By peeeot - 15 Years Ago
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In the late summer heat, my '59 Galaxie has sometimes acted up at traffic lights. As long as I am cruising, or usually even rolling, it does great. The most common form this problem has taken will involve driving for about an hour non-stop with no problems of any kind, and then the first traffic light I come to and have to sit at it will either stall at the light after a while (idle quality breaks down first) or else it will stumble or stall when the light turns green. Sometimes it is hard to start it when it stalls, but usually I can start it back up quickly. I haven't had issues for a while but today when I came off the highway exit ramp and accelerated into traffic it was acting like there wasn't enough fuel in the bowl--stumbling if I gave it anything more than light throttle. Once it starts misbehaving, it will not fail to stall out if you let it idle long enough, even with the hood open and air cleaner off idling in park. I have done this a few times, even taken the air horn off and watched the fuel coming into the bowl. Now, I am inclined to think I am dealing with partial vapor lock for two reasons: 1. idling with the air horn off, it is audibly clear that there is about as much vapor as liquid gas coming out of the fuel inlet needle. 2. Looking in the glass filter bowl on the fuel pump, you can see bubbles at the top, large and small, and quite active. I am not certain that's the problem, though, because at the time the engine dies while idling with air horn off, there is still plenty of fuel in the bowl; indeed, it is within a 32nd or so of the spec'd fuel level. Any ideas?
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By oldcarmark - 15 Years Ago
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I have a similar problem with mine.When the outside air is in the 80's and 90's and high humidity as we have had many days here in Ontario this summer,the idle quality definetely changes-for the worse.This last week or so with temps in the low 70's and very little humidity it runs great at idle-even hot.Idle seemed to improve when I removed the air delector on top of the rad as I learned on this site,was designed to keep hot air IN the engine compartment so the carb didn't freeze up in winter. I have the clear glass bowl fuel filter and gas is flowing fine it looks like.I will be following this topic for more input.
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By lovefordgalaxie - 15 Years Ago
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Is your carb an Autolite 2100?
If so, I had the same problem once. The culprit was the power valve at the bottom of the bowl. That thing was leaking gas, and the engine was running too rich. Rich enough to die at idle, and being difficult to start. A new one kiled the problem. The odd thing was that the only indication of the bad power valve was this.
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By oldcarmark - 15 Years Ago
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If you suspect the power valve turn both idle mix screws in lightly seating them.The motor should die.If it continues running suspect the power valve allowing fuel to keep the motor running.
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By peeeot - 15 Years Ago
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I do have an autolite 2100. I'm not certain, but I think I tried turning the mixture screws in; I'll try again to be sure. It has been close to 2 years since I rebuilt the carb. I am not sure how long such parts are expected to last. One thing I'm wondering: if the power valve were leaking, why wouldn't the problem be evident all the time?
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By lovefordgalaxie - 15 Years Ago
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That's because when you are cruising, or driving a little faster, there is not the same amount of vacuum to "pull" the gas trugh the power valve.
The leak can be trough the tread of the valve and gasket, and not the membrane, so, the temperature of the carburetor's body can make it worse when the engine is hot.
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By peeeot - 15 Years Ago
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You were quite right! I was able to turn the mixture screws in to 1/4 turn from seated and still run at about 450 rpm. I removed the cover from the power valve and found gas in it. The culprit is the gasket; I tested the diaphragm with a vacuum pump and it is fine. I recalled then that the gasket is really old; when I rebuilt the carb, the new gasket was too large so I reused the old one. I will be replacing the gasket promptly and will report the results later.
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By lovefordgalaxie - 15 Years Ago
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Very good that you found the problem! And a cheap one to fix.
Now that you have the carb out, take a look at the play on the axle. If it's too much, it can alow air to get in, and also cause the engine to die at idle, but in this case, only when very hot. I never saw a carb with that much play, but my Ford Galaxie Service Manual talks about this as a secondary cause to the problem.
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By Ol'ford nut - 15 Years Ago
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lovefordgalaxie (9/7/2010)
Very good that you found the problem! And a cheap one to fix.  Now that you have the carb out, take a look at the play on the axle. If it's too much, it can alow air to get in, and also cause the engine to die at idle, but in this case, only when very hot. I never saw a carb with that much play, but my Ford Galaxie Service Manual talks about this as a secondary cause to the problem. By "axle" I believe he means the throttle plate shaft. You can get play where it goes through the body and it will suck air. I had one carb that bad so I took out the shaft and drilled indent in body to accept a o-ring around shaft. IT WORKED!
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By lovefordgalaxie - 15 Years Ago
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Ol'ford nut (9/7/2010)
lovefordgalaxie (9/7/2010)
Very good that you found the problem! And a cheap one to fix.  Now that you have the carb out, take a look at the play on the axle. If it's too much, it can alow air to get in, and also cause the engine to die at idle, but in this case, only when very hot. I never saw a carb with that much play, but my Ford Galaxie Service Manual talks about this as a secondary cause to the problem. By "axle" I believe he means the throttle plate shaft. You can get play where it goes through the body and it will suck air. I had one carb that bad so I took out the shaft and drilled indent in body to accept a o-ring around shaft. IT WORKED!
