Great now what? Engine won't stay running.

[wwhite72]

Don C. that is a great idea! it never occurred to me because the fastener sets always come as bolts. And the carb fasteners always come as studs! Doh! thanks. and don't over tighten those carb studs. guys strip threads and crack bases.

 

[mchandford]

Sounds like pulling the intake is where I am heading. That sucks. Now that I think about it. When I was dealing with issues with the car after buying it I brought it to a Ford dealer (i know, I know..but i'm not a mechanic). While trying to find a coolant leak they pulled the intake off. Now I am wondering if they replaced that gasket, did it right, missed a spot. Trouble is. I can't get it back to them without a big hassle. Now they are over 75 miles away. I wonder if I tell them the problem if they can hook me up with a decent deal at a closer shop.

Thanks guys for your help. I don't suppose there is a good way to definitively show that the intake is the issue?

 

[hyena429]

Sounds like pulling the intake is where I am heading. That sucks. Now that I think about it. When I was dealing with issues with the car after buying it I brought it to a Ford dealer (i know, I know..but i'm not a mechanic). While trying to find a coolant leak they pulled the intake off. Now I am wondering if they replaced that gasket, did it right, missed a spot. Trouble is. I can't get it back to them without a big hassle. Now they are over 75 miles away. I wonder if I tell them the problem if they can hook me up with a decent deal at a closer shop.

Thanks guys for your help. I don't suppose there is a good way to definitively show that the intake is the issue?

A few ways you can...Vacume gage will show you have a issue...they are cheap and you can check your readings with many how to read vacume gage websites like this

http://www.freeasestudyguides.com/engine-vacuum-test.html

If you only got 5 or 10 pounds of vac..Then you got a leaky manifold or something...But still..it could be barly leaking and be hard to find.

Another way i have heard..But i have not tried...Is while its runing..keep the air breather on the carb...and spray starting fluid around the intake and see if your car idle picks up or if you see it sucking the spray in...But wont show if its just a tiny tiny leak...but it may!

I say vacume gage is best bet...cheap...you can get one at any auto store for 10 or 15 bucks im sure..maybe 20...and if it shows a issue with lack of vacume...you get the idea...Vacume gage is a amazing peice of equipment for the price...lol

 

[mchandford]

Sounds like pulling the intake is where I am heading. That sucks. Now that I think about it. When I was dealing with issues with the car after buying it I brought it to a Ford dealer (i know, I know..but i'm not a mechanic). While trying to find a coolant leak they pulled the intake off. Now I am wondering if they replaced that gasket, did it right, missed a spot. Trouble is. I can't get it back to them without a big hassle. Now they are over 75 miles away. I wonder if I tell them the problem if they can hook me up with a decent deal at a closer shop.

Thanks guys for your help. I don't suppose there is a good way to definitively show that the intake is the issue?

A few ways you can...Vacume gage will show you have a issue...they are cheap and you can check your readings with many how to read vacume gage websites like this

http://www.freeasestudyguides.com/engine-vacuum-test.html

If you only got 5 or 10 pounds of vac..Then you got a leaky manifold or something...But still..it could be barly leaking and be hard to find.

Another way i have heard..But i have not tried...Is while its runing..keep the air breather on the carb...and spray starting fluid around the intake and see if your car idle picks up or if you see it sucking the spray in...But wont show if its just a tiny tiny leak...but it may!

I say vacume gage is best bet...cheap...you can get one at any auto store for 10 or 15 bucks im sure..maybe 20...and if it shows a issue with lack of vacume...you get the idea...Vacume gage is a amazing peice of equipment for the price...lol

I have a vacuum gage. When i was tuning air screws and advance I could get 17 max, but idled best at around 15. That put the advance at around 10 initial (i think) where as the 17in's I was getting was closer to 18deg initial. So if it is a leak it is a small one. But someone mentioned it could be sucking in oil.

How about this for a thought. I still have the added zinc break-in oil in the car. I think I will try taking that stuff out and putting new fresh oil back in. Maybe the added zinc is getting in and causing the rich condition and bad fumes???


and thanks everybody for helping me try to figure this out. I have just over 2 weeks to get it settled before I have to have it on a truck ready to haul. I guess they could pull it onto the truck, but that's embarrassing.

 

[wwhite72]

I use valvoline vr1 only and have never had an issue, except when i had a leak at my intake manifold gasket. If a dealer mechanic pulled your intake i would say there is a good chance they didnt reinstall it correctly. Ask him the last time they had a cleveland in their shop? Or a engine with a distributor for that matter. Its not the type of oil you use, its the possibility that oil from the lifter galley is getting into the intake ports in the heads.


