uh-oh... carb problems???

[Doug I]

HLC - has anyone thought about blowing out the fuel lines? There could be some crud in there somewhere thta's giving you grief. Dose of compressed air might help.

[ksmiff]

I had a very annoying problem on an old F-150 truck of mine. I am a pretty good old school mechanic and went through the long trail of diagnosing. Most people fighting an intermittent problem, choose to "Shotgun repair" all the suspected components at once and never pin-point the culprit. They just fixed it with one of the many parts changed. I decided mine wasn't going to win and I would find the exact problem and add it to my book of wisdom. To save you from all the steps I took, I'll get right to the culpprit. It was as simple as the Distributor Pigtail plug that connects to the Ignition harness Plug. A slight bit of corrosion was present inside the plug. When the plug got hot(because it was sitting on the intake manifold) it would expand just enough to make the connection weak enough to kill the engine. Let it cool and it would start right up. I cleaned the plug and hit it with a product called Corrosion -X "which I swear by" and five years have gone by without ever happening again. .

Good luck.

[hey,littlecobra]

ya'll ask tough questions. I raised the hood and peered inside.... looked for the 'msd'. hmmmm I don't see anything that looks like what i THINK is an MSD box. The big wire that comes out of the distr. goes to something red, but it is a cylinder in shape, not a box. ugh. see?? ignorant!

Nobody is looking at it right now because i don't have time for anybody to look at it. I'll have to trailer it back up to Rob. No way am i driving it. The test drive yesterday went well. As in, for 20 minutes it didn't die....
Did not drive it today. Don't know about tomorrow or the next or the next or the next.....
Thank you for all these new suggestions. If they haven't been done at the shop before i will make a list of ya'll's suggestions and see if any of these work.
I'm guessing the ignition module. It was smallish, like a pack of gum (the wrigley's kind) I don't where it went or what he did with it.
I do know i got a spark to the plugs when i first had it on the side of the road. I called up to the mechanic, and the guy that was in the shop had me check for spark right off the bat. But.... if something is intermittent, maybe that would be different.
thank you for suggesting the Chilton books, Ron. As a matter of fact, a concerned soul sent me a private message with the same idea. Thanks, RP.
Will stop by the 'big' 'Half Priced Books' and grab some.

ok. that's it for now. I'll continue to update this thread as i test drive and evaluate the repair.
oh yes. if it was a MSD box wouldn't it say it?? I don't see anything that says that. And can a box be a cylinder? Is that just a term?? Box??
Late night reading... Chilton for dummies.
K

[Madmiles442]

Kristen,
The MSD module box will look something like this.
Mine is under the glove box in the passenger's footwell. They can be located just about anywhere.
The cylindrical piece next to the distributor is the ignition coil. It might say "Blaster" on it.
If you need help trailering anywhere, my midday offer is good this week only - I start my new job on Monday. (yea!)

[hey,littlecobra]

thanks, Miles, I'll look. I don't have a glove box, but of course will look in that area.
I have a trailer! But... it's in Terrell. If i get stranded, i'll call ya!!!!

ignition coil. yeah, that's it! I knew it was something like that. hey, at least i knew something came out of that distr, right??

K

[wtm442]

Kristen
Intermittent problems like the engine stopping only when it is hot are just part of owning any car. Plus, intermittent problems are the most difficult to diagnose and fix.

Your problem may very well have been a defective ignition coil. Just drive the car close to home and carry your cell phone. After a couple of extended rides with no problems, you will have to agree that Rob did fix the problem.

Many of the posts here are suggestions on what MIGHT be the cause. There are hundreds of possibilities. But you trust Rob, and it did not die on your first extended drive, so don't worry. A good mechanic is worth every penny you pay him.

Just go out and have fun. And if the problem reoccurs, just call one of your friends. You have many!