Starting problems

'46Ford

'46Ford

Junior Member
1946 Ford Sedan, all original. Engine starts easily when cold and runs great, no misfires, no fuel issues. After I drive the car about 20 miles or so and turn it off, it will not start again until the engine sits for a while and cools down some. I use the 20 mile example because that is about the time it will start to run oddly then die. It will also happen if I run the engine for a while, once it warms up and I shut it down, it will not start again until cooled down. I have checked the fuel, OK. Check the spark when trying to start it, seems okay. Thinking something is heating up, then cooling down but don't know what it would be. Would spark plugs do this or some resistors or the coil. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Sounds just like my 39. Ok cold start and short drive but then it just goes downhill. Had to push it back into the shop the last time I had it out. I believe the consensus is the coil is failing. I have a spare (also weak) that I should try or maybe just get one rebuilt and be done with the fooling around.
 
RalphG said:
Sounds just like my 39. Ok cold start and short drive but then it just goes downhill. Had to push it back into the shop the last time I had it out. I believe the consensus is the coil is failing. I have a spare (also weak) that I should try or maybe just get one rebuilt and be done with the fooling around.
Click to expand...

Get the coil rebuilt and stop as you say "fooling around" There is a lot
of that going on this forum and it keeps on with the exact same
problem for years and reoccurs almost every week. Skip has been
rebuilding 32 to 48 Ford coils for over 20 years and once his coil
is installed the problem stops. G.M.
 
Yep - do the condenser first . . . if that doesn't do it, then the coil. With that said - you can't go wrong with having your coil redone by Skip - he is the man!
 
G.M. said:
Get the coil rebuilt and stop as you say "fooling around" There is a lot
of that going on this forum and it keeps on with the exact same
problem for years and reoccurs almost every week. Skip has been
rebuilding 32 to 48 Ford coils for over 20 years and once his coil
is installed the problem stops. G.M.
Click to expand...
Our 75 cent dollar is really holding me back from spending any money south of the border lately. But I do have a spare new condensor from Napa that I could try.
 
Listen to Bubba and it's the cheaper of the two, I have a 47 Ford for most part original and had same experience when heated up...
 
I agree, the condenser is easier, and cheaper, to try first. However, get 3 condensers, odds are one of the three will be good. Or maybe that only happens to me?
 
SP_51-F1 said:
I agree, the condenser is easier, and cheaper, to try first. However, get 3 condensers, odds are one of the three will be good. Or maybe that only happens to me?
Click to expand...

Yep - a lot of CRAP condenser parts these days. And don't make the mistake of thinking that 50 year old ones are probably good - they're probably shot as well.
 
If anyone has a bunch of 32 to 48 coils I will bet them however much they
want to bet per coil that almost everyone will fail when hot. I have tested
hundreds of them and maybe found two good ones. The Ford~Heyer
distributor machines have a coil tester and provide a way to heat the coils
for testing. Over 99% will fail hot. I believe this was a problem when the
cars were new with some coils and due to the poor insulating qualities of
the varnish used to coat the wire and dip the coils after winding plus the
paper used between wire layers. Today there are wires coated with heavy
two part materials that are superior for heat and electrical insulation paper
between layers of wire. DuPont made papers such a Nomax and others that
that provide better heat and shorting protection. I made coils and transformers
in my manufacturing company. We designed, manufactured and tested the
products. Large resistive load banks were used to heat and time test the
the transformers. The Ford test machine does the same type testing. Skip
uses these modern materials in his coils and does a heat load test on each
one. Combined with quality materials and testing is the reason for the success
with his coils. In over 20 years he has rebuilt over 20,000 coils, find me one
of his coils in 20 years that failed and he didn't rebuild free. Condensers
are tested cold first then heated. Most test good cold and if they test good hot
then they are good. The coil and condenser are like your heart so why not
have the best. G.M.
 
Thanks for all the informative links on this thread. It is information that I can put to good use.
 
Thanks for all the information. I did put in a different condenser I had from another distributor, it seems to be running okay and re-starting for now. I will be taking it on a long ride soon to check it out further. I have ordered some other condensers a spares. Hope this fixes it, it not I will try the coil repair.
 
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