A couple of years ago I bought a 1976 F-250 pickup. It was a one-owner truck in good shape ( the ashtray had never been used!) with about 100,000 miles on it. Actually it had 2 owners - I bought it from the son of the original owner. This guy is into rebuilding old trucks as a hobby and had replaced a lot of parts on this thing. Edelbrock carb, intake manifold and ignition. I scraped off a NASCAR decal. I'm using it as a work truck but also as my main transportation. I was pretty happy with it at first. At some point it developed an engine noise. This was diagnosed as a failed wrist pin. I was told that it could fail anytime, maybe in a week maybe in years. It locked up a couple of months later and I decided to have the engine replaced. It now has a Jasper 360 in it. The engine that came out was actually not the original engine. It was supposedly a 360 bored out to a 390. Probably it originally had a 360.

Anyway, when I first took it in to check out the engine noise, the truck died on me while driving away from the shop. It has continued to die several times a day ever since then, all year round. I'm driving down the road and it dies. I stop, put it in park and it starts right up. Sometimes it doesn't happen for a day or two, sometimes it happens several times in a row, usually several times every day.

This never happened the first year I had the truck. Since it happened right after these guys had checked out the engine I took it back but I did not have time to leave it with them. Later the engine failed and I figured the problem would be solved with the new engine. No difference. The guys that did the engine replacement have looked at it several times. First they said it was the Edlebrock ignition module. They disconnected that and hooked up the old one that was still in there. They said that fixed it. No difference. Later they said it was the Edlebrock carb - they said it was "too much for the truck". They had previously told me that it could not be adjusted and needed an overhaul. We had also discussed replacing the Edelbrock manifold with the original and going back to the original carb.

I took it to some other guys that I trust. They found that the timing was not set right and found a vacuum hose hooked up wrong. ( I think it was set to TDC and should be 12 or 15 degrees off). They also said the carb adjusted just fine for them after adjusting the timing. They figured this would fix it. No difference.

Any ideas on this? Fuel pump? I read something about a fuel sock in the tank and also that a small crack in the fuel line could do this.

 

Welcome to FTE.
it dies like you turned off the ignition right?
that ignition pickup thingy in the dizzy maybe. I can't remember the name of it right now.

most commonly its the ignition module about to die, but sometimes its the pickup up thingy or a loose connection.
could be a fuel problem too.

 

Sounds like a fuel problem to me. Check/ replace the fuel filter. That caused similar problems for me once.

FYI, 360s don't get bored to 390, they get stroked. The bore is the same. :-)

 

It is probably the pick-up coil in the dizzy or a bad wire going to it.
Jimmy

 

I have a '75 F-100 with a 360 had the same problem changed the ignition module and problem was solved.

 

My '76 did the same thing a few times on me. I would be driving down the road and all of a sudden the truck was dead. Would wait 5-10 minutes and I could start the truck up.

Turns out that it was the ignition module. As it got "hot"...it killed the truck. Once it cooled...it was fine. Replaced and all was back to normal.

Glad you did not replace the carb or manifold. Obviously the first set of mechanics really do not know a FE engine. Not sure what CFM your carb is...but if it is a 600 or less that is perfectly fine.

Good luck...and please post back your fix.

 

check your float, needle and seat.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

Well I bought a pickup coil, decided it was going to be a pain and took it to a shop. They told me it would be cheaper to replace the distributor. So I took it back and got a distributor. That's in and the problem remains.

I mentioned Edelbrock ignition above. Actually that's MSD. Since the MSD ignition module was hooked up when the problem started and the original module has been hooked up since, I have not replaced the ignition module yet.

I figured its a no-brainer to just replace the fuel filter and rule that out. Should be quick and easy. Well, it turns out it is in a can under the fuel pump. Every time I ask someone how to get that thing off, they say "Just unscrew it". Yeah, right. Its on there good. The can is thin aluminum. I've already scored some good grooves in it trying to get it off with an oil filter wrench. And they tell me if I tear up the can I have to replace the fuel pump - you can't get the can separately. It may come to that. But I thought I might ask if anyone has ideas on getting that thing off. There are three little dents evenly spaced around the bottom edge. Perhaps these indicate that there is a special tool for this? I've sprayed penetrating oil around the top where the threads are.

Next I'll probably get the carb overhauled (unless its cheaper to replace that). I would like to go back to stock parts, but it would be a huge project to swap out the intake manifold. I'm not sure if it would be a simple thing to check out the needle and seat rather than just getting it overhauled, but I'll look into that.

I also note that the wire that comes out of the distributor pickup plugs into a harness with 2 or 3 plugs at each end, so it would be easy to replace a lot of the ignition system wiring under the hood by just replacing this one harness. A guy in a parts store told me about painlesswiring.com . Looking around there, doesn't look like they cover Ford trucks.

Very tired of the problem, so I'll keep on it......

 

Tell us more about how it dies.

Does it bobble or chug at all the second before it quits?

Does the rpm rise just before it quits?

 

Have you tried the ignition coil????

 

I don't usually notice anything about how it dies except it just dies. Sometimes if I keep giving it gas it will kind of sputter and then keep going, which kind of feels like maybe its a fuel problem.

The ignition coil is also MSD and people tell me those are not likely to fail, so I have not replaced that yet.

Very anxious to get that fuel filter replaced. A friend has suggested using a hole saw to cut a hole in some wood the same size as the can and then use the wood inside a pipe wrench. Hopefully can get to that today.

 

"Next I'll probably get the carb overhauled (unless its cheaper to replace that)."

if its the stock 2bbl.
rebuild kit: $25
basic hand tools.
1 hr for first timers.
its very easy to do. just put it back together the same way.

 

Yeah, that would be nice. I once did a carb overhaul on an old Plymouth Valiant. A bit advanced for me, not being Mr. Mechanic, but I actually did it. But I'm dealing with an Edelbrock 1406 on an Edelbrock intake manifold. I actually got the original manifold from a salvage yard for $35, but the only quote I've gotten so far to swap out the manifold and carb was like $650. I've had some mechanics tell me they wouldn't even attempt to mess with the Edelbrock carb.

I did just now get the fuel filter changed. I guess I was just being too cautious with it. I used the oil filter wrench I bought yesterday. Its kind of like a specialized channel lock type of thing.
So we'll see if that does it. I'm skeptical....

 

I wonder if you now have more experience than these mechanics you are talking to...

I have an Edelbrock carb (I think that exact model but I need to double check). I have overhauled it and found it to be very easy. I like the way mine runs.

 

sounds fuel related to me, change the filter, and then i would suspect the pump.