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1965 Ford runs then dies 1 ton truck

O

old

Well-known Member
Location
Camdenton Missouri
Ok so I have been trying to get this old truck running again so I can use it to move gravel. Got ti started yesterday and had it sitting there running just fine then it died and would not start again. Put new points in and it fired up and ran just fine for 15-30 minutes and then died. Just like it did the other day. Tried the new coil I have and still no run and weak if any spark but have spark at the point when I open them. I have not replaced the condenser and beginning the think it might have gone bad but never had one just go bad clear out fl the blue. I can open the points by turning the engine to that point and then use a screwdriver to short the points out and still little to no spark when I pull it back out. I have also tried hot wiring it and still little to no spark. So can a condenser just out of the clear blue go bad??
 
I have never replaced points and condensor at the same time. At least in the tractors i have they always come together.

Joe
 
Old,

When you're stumped, well, I am too.

I am leaning towards a fuel issue.

Not much help for you, but that's my opinion for now. I think you may have a fuel pressure/gas cap problem.

I am sure you could figure out what and when things went wrong. Again, not much help.

D.
 
"been trying to get this old truck running again"

Sounds like it has not been run for a while. Maybe years.
I would hardly call that went bad out of the clear blue.
But yes any part can be good today and bad tomorrow.

Not much to a primary system.
Some wire to supply power; and set of points; condenser; a good ground; distributor lobe; and a coil.
 
I would think the condenser could go bad, especially if there were a weak connection, and you have been moving the wire around changing the points.

Do you know the application for the new coil? Check the ohms? Did you check the ohms on the old coil? Could it have been internally shorted, too low resistance and prematurely arced the points?

Trying to remember how the breaker plate is made on the Ford distributors. I remember they were a common failure, plastic pivots wearing out, crumbling, not keeping the points set. How is the plate grounded?

Just throwing out some ideas...
 
I'm leaning towards fuel as well. Years ago, I had a tractor that went through condensers. Replace the condenser, and she'd fire right up.
 
"I am leaning towards a fuel issue"

"I'm leaning towards fuel as well"

We now have 2 people saying it may be a fuel issue.
So can one of you (or someone else) explain to me how we could even assume it might be a fuel issue when OLD said....

"Tried the new coil I have and still no run and weak if any spark"
"I have also tried hot wiring it and still little to no spark"

I have always thought you had to have spark before you move on to even check for fuel;
But I always willing to learn something new.
 
I'd vote fuel too. Could be a flake in the tank that gets sucks into the sending unit.. When the truck sits again it settles back down and then eventually gets sucked back in. Often getting a replacement tank for these popular models is cheaper and easier than trying to clean out and patch up an old one.
 
Has good fuel flow and also will not fire on gas poured in the carb or starter fluid. Took line off at carb and spun it over and have a good bit of gas out of the line
 
Today when i started it up I did prime the carb and it fired right up and ran after I had put in the new points. Ran fine then died. Have good gas flow to the carb and it will not fire on starter fluid either. I do get a weak spark at the points when I open then but not as good as I get when I do that on a tractor. So I know the points are grounded like they should be and the only thing I can think of that might be wrong is the old condenser Ran well on old coil so did not change it till it died and tried new coil which is true 12 volt coil not one that needs a ballast resister and of course aftermarket
 
Ya has not been run much in a long time due to major brake problems and not being able to find parts to fix the brakes due to it being a fleet truck. So yes it does not get run much but has always run well and even has less then 81K miles on it. But I have had it running a number of times this year but did not run it a lot
 
Pretty much cannot be fuel since it will not fire on starter fluid or gas pouring in the carb. I have even pulled the gas line off the carb and spun it over and had a good flow out of the line
 
Run a though check on ignition wiring. Rusty connections, frayed wires not allowing enough current to flow, wire grounding out or jumping fire, etc.... Yes, ignition causes more problems than fuel in the older stuff.
 
That is why I tried the hot wire so a to take most every thing but the distributor out of the system. When I put in new points and cleaner where they mounted to make sure of a good ground. Spark is just flat out weak as in so weak one cannot see the spark out of the center wire from the coil and when I do see a spark it is so weak it does not jump a 1/4 inch gap so that is why I am thinking condenser
 
I have seen condenser go bad but you might check the wire from the coil to distributor sometimes it will be damaged where it goes in the distributor. Or did your hot wiring bypass that too? Then again its been a while so I may not know what I'm talking about. :)
 
On an 1800 Oliver the aluminum base on the distributor lost it's ground. It mostly grounds through the clamps and I have taken them off a couple of times and scraped everything.

I've also had a Dodge 800 413 intermittently lose spark. It had a vacuum advance distributor that I don't think is original.

