Electrical issue

[mustangguy289]

Originally thought my issues were carburetor related... once hot it would buck and then die on me. It would then start up 10 minutes later and drive away.

Put a new carburetor on ( was planning to do that before issues) and got it tuned. I drove about 15 miles to my parents house for dinner. Drove home 3 hours later. Car ran great.

However, i pushed in clutch to downshift to turn on to my street and the car just flat lined. No bucking, no hesistation, just straight to 0 rpm and dead. Coasted out of way. 10 minutes later the car started and I got home. I could not get the car to produce more than 13volts after this event. Before that event it was making 14.2 volts.

Pulled it into garage, shut it off, tired to restart and it just spun over but would not start.

1965 Mustang
elec fuel pump
100a alternator
elec fan
MSD 6AL box with blaster 2 coil

Things I can rule out:
Not carb related
not the coil as it i tried a different brand new coil and had same result.

The problem is hard to get it to reproduce.. it seems to only do it once hot and even then its intermittent.

[Josh.0]

ignition switch.

[mustangguy289]

ignition switch.

Why do you think that? When the engine cuts out, the radio, fuel pump, everything else continues to run. When trying to restart the starter will turn the motor but it will not run unless I wait 10-15 minutes.

[Josh.0]

something is prob shorting out.

and I always start with the ignition switch, its like $10 bucks

[greenbullitt]

check msd grounds!

[mstng86]

Didn't you make a thread about this a few months ago?

What was the outcome from that?

[dumpycapri85]

It sounds like a problem you would have with a bad module but since you have MSD I would check all the connections and make sure you are getting enough voltage to the box . You may also want to check the wires and pickup with the dist .

[mustangguy289]

Didn't you make a thread about this a few months ago?

What was the outcome from that?

This thread is the outcome.

I have checked all grounds and all MSD wires. Electrical issues frustrate me. And like I said, it is intermittent.. I can't reproduce it when I try.

[Frank]

heat soak for the carb? I think I finally nailed my issue with my Galaxie. 352 with an Edelbrock carb & intake. I only used the thin carb gasket. When it heats up, the carb gets too hot and starts to boil / vapor lock. I am going to order a phenolic spacer from Summit and see if that fixes my issue.

[80coupe]

i think if it was the msd box you would know it. we did a wire tuck on a 85 last weekend and he losin a msd wire from a butt connector when he was moving everything around. everything melted in the wire loom as we where going down the hwy!

[mustangguy289]

heat soak for the carb? I think I finally nailed my issue with my Galaxie. 352 with an Edelbrock carb & intake. I only used the thin carb gasket. When it heats up, the carb gets too hot and starts to boil / vapor lock.

Normally when a car dies from vapor lock ( starves for gas) it will kind of jerk or buck as it dies right? This was flat... like i turned the key.

And also.. the only having 13v after i got it to restart has me puzzled. Normally at idle with everything turned on I will be at 12-13v but once i get moving into the RPMS it gets up to 14 and stays there.

[Grape]

have you pulled a plug wire right when it leaves you stranded to make sure it doesn't have spark. something in the distributor

[mustangguy289]

have you pulled a plug wire right when it leaves you stranded to make sure it doesn't have spark. something in the distributor

No I have not done that... I am pretty sure it is not getting spark... trying to figure out why. But none the less next time I will do this to verify it is a spark issue.

I have the long straight msd boots so testing it that way maybe hard... i will just carry the timing light with me.

edit I could just pull the coil wire off the dist and ground it to the block and see if we are getting spark to the distr first correct?

[mustangguy289]

anybody got a spare 6al box laying around? Is it possible they can wear out and then give you problems when they get hot?

[RuStYpNuS]

anybody got a spare 6al box laying around? Is it possible they can wear out and then give you problems when they get hot?

Anything is possible with electrical gremilins. I would start with the msd box personally. Odds are it isnt that but you might surprise yourself. Well i take that back. Odds are engine heat isn't going to be the factor in causing it to go bad. Possible load heat maybe.

Ignition switch......doubt it and i am not as familiar with classics as foxes

I'm assuming you have ruled out battery alternator and voltage regulator