Engine Stalled

[Ngoforth]

I took the car out for its first drive after installing a 347 with a holley 650. I made it a mile down the road and the engine died. It would not refire. I think it may have flooded the carb. I had to be towed home but after waiting a while it started up again. Any suggestions? I think if it flooded it may be my fault for not being used to the motor wanting to rev higher than I am used to. Brand new battery but after cranking to restart a couple of times it was draining it. Could an bad alternator cause problems as well? Thanks.

[Bob Cowan]

After you've had some trouble starting it, or as soon as it stalls, pull a spark plug and see if it's flooded.

[Gordon Levy]

First thing you need to check is to see if you have fire. Arc the coil wire and see if you have spark while cranking. Next check to see if the dizzy is loose and maybe moved.

[Ngoforth]

After I got it home I checked over wiring and it was fine. A few hours later it started right up. I checked the distributor and it hasn't moved but i will check the timing later when my timing light comes home. The motor has been idling fine and revs quick but that is not under any load.

[Chuck]

If you have a fuel pressure gauge check and be sure you have pressure, Also, check and be sure you floats are not sticking and floodiing.

[Ngoforth]

I tried a few things but found that the timing was a little off but in the process the car acted like the battery was dying. we checked the starter solenoid and found that only 3.5 volts was getting to and that the positive cable from the battery to the solenoid was at about 50 ohms. So I need a new cable. I hope this solves it. but it will have to wait until next weekend.

[Someday I Suppose]

The battery cable shouldn't have caused it to stall once it was running though, the alternator should be enough to keep the motor running. I would check the grounds real close and make sure there isn't a current drain on the system someplace.

I also doubt you flooded it, flooding the engine is usually an issue in getting it started, but unless you have a manual choke shouldn't have been an issue once it was running.

Good luck!

-Scott

[Ngoforth]

Someday your right, I got ahead of myself. When we were trying to diagnose the engine the car acted as if the battery was going dead and couldn't get the car started. So we started to find where we had 12 volts. We thought we had a current drain and changed out the starter but didn't do anything to help. We ran a jumper wire from the battery to the solenoid and found that the resistance was much to high, 50 ohms. I don't understand how a wire can go bad like that but my engineer says it is. So we have to fix this problem to get back to the other. My limited knowledge of electric i would think that the positive wire from the battery is feeding everything else and if it is truly giving that much resistance its not allowing everything else to charge properly and maybe not letting the ignition get it full charge. If i understand that the alternator charges the battery as well then the current goes both ways and the resistance prevents that.

[Someday I Suppose]

NG, let us know how the new cable works. On the alternator part, it also depends how you have it wired, most people run from the battery to the starter relay, and then from the alternator back to the starter relay, so the battery cable isn't in the circuit from the alternator. BUT if that cable was acting like a big resistor, maybe it was enough to suck up the juice from the alternator and as the battery drained down the car just didn't have enough voltage to keep firing?

Interested to see how you make out with the cable for sure.

_Scott

[crash]

:p Maybe you should change your handle to "Nogoforth"!:p

[Ngoforth]

Crash that is a good one, maybe a vanity plate. Scott i hope it works but have to wait until the weekend.

[riptide motorsport]

is it electrical or gas related?? check to see if your gas cap is vented and functioning properly.

[Ngoforth]

Its electrical for now. We thought we had a drain somewhere on the battery but found the resistance was to high on the positive cable from the battery. So we will fix that then get back to why the motor died out.

[Ngoforth]

We replaced the positive cable from the battery to the relay and it did improve but still wasn't great. The car did start and run, I even drove it around a bit. Came back home to get the hood and turned it off. Well it wouldn't start again. We let it cool down and tried again, it didn't help. We were still getting low voltage on the other side of the relay. So we ran the positive wire to the starter itself and that seemed to do the trick. Started right up and strong.

[Mesa Mike]

try taking the ground wire from the negative side of the battery directly to the starter.