Hello everyone. I'm brand new to this site and a brand new owner of a '59 T-bird coupe with the 430 engine. Many, Many years ago, pre-kids, I played with cars out of necessity. Now I'm post-kids and decided to play with cars for fun. As I drove down a road I frequent for a month I noticed this T-bird sitting next to the road calling to me. I finally couldn't take it any more and stopped by. The crazy thing followed me home.
I'm sure I will ask a lot of stupid questions, so here's the first couple:
My test drive showed an engine in need of a tune up, but was otherwise unremarkable. The temperature gage stayed in the lower 25% of the normal operating range. My drive home with the new toy was different. The engine was heating up as I drove and running rougher as it heated up. Finally at one stop light it died as soon as I hit the accelerator. The engine started right up, but again stalled when put in drive. I tried this about 8 times with differing levels of engine rpm before putting it in drive with the same result every time. The last third of the trip was by tow truck. After it was home and cooled down it started and ran fine. Today I repeated the process. Same results. The temperature gage was at the high end of the normal range (at the P in temp) when the engine would stall when put in gear. I have two issues. First is overheating. The coolant is 1/2 way up in the expansion tank and a nice bright green. The expansion tank does leak (seepage) around the seam, but that wouldn't seem to be enough to cause the overheating. Need to get that fixed, but is there anything exlse I should look at? Second issue is stalling. I believe this is a fuel issue. There is a see through filter in the fuel pump inlet line and that quickly drains to empty when the engine is stopped. When the engine is running it is no more than 1/3 full. Is this normal? I will test the fuel pump pressure and flow rate. Is there anything else I should look at?
Vern
I'm sure I will ask a lot of stupid questions, so here's the first couple:
My test drive showed an engine in need of a tune up, but was otherwise unremarkable. The temperature gage stayed in the lower 25% of the normal operating range. My drive home with the new toy was different. The engine was heating up as I drove and running rougher as it heated up. Finally at one stop light it died as soon as I hit the accelerator. The engine started right up, but again stalled when put in drive. I tried this about 8 times with differing levels of engine rpm before putting it in drive with the same result every time. The last third of the trip was by tow truck. After it was home and cooled down it started and ran fine. Today I repeated the process. Same results. The temperature gage was at the high end of the normal range (at the P in temp) when the engine would stall when put in gear. I have two issues. First is overheating. The coolant is 1/2 way up in the expansion tank and a nice bright green. The expansion tank does leak (seepage) around the seam, but that wouldn't seem to be enough to cause the overheating. Need to get that fixed, but is there anything exlse I should look at? Second issue is stalling. I believe this is a fuel issue. There is a see through filter in the fuel pump inlet line and that quickly drains to empty when the engine is stopped. When the engine is running it is no more than 1/3 full. Is this normal? I will test the fuel pump pressure and flow rate. Is there anything else I should look at?
Vern
Comment