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Engine Problem - Car starts and idles but won't drive


ericbrown

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Hey guys,

 

I have a L16 powered 510 with:

A87 closed chamber head stock cam

flattop pistons

su carbs

 

The problem I am having is the car will start and idle, but if I try to drive it, I can only get a few houses away down the street before the car will stall out and die. When backing out of my driveway, up until the engine starts sputtering, it feels and sounds normal. If I wait a minute or two, it will start back up, but I will have to go pretty much full throttle to get it back to my driveway, if i try to use part throttle, it will just sputter and die again. It doesn't feel down on power. After waiting awhile, it will start up normally again.

 

Some background info is that last weekend the car stalled while I driving it and would not restart. It would just crank, no sputtering or anything. I checked the fuel line to the carbs and there was no fuel when cranking. The float bowls were dry as well. I had it towed home and put in a new fuel pump. With the new fuel pump, the car starts but I have the above problem.

 

Some more background info is that prior to this I had been having a problem when driving the car hard when it was really hot outside, like at an autocross. The coolant temp was normal, but after doing a run the idle speed would climb up to 1800-2000 rpms and stay there and the car would start misfiring at about 5500rpms. Not sure if this problem is related to the current one. Other than that it had been running fine.

 

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Thanks.

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Unless you just changed the fuel filter do it now, cheap and easy. Might not be it, but no harm. Cut the old one open and inspect it for rust, sediment.

 

 

Do you have a heat shield for the carbs. They tend to over heat from the hot exhaust when pushed, like at an auto cross.

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I just changed the fuel filter at the same time as the pump, forgot to mention it in the post. I'll try inspecting the old one though.

 

I do have a heat shield for the carbs. Not sure if I have a picture of it but it looks factory. The header is wrapped also.

 

I do have a ballast resistor, but I have noticed the coil still gets pretty hot. Too hot to touch. Not sure how hot is normal? Distributor is a single point distributor I bought new about 10 years ago. Coil has been the same for the last 4 years.

 

The carbs have been working decently before, but as far as I know they have never been rebuilt. They've been on the car for the past 4 years and sitting in a garage for 5 years before that.

 

Whats the best way to clean out fuel lines? Compressed air?

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. Too hot to touch

 

if this is true this means alot of current is going thru the coil thus getting hot also most likey the points are arching or condensor is getting saturated. ck the points of point out bad.

 

Like I mention(if nothing else was changed)????? better mention all what was changed recently on the last couple months

But you said the fuel pump? is this a stock pump or elelctric and if elelctric was a regulator used.

 

If coil was changed you know the Ohm reading of the coil. Was ballast changed?

Coil should not be HOT!!!!!!!!I know that for sure.

 

 

for shits and grins I would adjust the valves also.

 

 

the carb situation if you start it up and runs fine in morning I wouldndt worry to much about the heat sheild as SUs still run a water manifold. But a hot coil is not good but might not be a big proplem untill it fails. Some people can have a hot coil but car still runs.

My 1st experience wa s aowner put a supercoil in and didnt add a extra ballast that was in the kit and the points fryed up almost immediatly. poping out the carb thus we looked there first. but we was wrong. A old man figured it out for us. thus I learned to not change shit I dont need to change or read the instruction VERY VERY carefully.

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Fuel pump is a stock mechanical type. Fuel pump and filter are the only recent changes.

 

The coil and ballast resistor have been on the car for about 4 years. Not sure of the ohm rating. I will check when I get home. I think I just got the one NAPA said was for a 510 with an external resistor. The ballast resistor was one my dad found in his garage, no idea how old it is. The car had previously had an internally resisted coil but I wanted to get the factory inductive tach working so I needed to switch.

 

The coil has always been on the hot side, but it seemed to work okay, but now I do live in a hotter climate, >90 degrees in the summer.

 

I adjusted the valves about 4 months ago. I've driven maybe 200 miles or so since then.

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the 510 uses a 1.6 ohm coil and the 1.6 ohm ballast. Usina d amutimeter is not accurate enough

just order a 1.6 ohm ballast from Napa.

 

as for the internal or external I dont think it matters for the tach as its measured of the - side of the coil. the elelectricity doesnt now if its internal/external. it just knows total resisitance in the circut.

 

 

the hot start wire goes to the coil then the when key goes back to ON the blk white wire feeds the ballast then goes to + side coil

 

 

one NAPA said was for a 510 with an external resistor.

this is the correct coil. just make sure you got the correct ballast. close to 1.6ohm will work. under 1 ohm it will get warm to HOT going to a electronic might help more than the old arching points set up

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I bought the correct 1.6 ohm ballast resistor and put it in the car. Now the coil is a normal temperature when driving. Thanks! The old one i had in there was somewhere between .8 and 1 ohm I think.

 

I'm still having an issue with the car sputtering and dying when driving, but I am thinking it is a carb/float issue now. I hooked up an inline fuel pressure gauge, and I am at 4 psi, even during cranking after the car dies, so I think the fuel pump is fine now.

 

I messed with the floats a little bit and I was able to drive the car around the block without it stalling, so I am going to check them out again tomorrow.

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Take the hood off and drive it around. See if this helps. If better,then it's too hot under the hood.

 

 

Run a drier vent hose from the air filter to in front of the rad for cooler air to the carbs.

Replace the thermostat with a new 170F

Flush the rad

Be sure the fan shroud is on.

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Take the hood off and drive it around. See if this helps?

Drive at Night in wrong neiboorhood. They soot holes in it to let the hot air out for you.

 

 

 

Take the hood off and drive it around. See if this helps?

Drive at night in wrong neighborhood. They shoot holes in it to let the hot air out for you.

 

Fixed  :rofl:

 

ahh, you kids.

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  • 10 months later...

Oh, I guess I never updated this with the resolution, sorry. The problem was that the vent tubes for the SU carbs were clogged. I had some fuel line attached to the vent tubes with a union than ran down to the ground to get any overflow away from the header. I had moved the lines around at the same time I had swapped out the fuel pump, and apparently i had pinched the line with the zip tie that was keeping it from flopping around. The car would start up and idle, but I was having an overflow issue at start up, so the car would run until the vent line was full of fuel, and then die because it wasn't able to vent anymore. 

 

Once I figured that out, the car ran normally again. Although I switched from the SU's to Weber DCOE's shortly after.

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