1978 351M Advice
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Excellent idea. I have a engine analyzer that I can use to test for this. (Earlier in this post I noted that when the problem occurs, my timing light triggers about a 1/4 of the time when the miss starts to occur.) So if I do see this, then it's a bad pickup coil or faulty wire/connection? I will also perform the Duraspark test Mil1ion has posted. I will see tonight what I get.
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Found a couple of things when I pulled the old distributer. First was that the pickup coil was not secure and was loose. Secondly, when I rotate the ditributer shaft there is a clunking sound of sorts. (Sounds a lot like a loose counter weight, have not had time to disassemble.) I really thought I had the problem solved with these couple of small findings. The engine now runs real smooth at start up, but misses constantly at operating temperature.
(It now has a new distributer, plugs, wires, cap, rotor and a coil.) Hopefully I will get some time this weeked to do some more troubleshooting.
(It now has a new distributer, plugs, wires, cap, rotor and a coil.) Hopefully I will get some time this weeked to do some more troubleshooting.
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I figured I would put some miles on the truck before doing any more work on it (100 miles round trip). It was interesting to say the least. On the open road (55-60 mph) it runs good, no missing and makes decent power. Cold start, no miss. At warm idle it misses all the time. It did start something new though.....I was driving down a straight road (35 mph) and the truck just died. I tried pumping the gas pedal as it was dieing to help keep it from stalling out, but that did not work. I was able to get it restarted after a couple of minutes. I continued driving and it happened a couple more times. Once during a turn and another time on a flat road again. Those times it did not stall and was able to keep the motor running. There were no significant events just prior to any of the stalling episodes.
I stopped over a good friend's house on the way home who happens to be a old school Ford guy. He believes the carb needs to be rebuilt because he could not get the idle to smooth out with the idle air mixture screws on the Edlebrock. Well, it's time to go order a carb kit, floats and a new fuel filter for good measure. I'll see where that gets me.
I stopped over a good friend's house on the way home who happens to be a old school Ford guy. He believes the carb needs to be rebuilt because he could not get the idle to smooth out with the idle air mixture screws on the Edlebrock. Well, it's time to go order a carb kit, floats and a new fuel filter for good measure. I'll see where that gets me.
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Joined: Jul 2001
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From: MD
I figured I would put some miles on the truck before doing any more work on it (100 miles round trip). It was interesting to say the least. On the open road (55-60 mph) it runs good, no missing and makes decent power. Cold start, no miss. At warm idle it misses all the time. It did start something new though.....I was driving down a straight road (35 mph) and the truck just died. I tried pumping the gas pedal as it was dieing to help keep it from stalling out, but that did not work. I was able to get it restarted after a couple of minutes. I continued driving and it happened a couple more times. Once during a turn and another time on a flat road again. Those times it did not stall and was able to keep the motor running. There were no significant events just prior to any of the stalling episodes.
I stopped over a good friend's house on the way home who happens to be a old school Ford guy. He believes the carb needs to be rebuilt because he could not get the idle to smooth out with the idle air mixture screws on the Edlebrock. Well, it's time to go order a carb kit, floats and a new fuel filter for good measure. I'll see where that gets me.
I stopped over a good friend's house on the way home who happens to be a old school Ford guy. He believes the carb needs to be rebuilt because he could not get the idle to smooth out with the idle air mixture screws on the Edlebrock. Well, it's time to go order a carb kit, floats and a new fuel filter for good measure. I'll see where that gets me.
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I thought the same. I checked for leaks with propane, checked by hand for looseness, everything is tight. The carb has about 7,000 mi on it since it was new. Because I have never had it apart, I'm a bit curious to see its internal condition.
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Would a bad module cause the cold - no miss vs. warm - miss condition?
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No space behind mine. Just picked the new module up this afternoon. I think I will add nuts between the module and the inner fenderwell to act as standoffs. Should have it in and tested tonight.
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Jackpot..........The new ignition module has solved the miss problem. It starts quicker, the idle is now smooth and stable, and I now have a lot more midrange power. I drove it for a couple of miles and it finally runs decent. I need to go back and double check the timing and carb settings and hopefully I can break into double digit mpg on the thruway. (Doubt it, but I like to dream) Thanks to everyone who have helped me along the way.