Recently bought 1942 Ford (1.5 Ton) Firetruck w/ Flathead V8 from my old volunteer fire company. Since purchase we have replaced the plugs, wires, points,& condenser, rebuilt the carb and adjusted the timing. After driving it for about 10 miles it started loading up and wouldn't go more than 20mph and the exhaust smelled very rich. Took it back to the garage, the plugs were fouled, really black. So we replaced the plugs rechecked the timing and it ran like a champ for about another 10 miles then did the same thing. Loaded up, loss of power, rich exhaust. Went back to the garage and sure enough the plugs were black as could be again.
Any Suggestions???
Fuel?
Oil?
Exhaust?
As a firefighter I'm used to helping people. Now I need help. Please.

Rick Allen

 

I have a 46 ton and one half Ford, 100 HP flat head with a 6 volt system. I do not run mine on the highway. I just use it on the farm. Anyway, I had the same problem that you are describing. I had to clean the plugs about 2 or 3 times during the course of the summer. Sometimes it got so bad that it wouldn't even start. I too had done all that you did, plugs, plug wires, dual points and condenser, carb rebuild. Nothing seemed to help. It would get gas in the oil to the tune of about 3 quarts over the summer months. (I park it in the winter)Anyway, I stumbled on to the problem quite by accident. I also have a 51 Farmall tractor that was not running well. I suspected problems with the fuel and I wanted to prove to myself that the coil was not faulty so I put the tractor's coil on my truck. The truck has never ran so good. As it turned out, the bad coil caused the truck to not burn all of its gas. It would then foul the plugs and the excess unburned gas would seep by the rings and get into the crankcase. I fixed the tractor (dirty carb) and bought another coil for the truck. I couldn't find an original type coil so I just got a universal coil without an internal resistor. Good Luck ! PS. I run 93 octane with lead additive in both my old Ford and my tractor.

 

Any luck on finding the problem?

 

Dan,

Thank you very much for your response. I forgot to mention that one of the first things we did was replace the coil. But perhaps we got a dfective one. We are going to try and get another and find out. I will let you know. Thanks again.

Rick

 

check the float in the carb. It might need to be adjusted.

 

Thanks. I will do that.

 

If the ignition is good, then you have a mixture that is rich. This can be from too much fuel (carb float setting, choke malfunction, etc.) or by not getting enough air (intake leak, valves not adjusted properly, or even a restricted exhaust).
Check your basics first- compression, spark, and proper fuel-air mixture. Good luck.