Rebuilt Car runs for a bit, Dies then won't crank

[240260280]

Are the plugs carbon fouled again or did it die from lack of fuel?

[Usain_Boat]

5 minutes ago, 240260280 said:

Are the plugs carbon fouled again or did it die from lack of fuel?

the plugs are not carbon fouled, so I assume it died from lack of fuel.

[240260280]

You can fill a fuel can with gas and run a hose from it to your fuel pump to see if the problem is due to your fuel tank.  This bypasses the tank.  The only problem is that the fuel pump will draw a lot of fuel so your can will run empty unless you run the fuel return line back to the can.

[Av8ferg]

If you had debris in your fuel system you may also have clogged your injectors. You can pull them and test them. Let me know if you want specifics on doing that. It requires building a small nozzle adapter and a battery. Also work for cleaning them out, which is what I did.
I start by checking you getting fuel, and that its at the right pressure. ~36 psi. When was the last time your changed your fuel filter?


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[Zed Head]

19 hours ago, Usain_Boat said:

 until I pushed the clutch in to back out of the garage where it died and would not restart. 

Did you press the brake pedal at the same time?  There's no reason for pressing the clutch pedal to cause it to die unless you have a loose wire under the dash.  The clutch system is completely separate from the engine control system.  But the brake pedal does pull vacuum when you press it, and a bad booster can cause a vacuum leak.

An easy way to separate fuel supply from electronics is to try starting fluid.  If it starts then dies with each squirt of fluid then it's probably a fuel supply problem, either from the tank or from the injectors.  If it doesn't start with fluid then it might be something like the ignition control module.

I had a bad 1978 ECU in the past also.  It would just die completely, then restart after waiting.

Anyway, starting fluid will tell you if you have good spark and timing.  Make sure you squirt in to the intake manifold itself through a vacuum port.

[Usain_Boat]

18 hours ago, Zed Head said:

Did you press the brake pedal at the same time?  There's no reason for pressing the clutch pedal to cause it to die unless you have a loose wire under the dash.  The clutch system is completely separate from the engine control system.  But the brake pedal does pull vacuum when you press it, and a bad booster can cause a vacuum leak. 

I'm pretty sure it's just coincidence that the car died as I pressed the clutch now. It ran yesterday and I touched nothing but still died after 10 seconds

[Usain_Boat]

Thanks everyone for the help but I will probably have to end this thread at least for now because I had to head back to college and my car is now 3 hours away. Not so easy to troubleshoot anymore.