also be heat soak of the starter " I haven't heard this term before. Can you expand on cause and effect?
 
Jim Brierley said:
FYI, your truck appears to be an early model of the late 31's. Wide bed, but still has a soft top. Does it have the indented firewall, with the fuel shut-off on the front side of the firewall? And the steering column brace to the dash, not on the fuel tank?
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Jim, Mine is a '31, Steel top, indented firewall, steering column brace to the dash, and with a narrow bed. Go figure!
 
luchoster said:
Between -4/-2/0
Click to expand...

You either have no generator output (bad generator), or your generator cutout points are not closing (connecting the battery to the generator).

The reason you can restart it in a while is because the battery voltage, which is being dragged down while the truck is running, recovers after sitting a while.

If you have a DC voltmeter and it reads about 5 or higher across the battery terminals, your battery should still be good for now.
 
Coz of the time difference, others have taken your answer to my question about "what does the ammeter show?" and answered what I would have. I suspect you're not getting enough out of the generator for what ever reason.
Oh, by the way, Welcome and nice P/U.
 
Make sure your battery cables are all clean and tight. Make sure the cable on the starter is also clean and tight. Case in point: I was at a local tractor show and a fellow with a monster sized Case diesel tractor drove in to the show. When he went to leave it wouldn't start. Everybody was saying the starter was no good or the solenoid was no good. I went over and slightly moved the cable connected to starter motor and the engine started immediately.
 
Synchro909 said:
Coz of the time difference, others have taken your answer to my question about "what does the ammeter show?" and answered what I would have. I suspect you're not getting enough out of the generator for what ever reason.
Oh, by the way, Welcome and nice P/U.
Click to expand...

Ahh, but since you're in the 'upside down' hemisphere, we didn't want you to mistake that -4A was a good thing... :D
 
" Everybody was saying the starter was no good or the solenoid was no good."

i love how 'everybody' can become such instant mechanics

generally when something stupid like that happens, the solution is something equally stupid....and simple
 
Thank you everyone for the responses. I'm checking a fee things tomorrow and will update on my findings.

I appreciate all the comments and please if there's any more, keep it coming. I want to learn as much as I can from everyone

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk
 
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