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1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe Won't start when engine hot


Tim Larson
Go to solution Solved by Plymouthy Adams,

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17 minutes ago, tjlarson88 said:

Your description of the situation leads me to believe you think it could be the coil, as well.

 

I think I said it first in post 12 and I will stick with this based on your description of the series of events...now if you left out some other important facts.....then we back to TS101

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I don’t think I left anything out. I did start the car after dark, but could not see any electrical sparks or anything of that nature while the engine was running. I’ll update this post once I figure out more!

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Here is a problem that beset many 49 Plymouths back in the day and I have had the same problem myself with a 37.

 

The bushing on the point moveable arm needs to be reamed before installation otherwise, as the engine warms up it will start to bind causing missing  and stalling.  For some reason, the pivot pin is about  .001 too large.  Many later replacement point sets had there own bushing  but you may have an OEM set .   This is the first place I would look on a 49 with this problem and I am speaking from over 50 years experience.

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1 minute ago, dpollo said:

Here is a problem that beset many 49 Plymouths back in the day and I have had the same problem myself with a 37.

 

The bushing on the point moveable arm needs to be reamed before installation otherwise, as the engine warms up it will start to bind causing missing  and stalling.  For some reason, the pivot pin is about  .001 too large.  Many later replacement point sets had there own bushing  but you may have an OEM set .   This is the first place I would look on a 49 with this problem and I am speaking from over 50 years experience.

Good point.  Also I've heard of many newer replacement sets having the spring as a separate part in the package.  This results in it being overlooked, as in not installed, or incorrectly installed.  So, not enough pressure to reliably close the points.  Might check that also.

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another issue so very often overlooked by many folks working these older cars is the use of a feeler gauge to set USED point they have just cleaned in order to get spark.  IF not set with a dwell meter to ensure that the closed period of time is proper they result could be that the points are conducting for a longer period of time thus pulling more current than needed for a longer period of time and the result in the coil will overheat.  Granted there are many times one should clean and tweak the points, main one being we may have to limp back to the house for a proper tune up.  This is an acceptable practice only when followed up by proper tuning techniques.  New points often do very well with a feeler gauge but irregular and pitted contacts of used points must be set with a meter.  You looking for proper saturation of the coil, to little dwell time you do not develop the charge capacity of the coil, too much you reach saturation but at a trade off for heat saturation, saturated heat in electrical circuits are prone to thermal runaway..

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