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54 desoto


Bill Holbrook

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hey guys. 54 desoto has a hard vibration on the engine. thinking it could be misfiring but also concerned on the carb as it is not in the greatest of shape according to the shop who rebuilt it. car had been running perfectly fine for two months and I had drove it home from work that morning. when I came out that night and started it with no warning or noise at all, as soon as it started I immediately felt hard shaking coming from the engine. also the car has had a very large loss of power. can barely pull itself up hills even pulling out at a traffic light the car has hesitation and will sputter. any advice?

1954 desoto power master

251 flathead 6

carter ball and ball 1 barrel automatic choke

2 speed powerflite transmission

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first, what is your state of tune, bad points, condenser could have gone south, bad wire....number of things.  Have you also done a compression test to verify your cylinders are within proper range to ensure a balanced run given the tune is correct....personally I would check the state of tune and the compression.....as it ran good before you shut it off...I am leaning toward a tune issue....if you have very old fuel in there that is ethanol blend....this stuff in not good for valve guide...will promote valves sticking...

Edited by Plymouthy Adams
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I have replaced all plugs and wires, condenser, cap and rotor, coil, coil wire and points. I also pulled the distributor disassembled it inspected cleaned and lubricated. I installed a new gas tank along with lines sending unit fuel pump and filter. The tank has no old gas in it at all and I do not run any additives. When I do fill ups I only put premium in it. Also haven't put any used parts on the car everything is brand new. I have not performed a compression test yet.

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Theres a wire inside the dissy that can short out due to the insulation cracking, also is the vacuum unit working.........I'd start from scratch.......checking the timing on TDC, all the plug wires and their crimped on connectors, check plug & point gap, also you had a shop play with the carby..........did they know what they were doing?................maybe recheck the carby yourself as it sounds like you couldn't do any worse........I assume you have a shop manual to go thru anyway.......BTW......welcome aboard......got any pics, we all love pics................lol.....regards from Oz........Andy Douglas 

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all wires inside of the dis have been replaced. even that little bitty annoying one that you can barely get too. and the vacuum wasn't working but it has sense been replaced. I have already gone over all plug connections as that was one of my first thoughts given the suddenness. also point gap was set already to the manuals specs the. we played with it some as it did not run well at factory setting. as for pics ill get some better ones today for everyone. 

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When I got the car It was absolutely a hot steaming mess. they had taken what I thought to be an old ford starter relay and tried to wire up to replace the original and ran a pig tail wire from it to manually bridge over the starter to make it work. I searched and found a new original relay and installed and rewired it. the starter had to be rebuilt though because they was running the car with a 12 volt battery instead of a 6. also that is an air cleaner I had purchased to do away with the oil bath air filter but I no longer use it because the car refused to run smooth with it installed. it only had that for a day and now has its original back on unmodified. as for the massive amounts of primer on the car now. I done that to save the metal which has wide scale surface rust. it will be going to a professional in the spring to be repainted it original color. I took paint chips of what was left of the paint to match it up as its codes do not show up in any system I have found yet. a lot fo cobbling had been done on the car and it was in poor to border line salvage when I got it.

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Bill I just replaced my old oil screen filter in my 39 desoto with a paper element and the car did not have any issue. and mine is partially covers by the face of the metal air cleaner.  Since you had a full opening for the air to enter the carb I do not understand why it was running rough?  and then when you put the original back on it smoothed out seems as if it was getting too much air not sure but very interesting.  Look like you will have a nice car when it is painted.

 

Are you a member of the National Desoto club?  This  years Desoto convention is going to be held in Kansas so we all have to follow the YELLOW BRICK road to get to the convention.

 

rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

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Hello and welcome,

  I would indeed run a compression test to evaluate the cylinder and valve functions. Look for a possible significant loss between two adjacent cylinders which would indicate a head gasket failure. If this is the case, it could produce the symptoms that you describe. I agree with desoto 1939, this is a nicely styled car and will really look sharp when repainted. Good luck to you.

John R

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Agree with John. A compression test is great start. I tend to start with the basics and go from there. Fuel Delivery, compression & spark at the right time is basically what the engine needs to run. That seems to be happening for the most part, as the engine will run. Albeit not smooth. Then I take each of the three basic things and strip down further to dig in and try to uncover underlying issues.

 

Poor compression in some cylinders? Why? Valve sealing issues? Which cylinder? Valve lash settings? Sticking valve? Cylinder head sealing? Head gasket? Piston rings? Etc.

 

Metered fuel delivery, not likely here. Yet consider Carb condition Air leaks?  Fuel quality? Fuel pump pressure? Fuel filter used? Condition of filter? Clean fuel jets? Air flow? Float settings? Fuel tank and pick up screen condition? Choke functioning? Etc..On and on.

 

Spark delivered at the right time is a prime suspect here. However, I would definitely be digging in looking for more clues to confirm. Further troubleshooting can get pretty extensive here. 

Checking for spark at each plug is an easy start. Pull cap and rotor to inspect & clean. File or replace points? Set dwell. Age of condenser? Condition and gap of the plugs? Coil wire and all related wiring condition? Clean contacts? Etc...

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Thanks for the help guys. will be performing compression test hopefully on Wednesday if weather holds out. will post updates then. @desoto1939 no I am not part of the group, does it have a website or anything? @John Reddie thanks man, really cant wait to get it painted up. will make a world of difference on my old ride.

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Bill:  The Natioanl Desoto club does have a website but right now they had an issue and the site crashed. They are in the process of trying to rebuild it and get it back up and running.

 

Where are you located in the Us. We have year specific coordinators that can assist with questions and leads onto parts and other issues.  The 1954 coordinator is Paul Beyer. he also had a 39 desoto. He live in east Syracuse NY  phone number 315-656-8114  pbeyer@twcny.rr.com.

Tell him that I gave you his number an Id. We are friends.

 

Rich Hartung

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