Since the vacuum advance wasn't hooked up and wasn't moving, the breaker plate was loosing it's ground and it only grounds though the pivot pin.

To get it going I took a pice of wire and clamped it under the condenser. I striped the other end longer and draped it on the edge of the distributor housing and put the cap on. I haven't got back to it but it is running.

To test it you could put a jumper from the points to ground and see it it improves.

Just a couple of head scratchers I've ran into.

RT
 
I know the body of the distributor is grounded well because I touched the hot wire to it to make sure the hot wire was hook up good the the battery cable at the solenoid and got good bit of sparks so that checked a couple things at the same time. Or in other words I have check that already LOL
 
Well I have sort of checked the wire going into the side of the distributor since with the points open I hook up the hot wire and get no spark but with the points close and hook up the wire I get spark so I know the patch to ground is good. I have used that hot wire test to find wires that are shorted where they pass threw the side of the distributor before and had the spark with points open so knew i had a short inside of the distributor so guess I could say I have checked that already but thanks any how
 
Pull the wire off of the condenser. Set your volt meter to ohmsX1 and ground one lead of the meter. Touch the other to the condenser lead. If the meter goes up scale then drifts back to infinite, the condenser is at least not shorted internally at low voltage. If it goes to just a few ohms and stays there, it is bad. if it goes to infinity and stays there it is bad. Jim
 
Also if it takes 20 minutes to fail, it could beyou need to check it after it fails, heat will do it. Jim
 
well of course they can go bad. the condenser works with the coil and stores the energy for when the points open so you get fire to the plugs. no condenser ... no fire.
 
Ford used a 1.35 ohm resistance wire and you need the correct resistance Ford coil from NAPA. Using a true 12 volt coil will give weak spark. However you said that you hot wired it so you should try a condenser. If you use a true 12 volt coil you will have to continue to hot wire it. With the points closed you should have 0 volts on the negative side of the coil as well as the body of the distributor.
 
Well, the Dodge distributor housing was grounding but the plate that the points mounted on were not. I had plenty of power also.

Just thought it might help. The reason I mentioned it was the Dodge was running and quitting.

RT
 
Old condensers go bad..sometimes new ones are bad also. Sounds more like a coil to me, but you already checked that. How about the vent in the gas cap? You probably have that covered too. I'd vote for the condenser, not too expensive for a new one.
 
Does this truck have a relay in the switch? I had a similar problem, previous owner ran a lot of things thru the switch. Worked fine for many years, but when the relay started going bad it would run great for 30 minutes then die and not restart until it cooled off.
 
Old,
Back in the day of points and condenser, it was a common practice to replace everything about every 10k miles. I would always carry spare points, condenser, rotor and cap in car. I even had a spare ballast resistor in car. It was common practice to replace plugs and wires every few years too.

Yes, condensers can go bad. Old coils can break down too.

So stop guessing and start replacing parts. Start with the least expensive first. Can keep the old parts that are good for back up ones. geo
 
Get a new condenser from the local NAPA dealer and put it in. Had a similar thing happen on my old AA truck while hauling hay.
 
(reply to post at 17:29:59 08
Condensers can and do go bad sometimes. And when they do go bad I have had some of them act just like the issue you are having. It seems they would break down after they got warmed up. I don't know the science behind it but always had the mindset it may have something to do with higher resistance when hot or something related but when I had them go bad in the past they acted up when engine warmed up. Many years ago it was NAPA brand I had problems with. (Hey, we're talking back in the 70's now!).
Click to expand...
 
Yep no brakes and the only way to stop is coast or turn it off in gear. But plan to just drive it forward the dump then back to refill so not going to go fast
 
NAPA whats that. LOL nearest one of them is a good 50 mile round trip. But while in town today the boy is suppose to pick one up at O'Reilly's should be on the will call shelve right now since I called it in last night
 
Ya back in the day one would go buy points plugs and condenser and put them all in then if got to where a new condenser was bad 50% of the time so I have not replaced one in a very long time. I have done the points already and the condenser is suppose to be picked up by the boy while he is in town
 
2x what Steve is saying about the breaker point plate. As he said known week spot of Ford distributors of that era. Does it seem to hold the point gap within a reasonable tolerance after it has run these 15-20 minute time frames your talking about? The test I was taught was with the points rub block stopped on the lobe holding the points open grab the condenser between your thumb and forefinger. Then firmly try to force the dist plate back and forth the direction that would open and close the points.(using side to side force, not rotating like the vac. adv.) Then use eyeball judgement on what was acceptable play in the dist plate. So bottom line is how solid is the plate and is it holding the point gap sufficiently steady enough for consistent breaker point operation?
 
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