Technical 63 impala died while driving, help.

People die. Cars stop. I've seen the word 'die', 'died', 'death' in too many thread titles lately.
Just saying...

 

If your distributor cap has a slight crack your problem may be condensation.

This won't coat a dime to try and it won't hurt anything,pull the coil wire out of the distributor and stick a screwdriver down in the hole hold the coil wire close to the screwdriver and have someone to spin the engine over the spark will dry any moisture out.

Replace the coil wire and see if it cranks. HRP

 

where are you getting your 12 volts for the dist.? for years ran my 59 with Hei with a generator. but got my 12 from the resistor wire. when I put the alternator on it, burned up resistor wire. would not run. make sure you got a hot 12 volt at the dist.
keep us posted

 

Old wires soak up water like a sponge too. I've had cars that barely ran in damp weather, new wires made a big difference.

Bob

 

That sure sounds like a bad fuel pump, or a bad fuel line, if it won't pump when the tank gets low.

You test it by disconnecting the fuel line to the carb at the pump. Hook a rubber hose there and put the end in a can. Then crank the engine with the ignition disconnected & try to fill the can. In the service manual it'll usually say it should deliver 12 ounces of gas in 10 seconds or some spec like that. Read the manual.

If you don't have a proper manual, then just do it 10 seconds with 1/8 tank of gas then again with a full tank & see if the volume improves. If it improves a lot the pump is bad (or it's sucking air from a leaky hose/tube, or something--hose, filter, strainer screen--is partly clogged*.) A slight improvement is normal.

Modern pumps have a pressure rating & you just put a gage in the line to the carb and read the pressure directly while it's running. 4 or 5 lbs pressure is usually plenty from what I recall.

*a rubber fuel hose can develop an internal flap or bubble that partly or completely blocks the fuel, and it may only do so under certain conditions when the hose moves. Like going up a steep hill or making a sharp turn. Brake hoses can do this and so can coolant hoses.

Be suspicious of ANY rubber hose older than 10 years. Even newer ones can die, and often people put on the wrong hose for gasoline and they die quickly.

 

It's taking me a while to get to this car of mine cause my job and son don't leave me much time. Anyhow I went out to the parts store to get a spark checker but I'm unsure exactly if I can even check it correctly cause the more I crank on the car the optima gel battery gets weaker and drains. I'm thinking try it with the charger on it? I just hate to ruin the gel battery.


Spark checker tool I bought

 

My brother had a similar issue in a Jeep he put a '66 Caprice engine in, checked everything 6 times and he would drive it and it would run great for a while then it would die. Ended up being the quadrajet fuel filter in the carb was partially clogged and would build up pressure then completely plug itself. Replaced the carb filter and it ran great..just a thought.

 

Prime my car has a edelbeock 1406 or 07 carb. I'm not sure but I don't think this one has a filter in the actual carb. I tried replacing the inline clear fuel filter as it did the trick first time but that didn't work this time around.

 

Absolutely! Charge the battery!

The first step in any tune up or diagnosis is to check & service the battery & cables.

 

I got the battery all charged up and sprayed a small amount of starting fluid into the carb and it started up right away, though the idle didn't seem all that strong as usual. After that I used my new nifty spark checker and all 8 plugs are fine. Is it safe to think its a bad fuel pump?

 

Unplug the distributor 12v, remove the fuel line at the carb, aim it into a large cup, and have an assistant crank the engine over.

 

Mashed, I'm not all that engine savy. What do you mean exactly by disconnecting the distributors 12v?

 

That's the connection to the distributor If it is an HEI it is the fat wire going to the Bat pin on the distributor cap.

I've got (had) an HEI on the 350 in my 71 GMC and I used one of those female slide connectors that you get at the parts house to hook it up and after a while that connector would come just loose enough to let the engine die. That happened twice after I hit a bump in the road in the big middle of a rain storm on the way to work at 4 AM morning. If yours just has a female slide on the end of the wire rather than the correct end with the clip that may be a big part of your problem.

