For purposes of illustration

 

I don't have a flatty but I'd think there would be good quality custom made plug wire sets for them.
As Tedster said, the coil and plug wires are usually called secondary wire. Primary wire is the small wire that goes to the coil, and just about any other wiring in a vehicle. Often currant will bleed off at the coil tower to one of the smaller terminals and you can't see it in daylight. Try running it at night to find arcing. I've seen cars that were a regular light show at night,lol. And still ran I might add.

 

Lately, after charging up the battery, I can hear the starter engage the engine, and then there's a tiny pop and then there's a sound like air escaping, and then nothing. After one of those, the starter won't engage the engine any more until I've let it sit for a while. Tonight, when I did this, I kept the lights out, and noticed a spark somewhere between the two pink arrows in this shot. This is a vacuum advance canister on the back of the distributor, right?



I also noticed a tiny hinged flap on a tube at the base of the canister, where the green arrow is pointing. Here's a zoomed-in view, with a pink arrow pointing at the tube (the flap is hanging off the back of the tube).



That flap seems like something that should do more than just hang open, but it doesn't seem to want to stay closed. Any ideas what that is or how it should work?

And then I also noticed that the black wire in this picture was worn through the insulation (from the fan belt) where the pink arrow is pointing in this photo (in addition to having a split in the insulation under the tape where the green arrow is pointing).



I think that, at the very least, I should replace the black wire, but I'm wondering if the vacuum canister also needs replacing. Any insights you can share?

Thanks again,
-Cap'n Sygo

 

I think I just figured out the flap. Apparently, this is a Load-o-Matic distributor with a vacuum advance canister, and the little tube with the flap is a lubrication point for the distributor! What an odd setup...

 

Old cars had lots of those little oilers. The generator probably has them. One or two drops of non detergent oil, no more, with every service.
The spark, pop, and no crank is a little bizarre, maybe a bad ground somewhere.

 

Replace the black wire and clean, clean, clean all of the connections. Did you check the rest of the plug wires?

 

I cleaned up the connections for the black wire, and covered the wire up with electricians tape (while I'm waiting for the replacement wire to arrive). I also pulled the plugs, and found that they were in rough shape, so I replaced all of them. After that, the truck started right up, but it sounded funny and I realized that the starter was still going while the engine was going. I killed the engine, and the starter kept cranking away until I disconnected the battery. This is similar to symptoms I've had before, and I've replaced the solenoid twice already so I'm starting to think it's something else. Reading various other posts on the web, I've learned that in some cases, these issues turn out to be mechanical, rather than electrical (Bendix failing to disengage keeps the starter running). Does this make sense? It's hard for me to imagine how a mechanical issue could cause the starter to keep getting electricity.

Cap'n Sygo

 

Did you take the wires off the regulator yet? Old Starter or new? Does the switch on the starter solenoid completely disengage or is it stuck closed? Whack it once to find out.

 

Yes - the wires are off of the regulator. The starter checked out ok at the starter specialists a couple weeks ago. Not sure about whether the solenoid was getting stuck. Since I posted the message, I moved the wire from the starter switch a bit, because it was angling toward the BATT terminal on the solenoid (not enough to touch, but I figured what the heck). After charging up the battery, it started right up several times in a row with no issues (starter behaved normally). I was prepared to whack the solenoid, but didn't need to. I'll be ready if it happens again. In the meantime, I guess I can start chasing down other gremlins!

Btw - the engine is purring now with the new plugs - sounds so much better than before. It does hesitate a bit when I give it gas, almost sounding like it's going to die, but then it revs up. I may need to fiddle with the carb a bit. But that's a minor issue compared with what I've been dealing with so far.

Thanks,
-The Cap'n

 

Spoke too soon about the engine purring...now, when I start it up, it dies after a few seconds and then I can't start it again. Afterwards, I notice a smell of gas. Carb float level needs adjusting, perhaps? Or bad coil? If I had any hair, I'd be pulling it out!!
I noticed that there's a 'distributor ground wire' available for trucks of the 8ba era. Any idea where that would be attached to the distributor? I'm wondering if the lack of such a wire on mine could be playing a role in some of these starting issues...

