I hate to admit it, but that was a fun one. Also, I have the Thunderhead289 hat back in stock for probably the last time - donate 25 bucks and I’ll send one to you. Be sure to leave your address. www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=DP6D8L3U8F5QS&source=url
Just run a bar of soap on the under-side of any fan belt for a few seconds while running (mind yer fingers and loose clothing) to kill any sqeeks. Easy fix that won't stress any bearings from over.tightening.
Pay attention, kids - this is what happens when you combine engineering book smarts with genuine interest and willingness to turn some wrenches to do what all engineers are supposed to be able to do: solve problems in real life.
If he knew anything he would have just taken a screw driver to the starter solenoid by the battery with the key on it will power the coil and turn over the engine. Way easier then all that wire striping.no spark change the ecm its on the driver wheel well there cheap and a common problem so you should keep one on the truck along with a spare distributor and coil and this truck won't leave you stranded.
I just had this happen on my Toronado. The ground wire wiggled loose from the grommet and got caught on the distributor. When that happened it backfired so loudly I thought I was going to see a hole in the block. Glad it was a simple fix, love watching your videos and learning something new!
We don't need all that stuff. But the main thing we don't need are computers. Just imagine if this had been a new V6 EcoBoost. Those are complete junk, and unlike the old stuff, there is no way to keep them going. Even dealers don't know how to work on them.
I got my 68 on the road this spring. Enjoying being able to drive it again after all these years. Hope to get it into the body shop for its paint job this fall.
That's a feature if the MSD-6 box. You can run it the fire with points. If it fails you can revert back to points. In addition only mili-amps to them, they'll last forever.
In the early 90's my dad's 72 f250 pulled my uncle pete's dodge out of the ditch and pulled my uncle mike's sierra home in one year. Dad was pretty proud of his 20 plus year old pickup putting their new pickups to shame. And now that ford was one of the only companies not to take the handout years back, I'm a happy ford man.
This video helped me a lot! My rig just died 2 days ago with an ignition problem as well. Was not aware of the procedure to test the coil. You are the best, Luke!
Nice fix. I once lost a water pump near Weed, CA. Bearings went out, fan kissed the radiator. I managed to get close to town, pulled off the freeway. Had enough tools to pull the water pump and radiator. Walked into town, found a replacement pump and someone to fix the leaky radiator. Put it all back together and got back on the road.
@Scott Page USMC “Contrary to urban myth, NASA did use the metric system for the Apollo Moon landings. SI units were used for arguably the most critical part of the missions - the calculations that were carried out by the Lunar Module’s onboard Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) during the computer-controlled phases of the spacecraft’s descent to the surface of the Moon…” Mixed systems suck even more, but “went to the moon units” is still metric 😁
@Scott Page USMC thanks captain nitpick… does NASA use metric now, since we’re going into tense of my comment? So “nasa uses metric”… yes/no? Did they use imperial for the moon landing? 🤦♂️
Wow, I guy working on an obviously disabled truck on a gravel road in Iowa and a car passes by without asking if you need help. What happened to this country? Not the iowa I remember.
You did good, but here some tricks 1. To check for fuel in the carb, just remove the air cleaner and climb into the engine bay and look directly down the Venturi's and quickly open the throttle. If theres fuel you will see a cloud of gas come out the accelerator pump circuit. 2. Check for spark, pull a plug wire and use the screw driver trick to ground it. Jump the solenoid with a screw driver. Or, buy a spark tester for $5 and keep it your box. They go between the plug and the wire and you can see it arc. Also, convert that ignition system to HEI gm style. Its self contained and parts are dirt cheap. $60 for aftermarket companies. One wire, i just bought 2 and keep all thr spare parts in the truck. Duraspark ignition systems are a pain in comparison.
Forgot to add, if you got vapor lock or heating issues with your carb. One of the easiest ways to solve 95% of those problems is to use a composite spacer between the intake and carb. Heat transfer will be minimal unless you live in the south, then a ventes fuel filter is the only way to go.
