Ford V8 ignition resistor question

[NORTH-SHORE(CANADA)]

Hi,
Hum starter probleme possible wy not but would you think if my carb is floding that i have to much compression

[greg anderson (RIP)]

Hi Bruce -When I put my carrier together I installed a new resistor because the original looked a bit scruffy -but the new one didnt seem to work well so I put in the original old one and I have had no further problem (touch wood ) -Greg

[Mike Timoshyk]

What a coincidence.....I drove my Ford down to the Windsor Military Tattoo and while arriving at the site she died...did all the preliminary stuff for vapour lock. Even went so far as taking the fuel pump off and priming by hand...had fuel....mmmmm Jordan Baker happened to pop his head in and asked if I had spark. Voila....no spark. Also weak battery after a series of cranking. With the vast knowledge of Geoff Bottoms, a check was done to see if points were opening...yup....so the coil was dead. He went out and picked up a new 6 volt coil and charged up the battery. Still no spark....so down under and replaced the rotor as well....and voila...she started up. I was using an original NOS coil which sat on top and above the engine. I understand they tend to fail as they are tar filled and the new repro ones are resin filled and more trustworthey. Things to do.....carry spares of all electrical components. Will check the resistor angle as well to try to elimate any future mishaps....Geoff has an interesting story about getting to the Tattoo as well.

Cheers from Windsor

Mike Timoshyk

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

It's got to be one of those. Whatever it is, cold: go, too hot: no go, cold again, go, every time.

[Big D]

Gidday Bruce,

I don’t know whether this will help but I had a similar problem with my Willys jeep which is on 6 volts. I’m with everyone else in thinking that it is the coil that is the cause of your problems.

My jeep used to start fine from cold but after about 30-40 minutes of useage it would just die. It would not restart unless I left the engine to cool for at least an hour. When the engine died I found that there was either no spark at the plugs or it would be an extremely weak spark.

What I did was to gradually go through the ignition system and replace a piece at a time in this order; plugs; points; rotor, condenser and then finally the coil.

What I never got around to trying was a suggestion from someone else in having a plastic bottle of water to squirt on the sides of the coil to cool it down quickly when hot, just so that we could immediately pinpoint that it was indeed the problem.

In the end I replaced the coil before trying this and the jeep hasn’t missed a beat since.

The bottle of water might be worth a go when it happens.

Cheers

Darryl

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Big D

Gidday Bruce,

I don’t know whether this will help but I had a similar problem with my Willys jeep which is on 6 volts. I’m with everyone else in thinking that it is the coil that is the cause of your problems.

My jeep used to start fine from cold but after about 30-40 minutes of useage it would just die. It would not restart unless I left the engine to cool for at least an hour. When the engine died I found that there was either no spark at the plugs or it would be an extremely weak spark.

What I did was to gradually go through the ignition system and replace a piece at a time in this order; plugs; points; rotor, condenser and then finally the coil.

What I never got around to trying was a suggestion from someone else in having a plastic bottle of water to squirt on the sides of the coil to cool it down quickly when hot, just so that we could immediately pinpoint that it was indeed the problem.

In the end I replaced the coil before trying this and the jeep hasn’t missed a beat since.

The bottle of water might be worth a go when it happens.

Cheers

Darryl

Thanks Darryl, what you say best describes what I've got going. I wish whatever is crapping out would just melt, or blow up so I would know what the problem is and fix it. So far, I've been trying to keep the engine compartment 'original' so I may try a new coil or, as was suggested, hide a modern 6V coil and run the wires through a dummy Ford one...for cosmetic purposes.

The water on the coil to cool it may not work. The coil IS cool. It's the resistor that causes third degree burns when I check it with my finger.

One last thing was the plugs. I ran heat range 8 plugs and had all sorts of starting problems. I changed to 10's and it made a world of difference. That's not the problem now though.

[Keith Webb]

On a F15A which had the helmet distributor. Would run OK for about 30 mins then conk out and not start until it had cooled. I changed the distributor, using an adaptor to fit a crab with a separate coil. Worked fine.