Engine stalls.

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Plaschy

Plaschy

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Was going to take a short ride in the Valiant tonight to replace the oil in the gear box and put a new gasket in there as well at a DIY gas station/shop.
The engine was never started until last Sunday for the first time in a couple of years.
It started at the second try. Left it for idle a while just to make sure everything seemed to be OK.

Put the gear in Drive… and the problems... started…

After some 10 seconds the horns started to sound – not at all loud – every other second. Disconnected the wires to the horns and continued to drive.

Needed to turn right after a couple blocks, pulled the indicator upwards and the engine stalled. Started the engine again and made it for a couple of more blocks. The engine stalls once again and smoke is coming up from under the hood. Oil from the transmission filler tube seemed to have splashed over the right hand side header causing the smoke.

Noticed that oil temp sensor is bad and need to be replaced

Now I don´t know what to do. Please guide me in the right direction.

Short facts of the car
1967 Plymouth Valiant, auto on the column
318 from a 1985 Dodge Van
New harness throughout the whole car (factory equivalent from Year One).
Upgraded to 4 pin ballast resistor
New distributor (Summit´s own brand)
New battery
New fuel filter
New alternator, 46A (BBB Industries)
New mini starter (Hitachi Ministart 2,4 hp 4:1)
New coil and Ecu from FBO
 
may be unrelated to the rest, but the floats in the carb may be stuck causing flooding/ stalling.
 
I'll check that.


Oh, forgot to mention yesterday. The amp meter is bypassed The Mad Electrical way.
 
As a complete newbie on carbs I googled to learn more. Some of pictures I found of the carburator the setup wasn´t like mine.

Mine has the vacuum hose plugged (A) and therefore not connected to the choke vacuum diaphragm (B).
But on the pictures I found on the net (A) is connected to (B).

Could that be the other – or the only reason – why the engine stalls?
I just want to ask before I start to check the float settings.
 

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that is different from the way mine was. i had the same set up. my A was connected to B with a one way valve in the vacuum line. the open vacuum port on the side of the carb went to my vacuum advance. another thing you can do is tie the choke all the way open, plug off that vacuum port or connect it the advance on the distributor and drive it. see it dies. if it does the choke is not responsible for the stalling.
 
The fuel filter is new. The gas tank was nearly empty the years I had the car stored in a garage. Filled the tank halfway one month ago.

Now out to buy hoses and a one way valve.

I will be back with the results during this week end.
 
Plaschy said:
The fuel filter is new. The gas tank was nearly empty the years I had the car stored in a garage. Filled the tank halfway one month ago.

Now out to buy hoses and a one way valve.

I will be back with the results during this week end.
Click to expand...

this is what it looks like, not really sure of its purpose, but again, you can tie the choke open to eliminate choke operation as a cause for the stalling
 

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The purpose of the choke pull-off is to pop the choke open just a little (i.e. correct size drill bit per manual) as soon as the engine starts. The choke should be fully closed when cranking to make it a bit richer. If it doesn't pop open, you will be idling way too rich while it is cold. Always check a choke pull-off with a vacuum pump since the rubber diaphrams easily fail, especially if someone sprays carb cleaner around it. I fiddled with the choke on my 69 Dart slant for years, adjusting from summer to winter, until I found the pull-off was bad.

I wonder if the turn signal actually caused the engine to die. You need more statistics on that to see if a true correlation. If true, you probably have under-dash wiring problems. Every car I have bought has a mess of wiring, with butt crimps, bare wires, added on junk with loosely wrapped wires. It seems that even "professional" mechanics are gomers when it comes to wiring. Indeed, I have seen some scary photos posted on FABO, and the guy doesn't even think he has a problem. When I am done, it is all clean in plastic loom like a modern car. Your faint horn is a sign of a slight short to ground in the wiring since all the horn button does is short the relay wire to ground.

I have no clue on the transmission burping fluid out the filler tube. I have heard others describe that though. Maybe it was over-filled. That is easy to do since it can be tricky reading the stick, especially on an initial fill with fluid splashing. You should always count quarts as you fill. I don't think it will hurt anything, the excess fluid will just drain out of the overflow (somewhere on the case) until it is about right.
 
73AbodEE said:
i know you are clear over in Sweden, but if you need this thing , we can work something out, if you need a part number off it , i think it has one on it.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I will try at the local car parts store first. I'll let you if I need that part our just the numbers.
 
