Car wants to die when I stop?

    I have a new problem that just started to develop the last 2 times I've driven my car. I had the whole thing tuned and adjusted a short time ago and all was running great! Then, I noticed my car was idleing too high at stops. A little blip of the throttle, and it all was better. This kept happening, so I adjusted the tension of the throttle return spring. That seemed to do the trick. And all was fine for a few weeks and about 150 miles or so.


    Now, the car has difficulty starting when warm (I have to give it a bit of manual choke sometimes), and wants to die when I come to a stop. When the clutch goes in at a stop, I have to feather it with gas to keep it running sometimes.


    Any ideas? Keep in mind, I'm not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination.


    Edited by - 66gtk on 10/01/2007 06:34:54

    Hey Troy.


    If you have a spare coil, try putting that on the kar and giving it a go. I had a similar problem with mine. When it got to driving temp it died. I couldn't restart until it cooled down, then it died again. Every time I put the clutch in it died.


    Further info, idling was very rough and I had to continually keep the revs up to prevent stalling.


    Regards,


    René


    Edited by - rene.pilat on 10/01/2007 16:53:23

    Decades ago my Boss 302 started quiting at traffic stops after the engine got up to full temperature. It was tough to restart and I had to keep the rpm up to keep it running. A mechanic told me my condensor in the distributor was breaking down. I installed a new condensor and the problem was gone.


    Good Luck!

    The fact that these problems have come up after a tune makes me suspicious. You’re first symptom was high idle, a faulty coil or condensor would most probably cause hard starting and/or misfiring not high idle. A vacuum leak would cause high idle and possibly cause starting problems. Now if the mechanic connected up a vacuum meter for engine diagnostics he may have left something disconnected. Could be that the mechanic has advanced the timing too much ( I think this is the most likely), this will cause you’re engine to idle higher when coming to a stop and it will make the car harder to start. In fact, if the car cranks slowly as though it has a flat battery when engine is hot, then the timing definitely is too far advanced. Also, bad fuel could give these symptoms, have you changed service stations? Failing all this, then as already suggested, Carby is the problem. Hope this helps you Troy. Cheers Tony

    If when the engine is warm and you have to sometimes pull the choke out a bit, the first thing I would suspect is a lean carb, or vacuum leak. Warm engines rarely need extra fuel to start. I would start by removing the air cleaner on a warm engine and try cupping your hand over the primary choke housing. If the engine speeds up a bit, then you will know the engine is running lean.

    Wow- thanks for all the help. I'm even more confused now. Seems like it could be many problems. Funny how I went from one side of the spectrum to the other in a short time - high idle to not enough gas at stops.

    Sounds like it's time for a carb rebuild. Are you running a Holley? That is what it looks like from your engine compartment pic's, looking at the way the gas line is run.

    Do you drive it regularly, if not do you add a gas stabalizer to keep everything in working order? Gas goes bad fairly quickly and it can gum up the works.

    I have had conditions you described that were only corrected by rebuilding the carb, especially with Holley's. If you are running a Holley, getting an original ford carb(mucho $'s), or a Pony Carbs Hipo repro will be a good choice for dependability.


    Edited by - 66tiger on 10/02/2007 14:12:17

    Please check timing first. Reason being that when I first bought my K I got all keen and tuned it to manufacturers specs. I found timing to be a little retarded so I advanced it to where it should be. After doing this my car developed the same symptoms your’s has. Now in the 60’s when these car were built octane levels were higher (at least that’s the case in Australia) so the factory specs would have been correct. Now you’re car has just been tuned. I suggest retarding the timing say 2-3 degrees then try driving the car and see if that fixes the problem. It’s a 5 minute job to rule out timing, carby rebuilts are costly and time consuming. Cheers Tony.

    So after sitting for about 10 days, I fired it up last night. It was cool here - about 50 degrees. Ran perfectly for 30 minutes, with no stalling out. I didn't do a thing since I've noticed the problem. It was a warm day (about 80-85) last time I drove it and noticed the problem. It was sitting at a show all day after a 40 minute drive. At the end of the day, had trouble with the starting and stalling at stops.

    Troy, what kind of coil are you using? If it's a repop, even one of the new "improved" ones I would ditch it. They definitely have heat related issues.

    Dave
    6S1757

    <BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>

    So after sitting for about 10 days, I fired it up last night. It was cool here - about 50 degrees. Ran perfectly for 30 minutes, with no stalling out. I didn't do a thing since I've noticed the problem. It was a warm day (about 80-85) last time I drove it and noticed the problem. It was sitting at a show all day after a 40 minute drive. At the end of the day, had trouble with the starting and stalling at stops.

    <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana" size=2 id=quote>


    Exactly what my problem was, try a different coil like a pertronix flamethrower. Mine now drives perfectly since I switched. When I show the car I'll put the yellow top in when I reach my destination.


    Regards,


    René

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