Wow is me !!!

nosbod

nosbod

Member
I am rapidly approaching the end of my tether and in order to save my marriage, stop the dog being kicked too often etc. I am throwing myself on the mercy of The Ford Barners whose combined wisdom surely will help.
I recently installed one of Rich Falluca's engines and everything went very well.
She starts like a dream and runs smoothly without any problems. However if I stop she refuses to fire up again until cool. A quick check shows a spark at the points and at the coil and when she does eventually start she coughs and back fires until on the move and air cools her down once more. The carb has been checked out and there seems to be no problem with the fuel supply so I have been suspecting electrical gremlins and have done the usual elimination of condenser etc.
Am I missing something very obvious ? Please, please help me !!
 
Check the polarity of your coil connection at the distributor. The suppliers have a neat gadget you plug in to the center contact that indicates proper or improper connection. I had several Model A's with the polarity reversed and the hard starting would show up after they warmed up.
 
I think you should clarify won't start. Does it turn over or not? After this I think you will get more help.
 
Yes she turns over but just does not fire up. I have the modern points set up with the condenser with the points.The car is an Argentinian import with some non standard looking wiring .
 
Barry B./ Ma. said:
Check the polarity of your coil connection at the distributor. The suppliers have a neat gadget you plug in to the center contact that indicates proper or improper connection. I had several Model A's with the polarity reversed and the hard starting would show up after they warmed up.
Click to expand...
Yes I have checked out the polarity with that gadget and it indicates that all is correct.
 
I had a similar problem about 40 years ago. The carburetor would be so hot that when I loosen the gas line steam was all that would come out. Findlay discovered an Autolite manifold heater I had recently installed was damaging my condensers. I moved the condenser up on the firewall and the problem disappeared and still runs fine. Never have understood why the carb would get so hot and when I changed the condenser it fixed the problem and the heater is still on the engine.
 
Not enough intake valve lash. The stems are cooled by air while running. Stop, and they heat and lengthen. When you do get it restarted it coughs 'till the stems air cool again and shrink. Check your valve adjustment. Just one valve will do it.
 
My guess is the condenser. I never had anything but problems with the modern points set up. The condensers for that setup are foreign and sometimes fail, right out of the box. I would go back to the original setup and use the short proof condenser, you will likely have problems until you do.
 
Do you have to use that crap gas with 10% or more ethanol in the UK?

Sure sounds like the trouble I had when I used the crap gas we have in the U.S.
 
I had a 65 mustang that would do this sometimes. On that car the points would close up spmetes when they got hot. I know that really doesn't make sense but that what would happen. Since you are running the same points you might just try a new set. It solved the problem for that car
 
I vote for the condenser also, and I wouldn’t have ever thought about the valve lash issue but that makes sense...
I'm a little baffled by the thread title. Did you mean "Woe" or Wow that is some Queens English, us across the ponders aren’t familiar with? :confused::o
 
Two things very easy to check.Change the condenser some of the new ones can be bad.Next the coil.They will crank and run good cold but when it gets up to temperture they get hot.after setting for awhile and they cool down it will run fine.In my model A I always carry spare coil carb and distributor under the seat.
 
Whatever you do, do it one thing at a time and test after each step. Change the condenser and then start it up, run it and see if the problem is still there. If you do everything everyone here said at the same time you'll probably solve the problem but you'll never be able to pinpoint what exactly it was.

-Tim
 
ctlikon0712 said:
I vote for the condenser also, and I wouldn’t have ever thought about the valve lash issue but that makes sense...
I'm a little baffled by the thread title. Did you mean "Woe" or Wow that is some Queens English, us across the ponders aren’t familiar with? :confused::o
Click to expand...

Difficult for us Brits to take but I stand corrected by your better use of our language than me !
 
Yes the gas cap is vented and I agree about changing more than one thing at a time. The thought on the valve adjustment make a a lot of sense to me and will check it out this week.
Many thanks for all the feedback .
John
 
Nosbod - Have you checked to see if you have a spark when it is trying to start but not catching ?
Sounds electrical to me.

Bob - Essex area !
 
Yes Bob there is a spark at the points and at the coil. Seems to be electrical to me also but I have yet to find out where !
 
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