Merle Coggins Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Today I took the Ol' Dodge out for a spin. I left this morning to run up by my girlfriend for the day. It's a 100 mile drive and it ran great. Mostly freeway at 65-70 MPH. On the way home it was extremely windy and It struggled to maintain 65 MPH into a 25+ MPH headwind. It seemed to be loosing power and I noticed that the temp was climbing. I eased off and tried to get to the next exit about 2-3 miles away. The temp gauge approached the 212 mark and the power continued to drop off. I finally had to pull over the shoulder and could barely maintain 40 MPH. It started back firing and running very rough with very little power. I finally stopped and fully expected it to die. To my surprise it idled nicely. Oil pressure was good but the temp was close to the overheat point. I got out and took a peak under the hood and didn't see anything out of order. It continued to idle good and the temp was slowly coming down. I continued to limp it down the shoulder to the exit, about 1/2 mile ahead. It was running good again and the temp was coming down. I took secondary roads from there and the temp came back to normal and the truck ran fine the rest of the way home, with 55-60 MPH top speeds and several small towns to slow down for. I could still feel it working harder when approaching 60 with the head wind, but it could manage it. So... I believe the temp came up because of the high load, trying to maintain freeway speeds against a VERY strong headwind. However, why did it loose power so badly? Did the high engine temps cause the fuel to boil in the carb and cause an over lean condition, which would contribute to making it run hotter? When I backed off on the load the temp normalized and the truck ran flawlessly. It gave me a scare. I was ready to call AAA for a free ride home (I was within my coverage range), but I didn't need to. The Ol' Dodge continued to prove reliable. Just a minor glitch. Merle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBF Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Merle: Glad you made it home ok. Are your points closing up? I'd also check the heat riser to make sure that is in the open position. Its this kind of stuff that makes driving these vehicles an adventure - I say that now..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eneto-55 Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 I sorta' got hung up at the part about "girlfriend for the day". 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TodFitch Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Weak coil? It is my understanding that it takes a higher voltage spark to jump that gap on your spark plugs when the pressure is high in the cylinder. So a weak coil might be strong enough for the engine to idle fine but not be strong enough to properly ignite the charge when under heavy load. Checking the heat riser per MBFowler is probably a very good idea too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Coggins Posted April 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 I sorta' got hung up at the part about "girlfriend for the day". LOL. Doesn't everyone have a "Girlfriend for the day"? Maybe I should have phrased it differently. "I went to spend the day with my girlfriend". Mike, I was thinking I might need to check the state of tune. It still starts good hot and runs strong but It will give me a little cough once in a while when starting out from a stop. But mostly when it's not fully warmed up. I was going to check it when I got home but it was getting dark and starting to rain. It'll wait for now. Tod, I don't believe it's a coil issue. The temp and power loss went hand-in-hand. Even when I lessened the load it continued to loose power until the temp came down a little bit. Once the temp normalized all was well again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBF Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Merle-do you have a heat shield on your fuel pump? Mine used to vapor lock after sitting from a run until I installed the shield. The high temp may have been bringing the ethanoled gas to a boil, and from there just kind of snowballed. Glad you cleared up the girlfriend of the day statement-that'd cost more to fix than your overheating / loss of power problem. Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrampSteer Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 gas to a boil I like that. Boil the gas, lean the engine, runs hot, snowballs from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Check your ignition timing? Retarded ignition timing will cause overheating and loss of power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eneto-55 Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 LOL. Doesn't everyone have a "Girlfriend for the day"? Maybe I should have phrased it differently. "I went to spend the day with my girlfriend". Nothing wrong with the way you phrased it. Just joking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Coggins Posted April 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Merle-do you have a heat shield on your fuel pump? Mine used to vapor lock after sitting from a run until I installed the shield. The high temp may have been bringing the ethanoled gas to a boil, and from there just kind of snowballed. Glad you cleared up the girlfriend of the day statement-that'd cost more to fix than your overheating / loss of power problem. Mike Yes I do. Thanks to Mark (ggdad1951). I even flipped on my electric pump and that didn't help any. I like that. Boil the gas, lean the engine, runs hot, snowballs from there. That's my theory too, but what started it? I noticed that the temp was a little higher than it had been all day, but not higher than it would get in the heat of the summer. When I really noticed the power dropping off I saw the temp gauge needle approaching the 212 mark. It never got there, but the closer it got the worse it ran. And as it cooled back down it ran better. Once I got off the freeway I had to go through town at a slower pace. The temp came back to normal fairly quickly and all was well. Once on the other side of town where I could "open 'er up" again I pushed it to 60 in the headwind and noticed the temp rise slightly again. I backed off to 55 and it stayed around 170ish. Check your ignition timing? Retarded ignition timing will cause overheating and loss of power. That's my plan. Hopefully this evening. Points dwell and timing checks. Nothing wrong with the way you phrased it. Just joking. I know... and I got a good chuckle too. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggdad1951 Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 wisconSIN air? BADgers in your gas tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Coggins Posted April 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 wisconSIN air? BADgers in your gas tank? Come of over the border and sniff our dairy-air. Gopher lover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiftyFifty Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Lmao....I get those jokes and I'm in Canada! Any chance you have a cooling issue going on? When was the last time you flushed your system? Maybe it's getting blocked and the extra strain ran the heat up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Ed Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Lmao....I get those jokes and I'm in Canada! Any chance you have a cooling issue going on? When was the last time you flushed your system? Maybe it's getting blocked and the extra strain ran the heat up? Maybe he forgot to remove the cardboard from in front after winter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Balazs Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 You might want to check your plugs for signs of glazing while you are at it. If they are glazed they will cause your engine to run hotter than normal. May even produce a bit of detonation when hot. Was it a little harder to start when warm? . Also.....any chance at all that your brakes are dragging a bit? Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Coggins Posted April 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Maybe he forgot to remove the cardboard from in front after winter No Redneck winter fronts, Ed. You might want to check your plugs for signs of glazing while you are at it. If they are glazed they will cause your engine to run hotter than normal. May even produce a bit of detonation when hot. Was it a little harder to start when warm? . Also.....any chance at all that your brakes are dragging a bit? Jeff Won't take much to pull a couple plugs and have a look, but once I removed the extreme load the temp came back down and the power came back. Also, I didn't have to try to start it at the high temp as it idled nicely when I did stop. When I stopped for gas later and it restarted just fine, as it had all day when we were cruising around. No dragging brakes, although the wind certainly made it feel that way. I'm sure if I had been traveling north, instead of south, it wouldn't have been an issue. Could have put up a sail and passed everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
55 Fargo Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 I dunno Merle, sounds maybe clear cut to Me. Gale force winds, you driving at 65-70 mph, a huge load on your engine, 3000+ rpm, =huge load = a lot more heat. I also feel as you do, the fuel, being ethanol enhnaced, winter blend too, starts to boil up, and creates a lean condition, possibly causing more engine heat. You slower drive on the secondary highways, confirmed, your engine preferred a slower pace, with less rpm and less load. I hope this was all it was, sure sounds like it..... PS any chance of bottom rad hose collapsing, or water pump fanpulley belt on that high engine RPM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrampSteer Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 How about maybe you got a bad fill-up? Something in the last tank of gas? But it may just be the truck is at it's edge of operation and the wind pushed it over. I disconnected the heater hose (just fed it back to the engine) in mine two weeks ago because I have no controls yet and in CA the cab gets pretty hot pretty quick. When I took it out for a drive, it was the first time I could see the heat gauge move. In fact, I could basically use it as a speedometer because at 50 it was one setting and at 55 another. That heater was cooling it quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Balazs Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 How about maybe you got a bad fill-up? Something in the last tank of gas? But it may just be the truck is at it's edge of operation and the wind pushed it over. I disconnected the heater hose (just fed it back to the engine) in mine two weeks ago because I have no controls yet and in CA the cab gets pretty hot pretty quick. When I took it out for a drive, it was the first time I could see the heat gauge move. In fact, I could basically use it as a speedometer because at 50 it was one setting and at 55 another. That heater was cooling it quite a bit. There is another possible explanation. Not sure about the different thermostat housings but my later straight housing is prone to get some build up of rust slag and such on top of the thermostat itself. Mine started running a bit warm last year and when I pulled the hose and housing I was surprised by the amount of loose crud that had built up. Definitely some blockage here. And I had thought I had everything all flushed out. These old blocks can hide a lot of stuff and then release it a while later. I have since removed the thermostat and housing 2 or 3 times for a good cleaning. Each time there is less crud......but there has always been some. Probably time to do it again. I would be real surprised if they didn't all do this to some extent. Check yours and see if I am right. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Coggins Posted April 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Well, after a little tinkering I've come to the conclusion that I have found the limit to how much I can push the Ol' Dodge. Score 1 for Mother Nature. She wins this round. The high load from pushing hard into a strong headwind caused it all. I'm still not sure why the high temps caused such a loss of power. I can only surmise that the elevated temps caused the fuel to boil in the float bowl which disrupted the proper flow of gasoline into the jets. When I got home from work I pulled out the spark plugs. I'm not great at reading plugs but they look good to me. I checked the gaps and reinstalled them. I then connected my dwell meter and timing light and fired it up. Everything is right where I set it. Dwell at 39 deg. Timing at 4 deg. BTDC. Idling nicely at 500 RPM. I also checked the coolant level before starting it and that was good too. I'm satisfied that there is nothing wrong. Lesson learned on how hard to push it. Merle 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todd B Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 My 49 camper would do the same thing when I would push it. I would lose power and if I down shifted I could red line it but as soon as I would shift into high gear she would spit and sputter. I determined it was the blinker fluid that was worn out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Balazs Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Glazing is hard to spot on this plug design. Much easier to see on a plug with an extended nose. It usually takes one of two forms. Either looks kind of like clear varnish on the porcelain around the electrode or blistered paths on same. It isn't the easiest thing to spot. When it is present it has a negative effect on how well the plug runs within the designed heat range. Causes the plug to run at a significantly higher temperature......which in turn raises the engine temperature. Real bad news in air cooled engines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John-T-53 Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Merle - what about advance? Is the Distributor advancing properly (vacuum and weights). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
55 Fargo Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Be interesting to discover, what may hjave been the issue causing engine to overheat, run lean etc. I am betting on nothing more, than high engine RPM, very heavy load as a result of travelling against a very strong wind, and subsequent high engine temperature. Lets look at the facts, once you were driving on secondary roadways, and your RPM and load was reduced only by what? 25%, engine ran at a more normal temperature, without issues. These trucks going against a headwind, well over 3000 RPMs, in warmer weather (not sure how warm Wisconsin was that day), you are get real close to all out full max load, if you had a tailwind or no wind, what may have been the results? Have you had a chance to go and drive 70 mph without a wind since, if so what was the result?..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TodFitch Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Be interesting to discover, what may hjave been the issue causing engine to overheat, run lean etc. I am betting on nothing more, than high engine RPM, . . . Factory tested the designs at max BHP in 50 hour tests. Seems like if the engine can't run at max throttle for 50 hours then something is wrong. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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