Tired of fighting with this car. Anyone want a crack at it?

So here is a new question, and it may be nothing. I noticed my key getting almost too hot to touch. Granted it is 100+deg F and prob 140+ IN the car. My key is brass. Might be nothing. I am going to try it again this evening when its cooler, but has anyone known a bad ignition switch to heat up a key like that? I'm beginning to wonder if there could be an issue there interfering with the spark.

There ya go!

 

Yo mentioned it was 2 qts low on tranny fluid. Have you checked the vacumn modulator? pull vacumn line off tranny. if fluid is present it would be another vacuum leak to add to other leaks. Does it shift properly?
Also 70s-80s GM distributors had problems with electronic module in Dist.
hot they would quit and when cooled Down would start. Would put dialectric? grease on to new ones for insulation.

Bill

 

Since my last post, I started it up a few more times to let it run to try to gain any new info. I checked the fuel pressure gauge and its back up to freakin 9 lbs again! This is WITH the fp regulator. I have not touched the regulator since I installed it a month ago. I dialed it all the way down and it does nothing. WTH!?!? It worked before.

So I got out my Blue Point DVM to check grounds and all of them were good. No resistance at all. I was measuring from center post to several points on the engine and body. Then here is the crazy part...I checked the battery voltage...19+volts!?! I start it up to let it run...23+volts!?! I'm going to have to get another DVM to compare with. This is crazy. I don't believe it is truly running that high. New alternator, new volt reg. It has never done this before. Like I said, this car is truly fighting me.

I went ahead I disassembled the ignition switch and cleaned it and put it back together. No difference of course. I think the heat was just due to outside temps rather than a short.

 

Nope, new distributor today. I'm back to points now.
I plugged all the vac ports except the distributor so vac modulator eliminated.

There doesn't appear to be a gas station selling 100% gas within 40 miles according to puregas.org. I'm starting to wonder if its fuel but no way to confirm it. Even so, there are tons of old cars driving around on these new fuels without these issues so prob another rabbit trail for me.

 

You said you had pertronix ignitor....

I put one in my VW years agao and I hooked it up backwards (i was trying to be too carefull and F#$ked it all up). It wouldnt run so I fiured out it was backwards and switched it. It ran BUT it didnt last long. It would start and run but only run for a little bit and then start cutting out and finaly it would just quit. I got a new one and hooked it up right and its been fine for years.

 

Frustration often leads to odd guesses. It can't be the gas IMO

 

Coil.

 

If the voltage is truely that high, you are stressing everything. Arcing at the points, overheating the coil, big fuzzy sparks at the dist cap contacts, and yes, heating the contacts in the ign switch.

New parts are not always good parts

Put in a battery of known proper voltage. Take the belt off the alternator and see what it does just running on the battery.

It sounds like the regulator is no good & possibly the alternator, you have overcharged the battery. If the voltage is that high the lights must be pretty bright.

 

Incorrect cam timing can make you tear your hair out thinking something else is wrong. A few of years ago I was working on a SBC for a guy. It was an engine somebody else built. Couldn't get that thing to run right at all. Tried carb and distributor off of a known good running engine (the car I drove there in). Adjusted valves 2 or three times, on and on. Finally convinced him to pay me to pull the timing cover and check it out. Yup, the guy that built the engine had the cam timing several teeth off. Ran great after I corrected that.

 

ITS the autolite 4100 carb! I have a 62 gal xl 390.I rebuilt the engine put a autolite 4100 carb on it and rebuilt it myself.had the same problems your describing.I got a holley 4150 600 cfm from chopolds and never looked back.That was 4 years ago.Still runnin great.DONT GIVE UP!

 

No, its an Edelbrock carb now.

 

Is this gauge electric???? High voltage will make it read high. Electric fuel pump???

 

You can test the old Voltmeter; just go out to your daily driver with motor off, the batt should read 12.5.

Like was said above, if the voltage really is way up, it may cause problems. the points could be cooked. I did work on a 67 Camaro with no resistor, and it acted kind of how yours does. The recently replaced points..the moving arm was blue from heat.

 

mechanical stock (but new) pump
mechanical pressure gauge T'd into the fuel line.

 

We can disregard the high voltage readings. I compared on another car and it was showing the high readings too. So then borrowed another DVM and everything read fine. I changed the battery out in my DVM and now it reads fine. Glad I didn't waste much time with that rabbit trail. Unfortunately I didn't get anything else done though.

 

I had a fuel cell in the back of an '82 truck once. Every time it rained, the water would
collect on the top of the tank, and seep into the area around the cap. The truck would
run like hell, and I would have to feather the throttle and put it to the floor to keep it
running. I pulled the fuel line off of the tank, and water poured out everywhere..! I
bled off the water, till gas came out of the tank, and then went through my usual
cranking, and putting my foot to the floor, and when the the water in the line, got
past the carb, it ran fine... Until it rained again.

 

If a customer's ignition key was getting hot (and I was getting a high voltage reading of 20V+!) I'd look for an open ground.
(and an ignition switch with high resistance!!!)

Seeing how the ignition circuit is NOT fused, the place to start is with the coil side of the ignition switch. The wire to the coil on mid-'60s Fords, (as they have resistor coils)
is possibly skinned of its insulation somewhere along the run.
Disconnect it from the coil and the switch, run a 'hot wire' from the + battery cable to the + coil terminal. Start the engine and recheck running and voltage readings.

 

You could always do what a friend of mine did once, to move a truck in and out of his
shop... Get you a small 1 gallon can of gas, and run a line from the pump, straight into
the can. It would rule out the bad gas thought... Just don't blow yourself up.

 

had a freind had a car pretty much same symptomes? had a piece of cloth (shop rag?)in gas tank.would run fine then slowly die. cloth geting over fuel pic up.after it died, let set.for a little while, start and run for a lttle while. just a thought

 

I'm fighting my witch at the moment and this thread has been very helpful. So Frank did you sell it or find the problem?!