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Fuel or Electrical - it has to be electrical

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Jim_Gruber

Jim_Gruber

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OK got new Mr. Gasket fuel pump installed and it is still really noisy.

1) New fuel filter in front of carbs
2) new 12 non ballasted coil

Started going for a test drive, engine misfiring badly , no power.

Turned around and came hoem and swaped floats off of my 1275. Misfiring better and more power. Started going down to get gas and engine misfiring kept gewtting worse and worse on way to gas station 2 miles down the road. Under no load it ould idle but ask for any power and it just would not go.

Turned engine off, filled with gas, and Bugsy absolutely will not restart. I'm guessing it's got to be points or condenser at the point. Bugsy spent the night away from home all by himself. Going down armed with new set of points and condenser to see if I can get him going rather than getting him towed.

Definitely getting enough gas. If fact coming out of overflow tubes as I tried to start the car. Pump is low pressure 2-3.5 PSI. Replaced old pump which said 5.5 PSI

Any ideas on diagnosis. I'm betting one of those bad condensers Kim was talking about.
 
Fuel should NEVER come out of the overflow tubes. If you have fuel coming out of the overflow tubes at all, the fuel level in the jets will be too high. The car just won't run well if this is the case; that's why float height is important. Maybe not all of the problem but a good part of it.

I was skulking around today and noticed that you can get Lucas OEM capacitors from British Parts Northwest. OK, they might not be as well made as they were 50 years ago, but probably better than the after-market ones. You need to eliminate this as a potential cause or you'll be spinning your wheels (so to speak!) forever.

One of my maxims for people in my business who have problems they can't diagnose: major problems have obvious causes. If the thing just won't run right, don't look for some subtle problem. Something big and obvious is wrong.
 
Steve,

I can't get any firing of engine at all. Totally dead. And if you leave ignition turned on for any length of time gas will indeed flow out of the overflow tubes.
 
no spark and fuel dumpage? Two problems maybe? Or you have spark, just not ignition? flooded out plugs? Maybe 3.5psi of fuel is still too much? need pressure regulator?
 
And/or, when you fit the new pump you dislodged a bunch of debris in the fuel lines that is now stuck in the float valves and keeping them open.

I'd start by cleaning and setting the float valves. If the problem persists, use a gauge to check the actual fuel pressure. If it's more than 3 psi, consider fitting a regulator. (The inexpensive Holley pressure regulator has a better reputation than the round pancake one). Don't forget to pull the plugs, clean them, and allow them to dry.
 
I had similar - not the misfire and not start but most everything else. If you have overflow, you might be flooding.

Two things that helped me were

1. heavier weight oil in the damper
2. timing - I thought it was right, but it is much better now
 
Well Bugsy is still dead as a doornail and will not fire at all.

1) Replaced points, condenser, and switched back to old coil and still nothing. Not a peep out of the engine. Points looked quite burned.

Since forecast is calling for heavy rain tonight headed toward Carlisle of course, and Bugsy is sitting down at local gas station I think I just need to get Bugsy towed to local LBC Shop.

This one has me stumped.

Hey does the ignition and the starter run off of the same fuse? Anyone know for sure. Possible run circuit has blown fuse in fusebox? Therefore not getting any juice? Highly unlikely but possible if both are on separate circuits.
 
Jim:
Check for spark at the distributor - pop the cap, turn the key on and open the points with a screw driver. There should be spark at the points when you do that. If there is no spark it could be the ground wire was installed in the incorrect order (happens to everyone!). If you have all that fuel, there should be some kind of coughing, backfire etc. so I keep leaning to an electrial issue.
Good luck, hate to see Bugsy spend another night in a strange place.
Roy
 
Jim, Does Bugsy have an electronic tach? If so, does the needle n=more whist cranking? If not, then you are not getting low voltage due to bad connections, bad condenser, grounded points, etc. The tach is a useful tool.

Peter C
 
help us here Jim

1. does the car turn over?
2. do you have spark?
3. do you have gas?
4. do you ave air?
 
Something I just found out - if you aren't getting 12c volts to the coil, it might be because the coil inside your tach shorts. My tach ('71) has 2 white wires - one coming from the ignition switch, the other going to the coil. It's be easy enough to check for voltage at the coil though. Use a test light or voltage meter.
 
If you hot wire from batt to coil, not the side to the Dizzy, you can now check for spark by pulling one and grounding it and cranking engine and looking for spark.

If no spark check back here and we will go from there.
 
DarwinT said:
Something I just found out - if you aren't getting 12c volts to the coil, it might be because the coil inside your tach shorts. My tach ('71) has 2 white wires - one coming from the ignition switch, the other going to the coil. It's be easy enough to check for voltage at the coil though. Use a test light or voltage meter.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's quite true. Current to the ignition goes through the tach in many cars. Just one of the bonehead designs that make our cars so charming.

It really shouldn't be difficult to troubleshoot this problem. All that is needed is a test light. One lead to ground, one to the coil terminal. Then, if you have voltage at the coil, pull a plug wire and see if you can get a spark to ground. Try logical things that isolate the problem; this is how you diagnose anything. Of course, if the points are fried, you have to replace or clean those first.

My point about the overflow was not that it isn't happening, but if the needle valve is working, it won't happen. So, if there is overflow, under any conditions at all, that has to be fixed, period, before anything else is done. The logic here is that if you know something is wrong, and that will keep the thing from running right, just fix it. No point in trying to get it running by dealing with something else until known problems are fixed.
 
OK just got back from the shop talking to LBC Guy.

1) Mr. Gasket Pump is crap. besides being extremely loud the pump rated at 2-3.5 PSI is actually putting out 8 PSI. Hence my overflow problem. So much for quality control. LBC Guy told me about a Master Brand pump, rated 2.0 to 3.5 available through Advance Auto. $54.95, quiet and ticks. Strap around round pump, bolts in place with single bolt. I picked one up this AM. Gee this is identical to the one I had in there. He will reinstall for me.

Plugs after sitting overnight totally wet and saturated. Took out to dry out.

2) Found bad connection on + Battery Terminal, issues with voltage stability. This could have been causing fuel pump to cut out. Car was essentially running on the generator.

3) Still no spark to the dizzy. Rotor cap replaced this AM still having issues. He's checking out and will probably have diagnosed Monday AM.

I'll provide a complete report when we're done.
 
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