Whats causing her to stall?

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4mulaSvaliant

4mulaSvaliant

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OK, so I just got my Valiant back from paint recently and been driving the tires of this thing already.
Problem is, that it sat for probably the last 3-4 years with no mechanical attention. That sounds bad, but read on please. Hahah.

So after a bit of running around not too terribly far from the house, I decided to run to a neighboring city to pick up a new windshield for it. This is the longest trip since I have had it back. Id say it was 30 mi. one way.

So on the interstate 70mph and around 3000 RPM's it was running consistantly at 197*. I was pretty happy with it.
When I really got in it, it might get to 205*
In traffic (which I found at the tunnel of course) she hit 210* and began to miss while idleing in traffic.
Next thing I know she stalls out and wont fire.
I sit there for about 5 minutes occasionally trying to start it and finally it fired up.

Fast forward to yesterday, and I only ran it around my hood and it did this again. Died and wouldnt restart for about 5 minutes. Temp only lowered to maybe 185*-190* while off.


So one more clue...? Last Friday before any of this, I was on my way home with it from work (18 mi.) and it began to backfire badly and I couldn't do anything but feather the throttle or it would backfire terribly.

So here is where I am.
Temps.... All seem more than ok really. These are not temps that should give me much trouble if not even Ideal!

Fuel is new by now (no old stale fuel in tank)

I have yet to check plugs or tune it up.

But based on my feeling... I am wondering if I dont have the timing too far advanced maybe?

Its getting even remotely hot and Im getting a bit of pre-ignition?



What are your thoughts guys?

Thanks!
 
Can we have a hint as to what's under the hood?

By your description, it could be vapor locking.
 
Pull the plugs and see what info you can get. Personally, I think it sat too long and you need to get all the gum up out of it. Back flush the cooling sytem and change the thermostat. Change the oil. It may need a tune up, but that will be difficult if the carb is dirty.
 
The stalling when hot sounds like you have a Eddy carb?:) The backfiring "could" even be from a failing timing chain?

More specifics as to the whole combo will help us diagnose things a lot better.
 
Bad Sport said:
Can we have a hint as to what's under the hood?

By your description, it could be vapor locking.
Click to expand...

That or plugged sock in the tank or other filters. ("sitting now driving", and "old fuel is run out by now")
Backfiiring, getting worse about quiting.

Typical fuel filtering symptoms.
 
Where is your timing set at? Have you tuned in your "curve" to your engine?
 
Sounds like what mine did years ago when my electronic ign box went bad.
 
Hey sorry guys. I wrote that post hastily before leaving my desk for the day.

Engine:360
Carb: 1405 Eddy
Timing: not sure anymore


The back firing only happened on that one instance and has yet to happen again.

Vapor lock is a definite possibility as it happened long ago when I was driving it on a normal basis. I have a manual fuel pump, hard line from the pump just about all the way to the carb, and one of those cheapo Mr gasket glass fuel filters (yep I know the dangers... Its soon to be replaced)
If I recall correctly I was able to actually see the fuel boiling in the filter. Its located about 1-1/2" above the intake/cylinder head gasket area.

As for a fuel pick up sock. Im going guess for right now that it isnt the issue, only because the problem seems to be intermittent.

I plan to get back to it this eve if the rain holds off.
Ill pul the plugs, see how they look, and then most likely start from scratch and adjust the timing, and carb, if the plugs are looking ok.

I ordered a 2" phenolic spacer before any of these issues popped up and it should be here any day. (Fortunately I have the room for it) I am hoping to help insulate the carb as well as maybe get lucky with a little performance gain. (doubt Ill notice any)

I am running a new 4" K&N filter as well.


HOLY SHAT!!!!!!!!!!

I was just getting ready to write that I swapped in a "new" OLD Chrome box and it just dawned on me that I did that on Friday! Sundays trip is when the stalling started!
Hmm time to swap in the old box and see if that solves it!
 
You can see by a healthy burn out, why it is baffling me about the stalling. It runs well otherwise... LOL
 

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HOLY SHAT!!!!!!!!!!

I was just getting ready to write that I swapped in a "new" OLD Chrome box and it just dawned on me that I did that on Friday! Sundays trip is when the stalling started!
Hmm time to swap in the old box and see if that solves it!
Click to expand...
Well, you may have inadvertently stumbled onto the issue.
 
I hate ballast resisters!


.......that is all........... Hahaha.

Seems they are always an issue.

Fortunately like all good mopar owners I have a few spares of every damn part in the ignition sytem. Hahaha Guess Ill take her out on a trip with a hand full of spare parts and replace one at a time to see if it fixes it!

Ill keep you all posted and THANK YOU ALL for your input thus far.
 
Well, I would start with switching that box back out since it started right after.


PS: I love that Valiant, when you get tired of it, send it to me please. :D
 
Hahaah... Thanks man. Its been a long time in the works and Im full tilt on finishing her now! I have had it for 20 years.... It isnt going anywhere! :)
 
Rebuilt the carb. last night. I also had the stall happen while it was in the driveway. I immediately changed out the "chrome box" i recently installed fro the stock box and it didnt change a thing. Still wouldn't fire.
So.. I swapped the chrome box back in... (to limit too many changes at once)
I then swapped in a new ballast resister. No dice there either. (swapped that back as well)
I then decided to check for spark... Yup.. Have spark!
after the roughly 5-10 minutes of it not starting, it finally fired up.

It was at this point I decided (no idea why) that I would check to see how stable and smooth the throttle was up to about 4000 RPM.
I wasnt happy at all. It wasnt smooth to say the least. I did this partially because it hasnt idled very steadily either. So thats how and why I decided to rebuild the carb. (Again... its been sitting for quite some time... it was due anyhow)


So I also checked the cap and rotor. Both were pretty nice and if I remember correctly they were pretty much new just before the car sat.

At this point, I plan to pull the plugs and check them out. If they tell me nothing, then I am actually leaning heavily toward vapor lock based on the obvious potential problems.
IE: Mechanical fuel pump, metal line, location, boiling fuel in the filter at one point, etc....

After that, I am suspicious of the distributor being worn out (rough idle and jumpy rpm revs)

Ill keep posting updates until I solve it for the sake of knowledge! LOL
 
Turns out it was the coil!
it stalled several times yesterday and when I was able to get it to happen in the driveway I quickly grabbed some starting fluid and shot it in the carb. Figuring if it were a lack of fuel from percalattion or "vapor lock" then it should certainly fire off of some starting fluid.
well it was a big fat NOPE. So I knew then it had to be ignition. I then looked at what components I had not swapped out yet. All that were left were the voltage regulator and the coil. At that point I realized the chances were very good that the coil was giving up under the heat.
I had thought this was a possibility the whole time but didnt have a chance to swapn it out yet.
Anyhow it fires up right away and repeatedly even after I let it just sit and idle for a good while.

Beyond that I found a poor connection at the battery as well. That was causing a few issues as well.

Lastly... I briefly threw a timing light on it and with the vacuum advance hooked up and at idle, I was sitting at 25* of advance. I plan to delve into the timing next. :)
thanks for all the help this far guys!
 
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