Yes!! That's exactly what I mean. Around here, we just cal it axle.
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By peeeot - 15 Years Ago
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I rebuilt the carburetor again, and the new kit came with a power valve and gasket of a different design than the last kit I installed. This valve and gasket were clearly designed to work together AND with the design of my carburetor. I tightened the power valve down as tightly as I dared, so if that hasn't taken care of the power valve issue then nothing will. But I believe it has. It turns out that the power valve was not, in fact, the cause of my hot running problem though. After mounting the rebuilt carb, I was rechecking the distributor advance curve with the car idling in park when it started to miss and quit running. It was then extremely difficult to get it started again. I put my timing light pickup on the coil to distributor ignition wire and saw that it was not firing more often than it was firing. I could not test the coil adequately to conclusively determine that it was bad, but I replaced it under warranty and the problem symptoms seem to have completely disappeared. The bad coil was less than a year old, with less than 6k miles on it. I'm glad to know what caused the problem, but I am wondering now whether I should expect such short coil life again, and if so, whether it is a poor quality coil or else the location and manner of mounting that's causing the problem. I'm using an Accel Super Stock points coil number 8140, and it is mounted in the stock location--laying on its side behind the carburetor under the air cleaner. Would another coil be more reliable? I'd prefer to keep the stock mounting location. Thanks!
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By lovefordgalaxie - 15 Years Ago
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That's a fine coil, I see no reason for expecting a short life out of it. Since your coil was replaced into warranty, I would give it a try.
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By John Mummert - 15 Years Ago
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I'm not familiar with that coil but some coils aren't meant to mounted horizontal. They are oil filled and use the oil for cooling. When laid flat some of the windings are not covered in oil and can overheat.
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By ejstith - 15 Years Ago
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John Mummert (9/15/2010) I'm not familiar with that coil but some coils aren't meant to mounted horizontal. They are oil filled and use the oil for cooling. When laid flat some of the windings are not covered in oil and can overheat.
John how would one know about the orientation of the coil. I have a Mallory (one that eliminates the resistor) and it's laying down and I've had the same above symptoms for over 2 years. I've always thought it was vapor lock because I can run a stream of water on the fuel pump & it doesn't stall out. I don't remember seeing anything about the coil orientation when I installed it.
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By Rono - 15 Years Ago
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Thanks OldCarMark for the comment about the air deflector. I always assumed it was used more like an air dam to force more air through the radiator core when you were moving. Never considered it was intended to keep warm air in the engine compartment in winter. Since I won't be running the car much in the winter up here in Maine, guess I'll pull that thing out of there. Rono
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By oldcarmark - 15 Years Ago
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Actually it was Marvh that knew about the real reason the deflector was on there.I assumed like everyone else that it was there to force air through the rad.Cant hurt to remove it and see if it helps.I see about 90% of engine pictures have that delector removed.Makes it easier to work on the rear of the motor too.
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By aussiebill - 15 Years Ago
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oldcarmark (10/10/2010) Actually it was Marvh that knew about the real reason the deflector was on there.I assumed like everyone else that it was there to force air through the rad.Cant hurt to remove it and see if it helps.I see about 90% of engine pictures have that delector removed.Makes it easier to work on the rear of the motor too.Marve, i agree with removal of it to stop cutting you in half while leaning over it, I doubt it was there to keep heat in engine bay in this country where its a lot hotter than cold and think it would do more good directing air flow through radiator. 
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By marvh - 15 Years Ago
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Bill:
Here is the quote right from Ford in a dealer bulletin. marv
GSL #186 (General Service Letter) dated May 2, 1955 to all dealers states para 1. Radiator Air Upper Deflector - 4 Barrel Carburetor Units - 1955 cars
As you know, recently we advised that to minimize the possibility of icing in 4 barrel carburetors used on 272 Special and Police interceptor engines, a radiator deflector was going to be incorporated in production. The air deflector, part number B5A-8327-A will be effective in production approximately May 1,1955. Service parts will not be available until approximately June 1, 1955.
Use of the radiator air upper deflector increases the under hood temperatures. This, of course, is desirable in ambient temperatures below approximately 58 deg F to prevent carburetor icing. The increase in under hood temperatures, however, may have a slight detrimental effect on engine performance during the warm summer months in most areas. However, in areas of extremely high summer temperatures, it will be desirable to remove the air deflector to prevent possible detonation and loss of performance.
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By Ted - 15 Years Ago
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Marv. Thanks for the dealer bulletin info regarding the radiator air upper deflector. My ’55 wagon still has this on it and has the 182HP Special (Teapot carb equipped). The bulletin info is good stuff and explains exactly the intent of the deflector.
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