-The Cap'n

 

Do you have the manual? Reprints are available for both operators and shop manuals. Very useful and essential, if you want to own and operate these beasts.

GENERALLY speaking I'd say when an engine won't start it's wise to check for good spark first. Carbs are so simple there's not much to go wrong. It may not run well, but so long as it's getting fuel... There are so many possibilities it's difficult to troubleshoot remotely. Since it will start and then dies, it does sound though like it may be flooding. How do the plugs look?

The shop manual, and others (like Chiltons and Motors) have troubleshooting diagrams to work through, some are online no doubt. "Engine cranks but won't start" "Engine won't turn over." or "Engine runs with rough idle".

While ignition problems are common you can't go wrong rebuilding the carb and learning the setup and tuning rituals either. It's all online at your fingertips in .PDF manuals and websites, free downloads and YT videos. My dad used to call that "effective use of source material." If you do the homework and take your time you can perform a first class rebuild and it will be tuned as well as anybody else can. The problem with carbs is everybody wants to dink with them (they're easy to get to, I spose) even when they have nothing to do with the problem.

 

[QUOTE=Captain Sygo;16512461]I cleaned up the connections for the black wire, and covered the wire up with electricians tape (while I'm waiting for the replacement wire to arrive). I also pulled the plugs, and found that they were in rough shape, so I replaced all of them. After that, the truck started right up, but it sounded funny and I realized that the starter was still going while the engine was going. I killed the engine, and the starter kept cranking away until I disconnected the battery. This is similar to symptoms I've had before, and I've replaced the solenoid twice already so I'm starting to think it's something else. Reading various other posts on the web, I've learned that in some cases, these issues turn out to be mechanical, rather than electrical (Bendix failing to disengage keeps the starter running). Does this make sense? It's hard for me to imagine how a mechanical issue could cause the starter to keep getting electricity.

I think that you should take your starter into an auto electric company and have them check it out . The engine should start after about one second of starter use.
When that is fixed you can dial in the ignition timing.

 

Thanks, folks. Tedster - the plugs are brand new, and when it does start, the engine runs smoothly, so it's hard to see how plugs could be the issue for the starting problems. I just got the shop manual for the 1948-50 F series, which should be what I need for the 8ba and its carb. Tacoma - the starter has been checked out by a starter specialist, and it's apparently fine. I'm gonna turn my attention to the carb for the time being, to see if that's the issue, but I still wonder about the coil...

The Cap'n

 

So now about the only relay type connections in the starter path are the solenoid and the starter switch. Both are designed to give you momentary connectivity from battery to start circuit. If you have checked out and changed the solenoid several times, check the starter switch itself. Something is keeping battery voltage applied to the starter and we are down to the last two things I think. The switch may seem to work properly only to be stuck internally.

 

The single wire to the 'start' button is to ground out that terminal. In other words the button just grounds that wire to the chassis, If you can disconnect that wire from the back of the start button you can eliminate the switch by touching the end of the wire to a clean place on the dash or touching it against a temporary ground wire you have attached elsewhere that;s clean, maybe even on engine or tranny. Tapping this start button wire to ground will (should) activate the starter solenoid to engage the starter. That's how I start my tonner pickup because the button is all corroded. Next, with the big battery-type cable from the solenoid to the starter disconnected, you should hear a pretty loud click coming from the solenoid when the start button is grounded. It will 'unclick' when the start button wire is no longer grounded. I usually tap the start button wire to ground and the solenoid should be clicking along with the taps. These should test both the start button and the solenoid. Does your solenoid have the handy little button on the bottom to activate it from under the hood? Sometimes these tend to stick. Napa has lots of good solenoids in stock. Wish I could get away and sneak over to Bellingham.....