What would cause this. I let it idle for a half hour no problem. I get in it drive it 3 miles and it dies.

 

Did you put a resistor on the coil? It could be the coil overheating as you are running it on 12 volts.
Don

 

Have you checked fuel pump pressure and/or operation? after it died, did you check to see if it was squirting fuel at the carb throat when linkage moved? Did it have spark at the plugs or dizzy at that point?

 

Kevin,

could be a weak fuel pump or cloged filter. Getting plenty of gas with no load. but not enough gas quantity under normal driving

Just a thought

JimG

 

Kevin--do not forget to bug Frank-sandblast man to get on that wrecker bed.You will need all the spare time you can get-and he can blast the truck in 1 day.Better hurry him up a little and get bed on so you can work out the bed problems.--BILL

 

Coil has resistor built in.

Fuel pump is new

all new fuel lines and filter.

I just drove it back about 1/2 mile from friends house. It ran fine. Other than me rolling around trying to shift it. I am using a sit down seat to drive it. You know the one with rollers on the bottom that you sit on to work on lower parts of car or truck. I should have used a 5 gallon bucket.

Give me some ideas on how to check all these items. or what else to look for. Thanks for the help. I am getting frustrated by it.

 

Kevin, Yesterday's fuel issue may have cropped up again today. Is the tank good and clean? I assume you have a one barrel on the L-6- does it have a sintered bronze filter stone at the inlet? Pull off the line and look for debris in there. Mind that you don't rush this job TOO much..

 

Bill I just talked to him he is going to do it Friday or Monday. I told him I needed to put the bed on Wed so I can work out those bugs as well. I don't care if it is working or not. Just on and bolted down correctly. I want to see how the truck runs with a load. It bounces all over the place now.

 

The gas tank looked spotless, like it had just been cleaned. I washed it out as well. with mineral spirits then put gas in and swirled it around and dumped gas back out. I will check the filter tomorrow to see if I can see any debris.

 

Don't you hate these types of problems?

Here's some simple tests to see if the ignition is still working when it dies:

Step 1. take a test light and see if there is power to the positive side of the coil with key on. Test light works go to step 2 or the problem is from ignition switch to coil.

Step 2. Take test light and connect it to the negative side of coil and battery power. Crank engine and the test light should flash. If it doesn't flash you know the problem is in the primary circuit (points, condensor, primary winding in the coil). If it flashes then your ignition is fine or the problem is in the secondary circuit (spark plugs, plug wires and secondary winding in coil, rotor, distributer cap)

Here's a simple test to check your coil. Make SURE there isn't any power to the coil or you will fry your meter. Take an ohmmeter and put the leads on the positive and negative terminals. Should be a reading of .5 to 2 ohms. Now put leads on negative terminal and coil output (where the spark plug goes). You should get a reading of 25 000 - 40 000 ohms. If you get an out of limit reading (make sure it's set to the correct setting) or 0 the coil is faulty.

Checking if you have fuel can be a little more tricky with low pressure systems. Push the throttle several times and you should see the accelerator pump squirt fuel. If fuel or a mist isn't seen then you don't have fuel in the carb. That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

Kevin--do you have any rubber -neoprene gas lines ??-sometimes rubber gets torn or ripped and goes in the line--my roadrunners with the 6pacs did this all the time.Then would not run,or look at the filter like said above! Do not get frustrated--these are normal quirks all of us have had.You are putting yourself under the gun to make the Nat's.Just go over what you have done,and diagnose the problem--it will be something simple!!!!I would bet on it!!

 

Kevin,
Sounds like a fuel problem to me. I would undo each end of each section of fuel line and blow back through them to see what you find. If nothing there check the fuel tank.

Years back my dad had this old John Deere winrower. The thing would run great until you got down to about ¼ tank then it would start dying when you got to the far side of the field. After you got down and checked everything out it would fire back up and run great for a little while longer before sputtering and dying again. It would sit and idle forever.
We put numerous days and untold numbers of frosty beverages trying to find the problem.
It turned out to be a wasp. That’s right a wasp. There was a dead wasp floating around in the gas tank, when the tank got low it would get sucked up to the fuel line and block the flow, the engine would sputter and die, releasing the fuel pressure and allowing the wasp to float away. You would start it back up and drive for awhile before once again the wasp got sucked back onto the fuel line and again stopping the flow.

That’s why I suggest blowing back through the lines, if something is plugging it up blowing back should free it. It wouldn't hurt to remove the fuel sender and peek in the tank with a flashlight and see what's there.

Good luck
Bobby

 

I have seen coils break down under to much heat when installed to close to the block.
If you have a electric fuel pump,hose and different fuel supply, bypass directly to carb. Your Your fuel lines between pump and carb may be to close to exhaust manifold heat.
Have a great day,chuck

 

Maybe a simple float adjustment as well, if it's set too low it may be eventually starving out. Does it sputter before the engine dies, or does it just die like you turned it off? Also, how do you restart it...just fire it up right there, or does it have to sit and cool for a while? I'd say if it sputters to a stop and can fire right back up it's fuel related, if it just flat dies it sounds electrical. If it has to cool, maybe something in the coil needing to cool, or vaporlock in the fuel line.

 

may be a carb issue.
accelerator pump/power valve?