'56 ford pickup v8 3 speed pulls up to the shop, owner complaining of stalling, even as he drove down the road. he starts the truck, idles fine then just stalls. truck starts right up, idles 20 seconds then stalls. drive down the road 25mph running smooth then stalls, push clutch in starts right up. get it back to the shop take out the fuel filter, blow through it, it's clear but change it anyway. truck starts and idles fine, test drives fine. get back to the shop cut the filter open; clean, very clean. so any input?
I'm saying it is a coincidence that it is running fine now. i had a similar problem and changed the fuel filter many times convinced it was a gas issue and my problem turned out to be the coil instead.
I chased a similar deal once in the 60's...seemed to be fuel, but in the end it was a loose condenser in the didtributor. Grounded - not grounded, etc, etc. Worth a look if it does it again. Charlie
good ideas thanks. customer kept suggesting the fuel filter i changed it just because it was right on the shelf and was easy. didn't diagnose any further.
I had a similar problem, it was a chunk of debris, that was clogging the tank like a little valve whenever it felt like it. You would be suprised at the garbage thats floating in gas station underground tanks. Unless you use a coffee filter everytime you fill, flush the tank and check that possible problem off your list.
I have seen fuel filters that look clear but when you turn them over notheing will come out.Usually the filter material has closed up from water in the fuel and won't let anything flow.
I've pulled some weird crap out of gas tanks over the years including shop rags and then the neck off a broken coke bottle on my 51 Merc. A piece of paper or rag floating around in the tank can suck up over the pick up tube and kill the flow of fuel and then float off to a far corner of the tank for a while when the engine quits. I'm pretty anal about fuel filters and have a big one just in front of the tank along with one at the carb.
You have to get whatever is floating over the fuel pick up in the tank removed. We fought with one for weeks once only to discover someone put some small chunks of rags in the tank through the filler tube. The rags would float around and get sucked over the fuel outlet and the motor would run out of gas. When the motor quit running, the suction was gone and the rags floated away from the fuel outlet and the motor would run again until the rags were sucked back to the outlet. The process would repeat at irregular times. Gene
This happens a lot My buddy works at a Harley dealer and had a new bike come back for thus problem. Three times the dude had to get towed back to the shop. He was pissed to say the least and very vocal demanding another bike chewing my buddy out you get the picture right? Owner had some custom paint work done that I was admiring and listening to my buddy tell me about its POed owner. We both at the same time said " I bet the painters left a rag in there " . Yep shop rags in the tank to soak up the gas from the paint shop.
I heard an old hotrodder's saying that goes something like: "90% of all carburetor problems are electrical". Or is it "90% of all electrical problems are the carburetor"?
funny you should ask that i looked at the filter again and it is slightly "darker" on the inside [out] of the paper cone. been almost 24 hrs. have not got "the call" thanks for all the replies. any other thoughts?
Is it one of those small gas filters? Use the big ones inline type that hold about a half a cup of gas. More surface area to catch stuff and not clog up.
Alchemy You are 100% correect. It depends on the latest brain teaser. On the fuel filter. Not all clogged fuel filters look clogged. Sometimes the filter paper just gets to the point that it can't pass enough fuel anymore. Farm trucks are the worse. I have had old farm trucks that wouldn't run changed the fliter and they ran fine. The paper was just discolored. I chock it up to fine dust.
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