 

There's a connection for a 12v ignition source (it says battery on the cap and in the pic) that you can disconnect to stop the engine from starting when testing for fuel from the pump (if the engine started the gas would really start to fly if the pump is operational and could cause a fire)

 

poor battery voltage and/or cables is not good when you have electronic ignition

 

This is true. My bike will crank over plenty fast with just 11 volts.

Yet without 11.5 at the computer, it won't fire at all.

 

I have experienced this many, many times. The engine cranks just fine, but no spark and no start.

I have even seen where a shot of gas or starting fluid is JUST enough to start it with the very, very weak spark.

fully charging the battery and replacement of the usually fouled plugs ends up solving the problem.

I have a race car with trunk mounted battery. The long cables hinder voltage transmission, so the battery better be fully charged or it just won't start.

 

Years ago a customer brought in a ford pinto. Problem was it run fine maybe 5-10 miles, then quit. Wait 15- 30 minutes it would fire up and get you back home or maybe 50 miles next time. Beat my brains out chasing this problem, changing fuel pump, filters, rubber lines. Finally dropped the tank and found a lot of rust and settimint. Cleaned the tank as much as possible, removed the sock screen from the pickup tube and installed a big clear filter by the carb so we could monitor the problem....Problem solved........

Come to the conclusion, what was happening, was while driving the rust and crap would become suspended and suck up against the screen and plug it. After the car would quit and sit for awhile, the crap would fall off the screen enough to fire back up.


.

 

I've seen this many times too. Motorcycles are notorious for this because that screen is so dang small in a motorcycle tank.

 

If the '63 is similar to a '60 Chev, there is 3 rubber junctions from the tank that can collapse while driving, I've even experienced rusting fuel lines restricting flow like clogged arteries

 

I just done the fuel pump test. I disconnected the fuel line at carb and stuck it into a 12oz water bottle. It took almost 10 seconds to fill the bottle about 3/4 of the way.

 

Sure sounds like you sucked some crud up into your carb. How did your old filter look? I'd be pulling the top of that carb off to see what's doin in there.

 

What does the gas in the water bottle look like?, is there dirt in the bottom?

 

Good point, let it sit for a while, maybe 15 minutes and go look at it. Clear glass containers work better than a plastic bottle.

FWIW, I always put a big Holley gas filter inline on my old cars, the ones with the canister that takes the old Ford elements.

Bob

 

Looking at the container, the gas looks pretty clean. I'm assuming the gas tank is not totally corroded inside?

 

So you got about 8 oz in 10 sec. That's pretty good fuel delivery.

If you burned that much all the time you'd burn maybe 22 gal every hour so at a mile-a-minute maybe you'd see 2.8 MPG!

Remember that this method isn't pumping against any pressure head. The pump normally pumps uphill, plus pumps against the float pressure on the needle. It isn't much back pressure normally, but any clogs, kinks, or collapsed/pinched lines will increase that rapidly.

 

Nothing to add that hasn't been mentioned yet. But, just wanted to say I just noticed your in Modesto. Love that town. I lived there for several years but hadn't been there in over 10 years now. I used to work in Pleasanton in the bay area. I lived on Del Rey Blvd. In Modesto. Used to love to go to the old A&W (the inspiration for American Graffiti). I was also a member of the Modesto Area A's when I lived there. At the time drove a 1930 Model A Tudor, and the wife drove a 31 Model A coupe. Anyway.. Loved living in Modesto. (btw, my son graduated from Grace Davis in 02.)

 

could ge a bad ballast resistor
sadsack

 

I think I'd be lookin' at the ignition switch. GM has been having real problems with those. Even been in the news.

Seriously, look at the rubber hose between the steel fuel line and the fuel pump. (right at the inner frame, passenger side)
Look carefully, these hoses will crack internally, and a 'flap' of inner lining will raise up and block fuel flow. Telltale sign is small cracks in the outer skin. You may have to bend and stretch the hose to see them.

 

Well I swapped the fuel pump and so far so good though after being left stranded by her twice I'm still kind of "shell shocked" and have only driven it in town. Atwater mike, I changed that hose the first time it left me stranded so It couldn't if been it the last time.

Tudorp, modesto/riverbank are cool towns but I want to be "stuck in lodi" once again. (No homo)