I took a short ride in my 65, maybe 15min running time. from my house. I stopped at a store 5min. car will not start, it cranks over but no start. One hour later and Flat bed ride of shame home and it starts at the end of the driveway

The car has : eldbrock carb and intake and Cam , stock Gm dist., Accel super stock coil and Crane Cam xr-i ignition module.

I changed the ballast resistor it looked like it was the original. The replacement has 2.1ohms. Still, when warm the car will occasionally not start, when it cools down it starts. The battery seems to be weak from over cranking.

Any suggestions ?? Peter

 

My first step would be to determine if you are losing spark or have a fuel problem. BTW, does the car get close to overheating before you shut if off? The engine temp usually goes up further after you shut off the engine do to heat soak. This can lead to several fuel issues. Again, my first step would be to make sure the car is getting spark to the end of the plug wires during a non-start condition.

 

MM, maybe the crane xr-i s overheating? How old is it? They will totally shut down when overheated....but will work again once cooled off. I have one in my car, but only for a few months now....So I hope thats not the problem!

 

Basically you are saying the starter is working properly in that it turns the motor over even after the engine is hot but the car won't start. Well the first thing you need to do at that point is to check for spark. Go and pickup at just about any auto parts store one of those spark testers. It looks like an iginition wire with spark plug boot and light. You put this between any one of your spark plugs and any spark plug wire. To me its better then using a screwdriver and getting a possible electric shock. Anyway as you turn the engine over the bulb will light up if you have spark going to your spark plugs. The light will continue to stay lit if the engine starts. I have one of these little tools in the glove compartment in just about everyone of my vehicles. If the light does not come on you know right away its an ignition problem. I would suspect your electronic module as possibly going bad. Bad Modules when they cool down sometime start the car up again although they are bad. Other then that if you had points which you do not you would need to look at other things.

If you find that the bulb inside the tool does light up on that little tool and the car still doesn't start you need to look for a fuel problem. Its pretty simple. Its usually one or the other.

One other thing make sure you start off with a fully charged battery. Put a battery charger on your battery since you mentioned that it may have weakened from over cranking it.

 

if I didn't know any better it almost sounds like some type of fuel/vapor lock problem.. What happens if you just wait it out, 1/2 hr or so?

/joe

 

Carb possibly flooded from fuel percolation at shut down.

 

I will check for spark. I need to create the same conditions in my driveway (No start) . That spark plug boot with the light is a good idea. I will try to find one.

It could be fuel, the line from the fuel pump to the carb is rubber and its touching the valve cover. One more bubba fix to do. I think Bubba got his Gold Seal on this one.

I will get back to you.

Thanks, Peter

 

this sounds like a classic "coil" problem. When some get old,and warm, they shut down.
Possible vapor lock condition tho I dont think thats it.

 

Yup, forgot about that.. Still happens to me alot.. I just deal with it..

 

I created the same situation checked for spark, none. What should I change first?
I noticed that the ignition module crane xr-1 was wired differently then the diagram supplied. Bubba wired it with one wire b/y to the coil neg. and the other b/r to the coil positive. The digram shows it b/y to coil neg. and b/r to the igniton switch side of the ballast resistor. The way it was wired the ballast resistor was by-passed. The instructions also said that if the coil had 3-4 ohms of resistance that you do not need external ballast resistance . My coil accel super stock measures 1.7 ohms. Could the module or coil have been damaged by this wiring?? I re-wired it back -up according to the diagram but have the same result NO SPARK.

Your help appreciated,
Peter

 

This sould an awful lot like my Edelbrock woes! See my recent threads on flooding.

 

It would pay to carry an old spark plug and wire in the glove box to check for spark.
Aside from fuel perculation, coils will short out when they get hot.

 

Did you try holding gas peddle to the floor, do not pump,just crank engine, sound like carb to me, i had an edlebrock this happened to me also, billy

 

Just a polite correction. The Temperature seems to rise after engine shut down due to the hottest water in the block rising to the Intake Manifold. Al W.

 

How old is the starter? Take it and have it rebuilt.

 

I had an Edelbrock 600 cfm carb, intake, aluminum heads on a 350 small block and it would fire up as soon as you hit the ignition when it was cold. When hot and sitting for awhile, it acted like it was flooded all the time. Don't know if it was peculation or what but all new everything and should not have had this problem. I have a feeling a heat riser between the carb and intake will help if it's not electrical! Maybe!

 

wonder why the ballist resister was bypassed. Maybe because someone had a problem with it. Starting to sound a lot like coil since it turns over and doesn't fire. Let us know what it washes out to be --good luck.

 

Peter,
I am willing to bet plain and simple that your ignition module is bad. I sell parts for a living now 29 years. Based on my experience after seeing quite a few ignition module go bad is that yours has gone bad based on what you are experiencing. I have seen brand new ones sometimes last only for 10,000 miles but that doesn't happen often. As I mentioned to you that when one of these modules go bad that sometimes after shutting the car off and letting it cool it will start the car again but that really means nothing because the electronics inside the module are breaking down. Best thing for you to do is to get a new module and plug it in to see if the car starts since you already checked for spark. If it does let the car run up to temperture. Shut the car off and see if it starts again. I assume you went out and purchased that spark checker tool I mentioned to you about to put between the spark plug and spark plug wire. If you did you can leave it in place for awhile. This way you will be able to see it light up if the new module does the trick.

For the heck of it did you get a price on a new module?