I just read a tip on the starting fluid test mentioned above. Go buy a can and spray it in small areas and listen for the idle to speed up. If it does then you found a leak. Dont forget to check the base of the carb also.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

carb cleaner works great at finding leaks, but go easy on that stuff it gets messy

 

[mchandford]

ya I knew about the carb cleaner trick. I will give that a shot. i'm going to get in touch with the shop on monday and see if they can help me out. Last time I just brought it back to them and they re-adjusted some stuff, but I can't drive it that far this time. Not even sure it would make it. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Any other thoughts still welcome.

 

[mchandford]

So the shop said they would look at the car if I could get it up there. But I have to ship the car monday or tuesday. Oh well

Got a spark plug gapping tool, more accurate check of the gap. The plugs I just bought were well beyond .035. So I put all 8 at .035. I also checked the continuity on all the plug wires. Here they are: (I numbered them starting on the passenger side front going back, then the drivers side going back. )

in ohms:

1- 654 plug was black after about 45 minutes running.

2- 591 this is the cleanest plug out of all of them.

3- 604 also black but also wet. not sure if oil or fuel as all the plugs smell like fuel.

4- 782 black

5-724 black. also the connector inside the plug side of the wire came off when I pulled. Went right back in and that is the reading I got.

6-1348 black this was the highest reading

7-788 black

8- 759 black

These readings were taken with a simple digital multimeter set on 2000ohm reading.

I am not sure what the readings should be but it seems to me that a wire should have minimal resistance. However, everything i see online tells me the resistance should be around 3000-15000 depending on length. This might only be for 'standard' wires. Mine are 8mm. I wouldn't call them high performance, but I think they are better than stock.

I think I am just going to buy a whole new set. If nothing more than because the one came apart when I pulled it.

I think the car is still having an issue though. It's still not running smooth. It stumbles when you hit the gas and its coming back down. The exhaust still smells really bad and I think it is putting smoke out the back. Hard to tell because it is not very much, and it could just be the exhaust.

Thoughts?

 

[VegasFastback]

Have you checked the valve stem seals? Mine smoked till I changed them. Changed is a strong word. The old ones had disintegrated, so installed would be a better term.

 

[mchandford]

Have you checked the valve stem seals? Mine smoked till I changed them. Changed is a strong word. The old ones had disintegrated, so installed would be a better term.

No. I haven't taken anything apart in the engine. I have been thinking about a full rebuild just so I can rule out all the seals and gaskets. That will have to wait a little while however. I am being deployed sometime around July.

 

[wwhite72]

did you find an intake leak ?

 

[mchandford]

Not yet. Going to go back to the car here today or tomorrow to check it out. Question though. Will a vacuum leak cause the car to run rich? Someone mentioned a leak in the intake gasket could cause oil to get in to the cylinders, which makes sense. But one of the weird 'symptoms' was when I completely removed one of the air screws the idle went up and the car seemed to run better. but leaving them in and screwing them out an extra turn, even 2, just made it run rough again.

 

[mchandford]

So I think I am going to chalk this whole thing up to bad fuel. A mechanic in my area suggested putting seafoam in the tank. I added half a can to half a tank of gas yesterday. After changing the spark gap it was running better. Today when I went out to the car; tapped the gas once, turned the starter for just a second (to get the fuel up to the float bowl), and it fired right up. Usually takes the second try to get it to start. Awesome. It idled really high for a sec, i think because I was messing with the idle just before i quit yesterday. let it stay at around 2000 for a few seconds then dropped it to about 1300. let it high idle for 2 minutes then let it down to 1000. I knew it still needed to warm up a bit, but i figured i would check for the intake leak with it revving a little higher. I sprayed WD-40 around the entire intake. I didn't hear any change in engine speed, and it wasn't sucking any of the WD in anywhere. it was sounding better at low idle (around 750-800) so i pulled it out of the unit and took it to the freeway. I wasn't on it long but tried to get up to speed quick to really get on it. Of course, as soon as i was merging in my shiny classic Mustang 3 cop cars fly past me in the fast lane. Good thing I didn't really stomp on it before i saw them. Either way, about 5 minutes on the freeway, then turned around and brought it back to the unit. It's idling better, sounds good, and the smell was not nearly as bad.

I think the seafoam did its job, and i just needed to burn off some carbon. Thank you guys for helping me work on this. It is always exciting to get behind the wheel with Sheila.

Anyone in the Seattle/north of Seattle area? That is where I am moving to.