Stranded in the country HELP!!!!

Im stuck out in the country!!! I was driving my 1964 Falcon out to my parents place and as soon as I pulled into their driveway and touched the brake pedal the car died. I havent been able to start it since. I checked the fuel pump and the fuel line to the carb and they are all clear. Ive also tried to jump it with no avail. It does crank when I turn the key but It doesnt fire up. Please help me guys, I need to get home and its cold out here!

Thanks.

 

Are you at your parents house?

 

Got Spark?

 

Yeah but I dont live here, my dads here to help though. oh, and the car didnt act up all day.

 

sounds like you need to check and make sure you have fire to the plugs, then check fuel. but with the limited description of it just dieing whn you hit the brakes makes me think of electrical, look around the pedal arm for any pinched wires/ check fuses?

 

Check the fusees. Is the fuse for the ignition good?

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Not much to go on. Points shot?

 

What power train. You have 2 things...fire, fuel. Does the distributer turn? Maybe it's the dissy pin if not. Do you have spark at points., coil? Ignition fused? Cap cracked? Wires along the steering colum base? Was a wire hanging down and got pulled off with your foot near the brake petal?

 

neutral safety switch..........................................................................At least your safe and not on the road,

 

Its got the 170 L6. I was also thinking points. I did manage to get it fired up right after it died, ut i promptly shut it off thinking there wasnt a problem. I got ready to go several hours later and now I get nothing. So I dont think itd be the fuses.

 

check the points. you may need to gap them. Used to have a 61 mercury and this simple step actually worked to get it going.

as stated by MikCo, may need to change points.

good luck!

 

i vote points!

 

condenser i had one go out in my plymouth once had to get towed home

 

1 .Ok, im confused you said you checked the fuel lines but did u shine a light down in the carb and tap the pedal to see if it is getting a good strong spray of fueL?
2. next pull a spark plug out and connect a plug wire back to it, then lay it on a bracket or exhaust manifold etc and have someone turn and hold the key and see how strong your spark is.
3. then you can pop off your distributor cap and check your points for the correct gap, also check the inside of your cap for heavy residue on the contacts as well as build up or burns on the rotor button
4. make sure your distributor is actually turning the rotor button and that you have no bare wires grounding out on the breaker plate or any moisture in there at all.
5.check fuses wires fuseable links etc
6. jump it off but let the cables stay on the car a while before you try
7. try starting ther car in neutral instead of park.
8. say fuck it and tow it home out of the cold and have a hot meal and a cold drink.

 

Run a wire from the POS terminal of the battery to the + terminal on the coil. Start it up and drive home. You'll have to remove the wire to stop the engine.

 

Ok, I popped the cap off the dizzy and everything in it is brand spanking new inside. I scraped the points anyways. Im not getting a spark out of the center wire of the dizzy.... thats is if Im even checking it right.... do you pull it out of the dizzy or out of the coil (stupid question). The fuses are also fine.

 

The center is the coil check your connection on your coil.

 

The way I always check spark is to use a spare plug and pull one of the wores and see if it sparks while you turn the key. I think you can also just pull the wire off, push the boot back and hold the metal clip that attaches to the spark plug next to the block and watch for a spark.

 

My guess would be the ignition switch. If you still have the original in dash switch in the car, those contacts wear out and will give you intermittent problems. Play with the key (wiggle it) while trying too start. You need to get a test light and see whats working or not

 

doesn't matter what side you check the coil wire on (coil or cap). if you have a test light check to see if you have power on the + side of the coil with ignition on. if you do the switch clamp from test light to the + side of the battery and check for point signal. have you dad crank the motor and put the test light on the - side of the coil, it should blink.

 

Try what he suggested. That is "hotwiring" it and if it starts and runs it should get you home. You will have to do as he said and get out and pull the wire off the battery to kill the engine though.

If it doesn't have spark then you will know that the problem is either in the coil or distributor. If it starts and runs the problem is up stream electrically from the coil.

 

Sounds like you have a coil problem

 

This may or may not prove anything but I did a quickie swap with a spare coil I had laying around and Ive still got nothing.

 

do you have a test light or meter handy. you either have lost the point signal or lost power to the coil.

 

I'd look inside the carb and move the linkage to see if any gas is squirting. If not, pour in a little fuel, if it starts, it's a fuel problem. You mentioned cold...look for water in the fuel and a frozen line or plugged filter. Fuel antifreeze will eventually work its way through the system (or heated garage is better). You could have bought some of that "watered down city gas".

If you are getting gas, then check for spark, pop a plug out, put the wire back on it and ground the "side" of the plug to the block. If you aren't getting spark, then see if you are getting volts to the coil with key on. (not the wire going into the distributor).

Make sure the points are opening and closing, if the condenser is bad it will still make an attempt to start..just won't keep running. Also try borrowing a coil wire from a running engine and try that, those carbon coil wires do go bad.

Another test is to check the ohm readings both primary and secondary on the coil, if you don't have an inline ballast resistor before the coil to reduce the voltage..it (coil) might have burned up. Some coils require a ballast resistor, the wrong coil with continious 12volts will burn up..I know.

I don't have the resistance for your coil but it should be around: Primary 0.6 ohms, Secondary 12.3 ohms or so..just guessing.

Where are you...maybe someone is close.

 

I did this and it still isnt starting, I know it was doing something though because the idiot lights on the dash lit up without the key on.

 

Another point is that I did get a full tank of gas today.... coincidence??? There is not a ballast resisiter on my car, also the coils I have are internally resisted. I am not getting any spark at the coil whatsoever. I just checked the positive side of the coil with my test light with the ignition on and the test light did light up.

 

ok check the neg side like i said above, see if it flashes when cranking. also check for spark at both ends of the coil wire (you could have a bad coil wire), lastly with the cap off crank it and make sure the dizzy is really spinning.

 

Quit playing with everything and do as dbradley says......Hot wire it and go home...take 2 asprin and call me in the morning

 

The points were not opening!!! Im fiddling with them right now to get it to run right.... I did hotwire it and it didnt do shit.