engine cutouts at higher speeds

[Cpt.Fred]

ok, here's another annoying little incident on my way to a daily driver:

when i headed home the day before yesterday after a nice little cruise and measuring the temp in the radiator, the '40 started having ugly little cutouts, which seriously "rocked the boat" if you know what i mean.

in second or third gear, during acceleration, really hard dropouts like someone would turn the motor off and on again in a fastpaced rythm.

i pressed the clutch and thought the engine would be dead, but it just ran on quite normal:confused: at low rpms nothing happens, then i went on without problems. a few minutes later the same, this time up a hill.

when idling, the engine started making little puffs and spits and frizzles once in a while, it didn' do that before...

i am running an electric fuel pump, filters look fine. distributor and points look fine , as well. all wires and the plugs are new.

can it be the coil, collapsing under load or when it's getting warm?

Edited May 15, 2010 by Cpt.Fred

[moose]

maybe a condenser? I always keep extras in my glove box, ready to put in.

[Jim Saraceno]

Sounds like fuel starvation to me. I would think if it was coil or condenser, the problem would show up once the piece warmed up and wouldn't be affected by speed.

But then again... what do I know?

[Cpt.Fred]

the condenser inside the distributer is new as well, but who knows?

the points don't show any sign of spark damage, though, so i guess the condenser is fine.

i guess i'll just take out the filters and put new ones in,

there's a dragrace on sunday about 25miles from here, i guess i'll just have a friend follow me and i go for some overland testing...

i forgot checking the intake for secondary air yesterday, but why should it idle so calmly then?

i really hate this kind of malfunction, could well be everything.

[greg g]

If you have acces to another coil swap it out. Because your coil goes throught the fire wall, you would have ot jury rig one with a jumper wire from batt to ig on the coil to make the connection. Have you checked the internal wires in the dizzy. REmember oe of them flexes with movement of the breaker plate. check them for worn isulation and assure the wires aren broke down beneath the insulation. Also make sure the carbon button that contacts the rotor is in good condition and that your coil wire is properly seated in the dizzy cap.

[50 Deluxe]

I rebuild my carburetor last October and it worked great, until I let the car sit all winter. A couple weeks ago I got her out, cleaned her up and took her for a confidence trip around the block. She became hard to start and ran fast, I slowed the idle speed down and tried some more short trips she ran okay but still had the hard start. I needed to replace a cracked windscreen, it was a long (45miles) trip. On the way; when I would hit 55 MPH she would "burp" if I slowed a bit she run find until she just quit. Gas was in the float bowl but would not get beyond that. A call to Kanters and a 3 to 6 week wait for a new carburetor. hopefully that is the problem.

[TodFitch]

Sounds like fuel starvation to me. I would think if it was coil or condenser, the problem would show up once the piece warmed up and wouldn't be affected by speed.

But then again... what do I know?

The one time I had a coil issue, it would show up running at high speeds. And it showed up more frequently on warm days. But after sputtering for a bit the engine would totally die. It would take 5 or 10 minutes for the coil to cool down enough to start working again. Thinking back on it, the high speed part may just have been that the engine was running warmer (more power needed for high speeds with a relatively fixed efficiency means more wasted energy as heat) rather than more current through the coil.

So basically, I agree with you. Sounds like fuel starvation to me too.

[Cpt.Fred]

greg: you're right, i've got that coil bolted to the firewall. if you say i can try another with a little tricking i'll do so the next days, someone here must have an old 6V coil lying around in the rubble...

50: oh no, sounds awful! i've had that kind of trouble before on my 60s opel,

hated it. turned out to be an airleak somewhere, but don't ask how we got there:eek:

i have a new carb on the shelf, but i rebuilt the one on the engine completely last year, so... i don't know.

hopefully on sunday i'll know a little more.

if most of you think it's a fuel issue, i'll change filters first!

thanks so far, i'll keep you updated!

[1just4don]

I had something sim once and found my flex fuel line before fuel pump went bad. Specially if you are using old rubber NOT compatible with ethanol additives in gas.

it can be sucking air thru a crack OR be partially blocked off inside allowing slow go but not full speed.

[jd52cranbrook]

points, sure as shootin

[Niel Hoback]

I vote for bad points or gap, too.

[moose]

I vote for bad points or gap, too.

The opinions expressed in this post are those of the poster only and do not reflect those of the forum managment or any other sane person.

I don't know if I'd trust this guy;)

[Niel Hoback]

Probably a good idea, I don't trust him either.

[greg g]

Coils are coils unless they are labled internally resisted. Gotta be a Bosche coil for a Beetle laying some where. Or grab one off a Wartburg.

[Cpt.Fred]

alright, i won't trust anyone here anymore;)

wartburg it is. but since it's raining cats and dogs here all the time i don't feel like trying right now...

all fuel lines are new, hoses as well and they're labeled as fuel hoses, you have to try hard to find anything that isn't tested and labeled and proofed and what not at least six times over here in germany:rolleyes:

i'll check the gap and look at the timing with a strobelight as soon as the rain stops.

[greg g]

Have you run it with a vacuum gauge on it????

[Cpt.Fred]

on the intake? carb? sorry, i've never done that before, you must think i'm really stupid but can you explain how you mean it? thanks...

[greg g]

connect it to the port for the windshield wiper on the maifold.

[Cpt.Fred]

aah, ok! what should it read then, when everythings fine?

[Guest P15-D24]

Check the insulation on the wires inside the distributor. If is cracked or frayed it may short out as the breaker plate rotates from the centrifugal advance. Shorts out, speed drops and timing retards and short goes away.

[Cpt.Fred]

sounds just like this could be the one. i'm going to have a cruise now,

will check the wires before. i'll post later what happened!

thanks!

[Cpt.Fred]

ok, back home!

i doublechecked the points and gap and made sure those wires where well insulated and in good shape, here's what i found:

looks ok to me, gap was fine, too. i cleaned and oiled everything and checked all cables from the coil and to the plugs. took the plugs out and cleaned them,

they're all a little too black by the way... the car is really thirsty, have to change that. but, it was running better already at idle speed!

we went on a cruise and the problem occured again.

i checked the filters again, there was a little crud in there now since the tank was nearly empty. two days ago it was clean, i was surprised!

we got a new filter, i changed it...

and that's it now:)

pretty simple, thanks for your help! feeling a little stupid here.next time i know better.

[mrspeedyt]

on my '41 de soto it was the condenser. on my '40 la salle symptons like yours turned out to be the electric fuel pump ( previous owner had replaced the mechanical pump). the pump tested ok every time....so i fiddeled with the points, condenser, coil, fuel filter, gas line, carb, wiring etc.... until i put a new electric fuel pump which fixed it. it took 3 days to travel 700 miles instead of 1 1/2 days.

Edited May 16, 2010 by mrspeedyt

[50 Deluxe]

Kanter came through in a hurry, Got the new (factory rebuild) carb, took 10 minutes to install it. Happy days are here, she started right up and seemed to run good until I hit the road; she stopped dead, dropping gas down the carb did nothing. Soooooo Monday it is to the parts store for new plugs, wire, points and condenser. P.S. while getting the pool ready for summer the filter crapped out ($200), the wife's washer is making big time clunk clunk noises ($1000) and the F150 is due its 30,000 mile checkup ($450)

[1955 plymouth]

Fred. It almost looks like you have a small bare spot on the power wire coming into the distributor, as the plate moves the wire will jump arc to the housing and loose spark, will idle perfect when you rev the engine up it will have a steady miss that will increase with rpm?. The little wire will do that and it looks like yours has a bare spot.