Car stalls - can't restart

[JimmyZ]

Try removing the fuel from the bowls and adding some fresh stuff. There should be a drain on the bowl or you just use some throw away rags to sop it. Possible that the bowls have water from tank?? (Or bad gas or diesel) I once pumped a few gallons of diesel into the Z and ended up draining the tank. Be sure to let any raw fuel evaporate completely before starting. Would hate to see you or the car get burned.

I once had some debris clog my return line on the fuel rail. Remove the return line and crank to verify flow. If clogged some blow the fuel rail from the return end then run a little laquer thinner through it to clean and dissolve anything else.

2c

Jim

[xray]

So...I still don't get how it's a fuel problem. Fuel pump works, there's gas in the bowls....The car ran fine before so the likelihood of "bad gas" is low....Simultaneous plugging of nozzles? Fuel lines crimping/clogging between float bowls and nozzles at the same moment? Doesn't seem plausible. Besides, if it was simultaneous clogging of nozzles, I would think it would give intermittent problems/sputtering etc then die, not one sudden stop and then never restart. The starter fluid observation may be a red herring since (IIRC) ethyl ether is more combustible than gasoline (chemistry experts correct me if I'm wrong), so it may keep the car running simply from the compression/cylinder pressure plus a real weak spark. Still, it's worth de-clogging as much as you can just to be sure it's not debris or something in the fuel lines between the bowl and nozzle.

You said the battery's fine, but are you seeing battery voltage at the coil? Your alternator was tested and it functions within spec? Coil gives you the proper primary and secondary resistances?

[xray]

Very frustrating, I can't pinpoint it and I am sure everything up through the carbs is fine. I've got spark, I've got gas in the bowls, I can turn it over on ether, there's full charge to the battery. Same thing happened to me last year, and I couldn't start the car for the rest of the summer....

So what fixed it when the same thing happened last year? Have you tried that?

[Mitchka]

Sounds almost like vapor lock to me. Try venting the gas tank next time it stalls.

[beandip]

I sort of skimmed over all the posts , but all it takes to make the engine run . Is air , fuel and spark. That's it. So if there is gas getting to the carbs , and air , a given then ignition is the question. What ignition is being used here ? If by chance a ZX electronic look to the module. you are correct that if there was a problem with crud in the gas , it would show up slowly not like this. I wonder over ignition. Gary

[rdefabri]

You said the battery's fine, but are you seeing battery voltage at the coil?

Yes, everything is fine here.

Your alternator was tested and it functions within spec?

Did not check that. However, it has a good charge even after stalling, so I did not suspect the alternator is an issue.

Coil gives you the proper primary and secondary resistances?

Did not check that either, but I'll make it a point to do so.

What ignition is being used here ? If by chance a ZX electronic look to the module.

Aftermarket, unsure of manufacturer. Label is not on the module, but it does say "Made in USA", so I don't think it's a ZX module. Need to see if this is the cause, didn't once suspect the ignition, but the points made here are sensible.

Thanks for the advice - I will report back what I find...

[sblake01]

Some of the replacement E12-80 modules are made in the US. Does it look like this?

[rdefabri]

Ok, long day yesterday = kuncklehead in the morning :stupid: My car has points, I was looking at the coil, and I knew as much. My bad...

I will take off the Distributor cap and check the points for wear and gap. I'll also check to see that the coil is operating properly.

[rdefabri]

Well, well - to my surprise, it's NOT points - it has a Pertronix Ignitor under the Dizzy, so I was caught off guard.

So I'll need to check that in addition to the coil...

[MikeW]

I'd be careful about changing too many things at once. I don't think that a Pertronix will partially fail. It's solid-state so unless there's a problem with the magnet on the distributor shaft it seems to me that it's either going to work or not. I also think that a coil will fail dramatically (such as if you accidentally leave the ignition on overnight). I keep going back to the fact that the engine runs with starting fluid which really makes me think that you're at least getting a spark and at the right time.

If there's any truth to the speculation that starting fluid is somehow easier to ignite with a poor spark then a simple thing to try is to get a feel for how strong the spark is. You can pull off a plug wire and hold it near the block to see how far the spark will jump. Alternatively, I have a simple and cheap tool like this that allows you to see the spark without even removing the plug.

[rdefabri]

Mike,

I won't change anything, but checking should rule it out. I have taken the plugs out and checked for spark. It's there - as to the strength, I haven't tested that, but I think given that it's been running until recently, it should be fine.

I'll test, see if the output from the coil is within range. If it is, that rules out that. I know the wires are good, the plugs are good, but I've never tested the coil.

Assuming that's not the issue, then it's back to fuel in my mind. I am stuck on the fact that the fuel was nearly on empty when it stalled. I did put gas in, and there's fuel being pumped, but I seem to remember something similar happened last year.

[xray]

What's the coil's resistance? I've heard that if you run the 1.5 ohm without the BR (or other aftermarket low resistance coil) it can damage the Pertronix unit resulting in....a car that won't start. Still a bit confusing, since you say there's spark at the plugs, but I'd check Pertronix's website for troubleshooting. The fail test protocol is pretty easy to do (I had to check mine when troubleshooting my starting issues.)

http://www.vintageperformance.com/retrorockets/low_voltage.htm

http://www.vintageperformance.com/retrorockets/avoiding_problems.htm

http://www.vintageperformance.com/retrorockets/field_test.htm

Or you could swap in points and see if that fixes it....