The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 72 Stovebolt 250 C30 loses power and quits

I'm at my wit's end here. I bought the truck a week ago last Tuesday. It ran about 7 miles, started gasping and losing power, then stalled. Went back the next morning with spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, condenser etc. and put all those in. It ran about another 7 miles and did the same thing all over again. Drained the old gas out, replaced the fuel lines and fuel pump and put fresh gas in it, but it still wouldn't run much more than across the road. Got a kit and rebuilt the carb, also new spark wires. THEN it ran, for about 30 miles and started its crap again!!! Pulled the valve cover and checked the lash -- all A-OK but it still spits and sputters and won't stay running. What the _____ is going on with this engine? Am I going to have to overhaul it? Or replace it? And can I replace it with a good 283 I have on-hand? Many thanks for any input on this beast!

Need more info. During the 7 miles while it is running, does it run GOOD? Crisp acceleration? Does it smoke?

I was going to suggest that you are having a vapor lock problem, but you replaced the fuel pump, which usually is the cause. Is your gas cap vented? If not, try that.

YZOLDOWL you need to have a freind with you! when she dies pull the coil wire out of the distributor and hold it close to the block and check for spark! you did not mention a new coil in your post.
I wold also have a small can handy pull the fuel line off at the carb and have someone crank the engine over just to see if you have fuel coming up to the carb you might have some floaties in the tank

Thanks guys! "49," She runs fine, no smoke until she starts to stall out. Then there's a sharp odor -- as if incomplete combustion -- a little white smoke, and down she goes! "D," thank goodness I had the wife following me in the li'l Dodger! We did replace the coil, forgot to say so. Floaties? Like maybe dirt and debris or flakes of rust maybe? Thought all those might of come out of there with the old gas. OH, and the old gas WAS BAD: in a pint jar, it separated to a skim of varnish at the top, a wide layer of something in the middle, and a little bit of water at the bottom. Uhhh, there was no inline fuel filter; there is now!

By the way, the old spark plugs I pulled: two had a yellowish cast, two were grey and the electrodes thouroughly burnt, and two were more-or-less okay, normal for the probable length of time they'd been in there. I ordered a new distributor but the one that came in was the wrong one. So I ordered a module for the old distributor.

John E.

Run a hose from a 5 gallon gas tank to the fuel pump and see if it runs like it should. That will by-pass the "floaties" and anything BAD in your gas tank. Do your driving so nothing blows up

YzOldOwl,

What does this mean?? "I ordered a module for the old distributor"? Your first post mentions points, condenser and rotor.

Stuart

Hy YzOldOwl, what engine are we talking about and what carb.. The four barrel carbs on 350s had a sintered bronze filter inside the carb behind the fuel line attaching fitting, when they start to plug up they behave just as you describe, hope that helps.

In stall a fuel filter right in front of the carb. Do some kind a temperary lines with a clear plastic filter. Run it and watch the filter for fuel or floaties. It sounds like a fuel problem but could be ignition since you smelled raw fuel right before it died. Hot wire the positive side of the coil, come right off the battery. This will bypass the whole ignition system. You could have a bad resistor wire or switch.
No mechanical problem that would require a rebuild of the engine will cause this type of problem.

How does it restart? does it take a while for cool down? does it fire right up? Do you have to pump the throttle? Give all the information you can think of! Joe.

Thanks again guys. "Atom," that's the electronic gizmo at the top of the distributor itself. Don't know any name for it other than *module.*

"Wrench" it's a later-70s 250 cubic, don't know the liter conversion. Guess I'm going to have to try and find a shop manual on this beast!

"Joe" MANY thanks for the reassurance! It starts right up, runs for a bit, and then starts to starve out and dies. Going to try your idea of looking at the fuel feed in progress; I'll use an old tractor sed bowl I have onhand. All the wires are new but what switches should I look at besides the ignition? Thanks again!

YzOldOwl,

I'm not sure what you have, points AND a electronic gizmo...but, this type of failure screams "electronic gizmo" to me.


Stuart

White smoke??? Where?

White "smoke" coming from the carburetor if the air cleaner is off is probably fuel vapor.

White smoke from the tail pipe could be telling you that antifreeze is getting into the combustion area; and it will have a sharp odor.

Have you tried a compression test, or a leak-down test?

Jon.

Just did a compression test, dry and then wet. All is well in that department but it still wouldn't stay running. So I replaced the steel fuel line that runs from the fuel pump to the carb and put that sed bowl inline to have a looksee. No floaties! Took the sed bowl out and hooked new fuel line up solid -- and whaddaya know?! The ol' Stovebolt runs fine! Something must've clogging that old steel crossover fuel line. Oh, she's still a little rough but that's from age and disuse, and I think I really need to put an inline fuel filter between the gas tank and the fuel pump. Other than that -- well, my faith (and the wife's; she has a "mechanical ear" from when she was little! -- she said she didn't hear "a wrinkle nor a warble" in that engine and I've learned to trust her on that score!) in the ol' Stover is vindicated.

Many thanks fellas, for your help. I couldn't have done it without you! I was about ready to give up and re-sell the truck but now we're going to restore it and use it!

John E.

Wonderful news..a purring engine. Just out of curiosity, what type of ignition system does your rig have. You mention points/condenser, but I was wondering what the electronic module is used for.

I wonder if your wife, with her mechanical ear, might be the first Ms. Goodwrench.

Stuart

With this being a '72 250, it has to have points if its still stock. The only thing in the distributor is a set of points and condenser, I suspect thats what his " modual " was.

John, don't put a fuel filter in front of the pump, they don't like to suck threw them very well. Buy a new steel line and install the filter after the pump or right at the carb. I would put it up where it was easy to get to, you might be changing them out for awhile. The carb should have a bronze filter or a paper filter right in the inlet. You should replace it before installing the new line. Use a 1" wrench and unscrew the carb inlet. Replace filter and don't over tighten the fitting, infact, start it by hand very gently. You don't want to cross thread now!
Glad its running and didn't take long to figure out, Joe

I'm going to chime in and tell you not to put a filter in before your pump, too.

Your fuel pump can handle chunky gas, but if it doesn't get enough fuel -- which is what will happen when the filter plugs up -- it will go bad.

While replacing fuel pumps isn't the worst job on the planet, I really don't like doing it.

YzOldOwl, I reckon these guys have got it right... Glad your truck is running, but definitely put the fuel filter AFTER the fuel pump... Lurch

"Atom," it isn't precisely 'purring' yet but we're gettin' there! Stock ignition, 'cos it has points, rotor, condenser, voltage regulator etc. -- but it also has an alternator not a generator. <shrug> Got a book on it today and it says "module" -- it's down just inside the distributor housing. ((Thanx Atom! Guess you could say it's a gift I've had since I was a girl riding in my grandpa's Essex. I told him there was this little clinking noise in the engine as we were driving through the Mojave Desert. He didn't listen, thought I was hearing things until the "clink" got to the point where it was more of a CLANK! Then he had to pull that piston and we limped on back home on five... :-) Then there was the time I heard the universal going out of our Merc -- but I'll let Johnny tell that one! Joyce ))

Joe, Brendan, Lurch -- thanx for the info. I'll get a new steel line in place of the plastic one I was using, and put the fuel filter in where it belongs. Didn't realize that was what that one little port is alongside the block, it's to mount the filter! Duh?! :p

John E.

Correcting myself, not a port but the spot where the filter mounts. Duh again?! :rolleyes: I have to use the truck tomorrow but Monday morning I'll get the guys at the shop to make me a new fuel line.

John E.