The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Update, Thanks to all, Still Problems on 61

Thanks to all for all the advice on my 61 that quits when it gets warm. Changed out the condensor, didn't help, then changed out the coil ... drove it about 5 miles last night before it quit (thought it was fixed for sure). Still think it is electrical, but I will continue to troubleshoot based upon all your suggestions ... and will get it sooner or later ... hopefully, sooner. Thanks again.

Did you check the tire pressure? Windsheild washer fluid level?

I had the same problem on my 72. I put in an HEI distributor and the pick up coil inside went bad and kept blowing modules. You prolly have a points dizzy so this may not help. Good luck.

One thing I do when I am trying to troubleshoot...

I clamp a spark plug to ground somewhere close to the distributor. Take the coil wire off of the distributor and put it on the spark plug. If it sparks (blue), it is not a problem with the coil, points, or condenser. The only things left are the rotor, cap, and wires. Then replace the coil wire to the Dist. Now pull a plug wire and put it on the clamped plug... see if it sparks... continue through all plug wires one at a time... If they all spark it is not an electrical problem.

All that being said, yours is an intermittent problem that seems to be heat related... if the condition that causes the problem changes while troubleshooting, you can easily be fooled and end up frustrated.

Take your time, have someone to help, and go through it systematicly. Eliminate only one variable at a time. Once you find the culprit. try to re-create the problem. If you can... you have reached success.

Need to find out if its fuel or fire, I have had a couple 60-66s that did the same thing when there was clogging at the sending unit, there is a sharp bend at the top of the sender that clogs. Can't really see in there, even w/sender out, but fish some wire thru it & see what comes out. First one drove me nuts. It would pump for quite some time then finally run out of fuel. After the truck sat a while it would restart fine. Brian

Fumblin46...

You forgot to ask if he aligned the Johnson Rod.

when this truck stops running, how long do you have to wait till it will restart?? do you try to start it while movin if it dies?

Joker - When it dies, it will usually start right back after it sits a minute or so. It does die running down the road, and leaving the ignition on and the clutch out, it doesn't try to restart ... just winds down to a stop. Tried pumping the gas and pulling the choke, and neither helped. As Inky pointed out, it kinda frustrating because it doesn't stay broken long enough to do much trouble shooting.

It sure sounds like fuel starvation to me, clogged fuel line or filter. Did you check condition of the rubber line under the cab on passenger side, that bridges gap between the tank sending unit and the hard fuel line on the frame? It could be collapsing from fuel suction while running? Just a thought....

That's a good point Yachtcare. I had one that just cracked and started leaking after showing NO signs of a problem. A new rubber hose should be mandatory as the technology in rubber has progressed quite a bit.

I'll check the fuel lines and will also take a look at the sending unit mentioned earlier. Maybe something will show up.

mine will sometime die early in a warm up period and it may coast to a stop,most of the time it will restart by just turning the key off and on while it is moving,, I am just living with it, may do it twice till it warms up and then you may go all day with out it happening,,,,,,,,,let us know when you get it figured out...........Fred

Are you confident that there's not crud built up in a fuel filter? This could cause your problem.

Brian

No fuel filter.

No fuel filter? I would guess it would be about time to clean out your carburator, Steve

No doubt. All kinds of crud floats around in gas.

Unless you put a new fuel tank, lines, and pump on your truck, you absolutely need a fuel filter.

My truck had been sitting in a field for 6 yrs with hardly any gas in it for 6 yrs..The inside of the tank had a nice coating of red surface rust..I went through about 6 fuel filters before it got better..I bought the clear ones so you can see how clogged they are getting..Always keep your tools and an extra filter..Didn't want to pull the tank, and it worked..Good Luck, Steve

I had a similar problem with the 327 in my 64. Turned out that the wire to the condenser was broken INSIDE of the insulation. It about drove me crazy because it would usally start after sitting a minute or less. The bushings were wore so i replaced the whole unit with a rebuilt one. Not a single problem with that since.

Got to be a fuel starvation problem. Start at the tank (clean the tank)and replace everything to the carb, then clean and rebuild the carb. Put a fuel filter in line to save you from having to redo the carb job. Had a VW one time that the kids put grass clippings in the tank. Ran great for 15 to 20 minutes then would die. Wait 5 minutes and restart. Finally it worked its way into the carb inlet and wouldn't start for several hours. Good luck!

If you have a fuel pump that is assembled with screws take it apart and inspect the check valve it sounds as if it is got crud in it, not allowing it to fill the bowl properly, had this problem in a 55 2nd and it acted just the same way.