While the carburetor may be less than perfect, there is plenty of evidence of an electrical fault.

Idles in park just fine. Once you move the column mounted gear selector, "Trouble Starts". The horn does odd things. Turn signal may be affected.

Time to start looking at the wiring in the area of the column assembly. Perhaps the shift linkage is contacting wires in Drive that it does not touch in Park. Maybe the steering shaft is rubbing on some wiring.

A weak short to ground can trip the horn relay. Such a ground path can be established by shorting the horn wire to a turn signal bulb - which is grounded on the other end of the filament. As the filament heats up, the resistance goes up - eventually far enough for the relay to turn off.

Disconnect the wires at the ballast resistor. Set the parking brake. Reconnect the horns. With the ignition on, put the car in drive. Wiggle test the gear selector, turn the wheel. Try the turn signals. Try the horn.

If you get the horn honking on it's own walk around the car looking for a bulb with a dim glow.

Crawl under the dash with the selector in drive & look for contact with wiring. Look in the engine bay as well.

Pulling the wire off of the horn just hides the symptom. Wiring faults do not get better. They can get worse, and usually do so in spectacular fashion. You can burn a car to the ground with an electrical fault.

B.

.
 
bohica2xo said:
While the carburetor may be less than perfect, there is plenty of evidence of an electrical fault.

Idles in park just fine. Once you move the column mounted gear selector, "Trouble Starts". The horn does odd things. Turn signal may be affected.

Time to start looking at the wiring in the area of the column assembly. Perhaps the shift linkage is contacting wires in Drive that it does not touch in Park. Maybe the steering shaft is rubbing on some wiring.

A weak short to ground can trip the horn relay. Such a ground path can be established by shorting the horn wire to a turn signal bulb - which is grounded on the other end of the filament. As the filament heats up, the resistance goes up - eventually far enough for the relay to turn off.

Disconnect the wires at the ballast resistor. Set the parking brake. Reconnect the horns. With the ignition on, put the car in drive. Wiggle test the gear selector, turn the wheel. Try the turn signals. Try the horn.

If you get the horn honking on it's own walk around the car looking for a bulb with a dim glow.

Crawl under the dash with the selector in drive & look for contact with wiring. Look in the engine bay as well.

Pulling the wire off of the horn just hides the symptom. Wiring faults do not get better. They can get worse, and usually do so in spectacular fashion. You can burn a car to the ground with an electrical fault.

B.

.
Click to expand...

Don´t know on cars with column shifter, if the shifter linkage could rubb the wire harness to the steering wheel. Maybe you got a short to the column? You can try with to disconnect the connector to the steering wheel.
 
BillGrissom, bohica2xo and swedefish

Thanks for your input on the electrical issues.
I'll study the wiring diagrams once again.
 
I would check all the grounds make sure there clean and tight. What type of horn button is it rim blow steering wheel. I think your chasing two different problems. I would fix electric problems first. I have seen mopars burn up from horn stuck on.
 
Plaschy said:
Thank you. I will try at the local car parts store first. I'll let you if I need that part our just the numbers.
Click to expand...

for some reason i cant PM you. you have to change your settings to receive PMs. yes i will get you the valve, but we need to be able to PM for details
 
Sorry. No update on the electrical issues. The last couple of days time hasn't been on my side. I hope to update next week end.
 
Now the starter engage but the engine doesn´t start.
I have grounded the horns at the relay.
No wires rubb. All bulbs are good.

Key in start. With the volt meter I messured this:
Coil 11.92 V neg and pos
Alternator
- green 2.01 V
- blue 11.46 V
- black 12.02 V
Starter relay 12.16 V
Battery 12.16 V
4 pin ballast resistor 11.65 V (on both sides)
ECU
- yellow/grey 11.79 V
- black/grey 11.92 V
- brown/white 0.02 V
- black/yellow 11.93 V
- green/red 0.15 V


What to do next??????
 
Plaschy said:
I found this to test if coil works: http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/ign-04.htm (bottom of page)

The good: the coil works.
The bad: starter cranks but the engine doesn´t start.

I´m thinking that the distributor is bad. How can I test the distributor?
Click to expand...
Get a spare spark plug or Spark tester(looks like a spark plug with a Clamp welded to it. Hook one of your ignition wires to it and check for spark. You need to get the plug grounded and away from fuel sources.
 
On a side note. You need to put completely fresh fuel in the car and use Stabil. Plus clean out the Carburetor.
 
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