I'll tell ya what impresses me about @thunderhead289 (and also Kevin from @junkyarddigs). Not only is he increadibly knowledgeable, he's really good at explaining what's going on and what he's doing to fix it
Super excited when you put out videos, you are super knowledgeable and a joy to watch. I'm a mechanic for a living but never get to see any sweet old rigs anymore.
You remind me of myself 40 years ago, always working on gas guzzling crap that left me stranded non stop. Then in 01 I bought a Gmc Sierra 5 3 Ls fuel injected. It now has over 600,000 miles on it at 18-19 Mpg and over 325 hp..
If you watch my channel, I never break down, and I also get in the 20s for fuel economy - and everyone thinks the garbage I could just afford when I was young is somehow really cool now 😄
@@PapaSchultz74 Yup ,17mm for an 11/16 and 19mm for a 3/4. And a 3/8 on a slightly chewed 10mm bleed nipple is great for the oh shit moment before having to really bash a smaller size on. Lucky for us in the UK we get taught metric and imperial at school, still do to this day.
Great video. Really cool watching you diagnose and repair on your way to work. I have a 390 cfm Holley 4 barrel in my 75 camper special as well. Your videos got me from not running at all to smooth idling and getting it back on the road. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
dad and i had 71 300cid in a p 350 very hard starting truck finally shop hand rebuilt starter and added a size 27 battery. but later it spun the timing gears some type of plastic. later valves replaced head with 25 buck econoline head . i think it was emissions problems causing all even in 71 had add on crap , i drove many Econoline's great trucks love to have a 300 stick Econoline or 150 super cab 8 ft
Luke , that was such an enjoyable video and educational. Proves necessary is the mother of invention and your very resourceful. Surprising good video Bill in Fort Wayne Indiana
Anything that can keep you from sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow is worth doing. Now you just have to remember to fix it again at home.
Thank you for teaching us! I have learned a lot from your channel. My golf carts engine will not turn off unless I pull the spark plug wire. I have not started messing with it yet because I am not sure where to start. Am I looking for a bad ground? No blown fuses. I had to replace the battery cables in the past because of corrosion so I guess there's another bad wire somewhere.
I’m assuming a gold cart engine is like any small engine - the ignition coil should have a lead on it that when grounded the engine dies. I’m betting that wire isn’t hooked up correctly somewhere. You could ghetto it just by pulling a wire from the coil and putting it on a push button such that when you press it, it connects that wire to a chassis ground. Just hold the button till the engine is off and your good
That is some jankie stuff. But it works to get you down the road. Did some things like that many a day ago just to get through saltery road back in the day in Alaska. 😁👍🏼
Luke is an excellent natural diagnostician... along with being able to explain what he is doing in a way that mere mortals like us can understand! I've had two different vehicles die on the side of the road with condenser failure (VW and Toyota Corona), and both times I had an old condenser in my toolbox to save the day! Basically went through the same troubleshooting procedure to find the weak link in the ignition chain... The Toyota wound up with a VW condenser, but it worked!
Great video. My first car had so many tools in back I have to put spring helpers in it. So the random breakdowns were always a adventure in hillrod engineering. I think the best/worst was when I fixed the ground strap that corroded on my wipers in a rain storm with a bungee cord and duct tape. Good times.
Pertronix pooched that ground strap configuration. Unless installed incorrectly, the breaker plate's flexible ground lead in orig points dist all but never fail. I do keep points, condenser & tools in my Torino's console just in case. So far in over 25 years, haven't needed them. A couple years ago I did toss a fresh condenser in the spare parts, those can deteriorate just setting.
Thank you for the lessons! This stuff you usually don't learn unless it happens to you so having someone like you explaining it helps keep me from being on the side of the road for to long. Lol
This will never happen to you, cause you ain't no backyard mechanical hack getting everything all haywired up. I hate people like him, ruining neat old vintage vehicles!
@@johnswanson3741 Chill bud.. I remember when these "vintage" vehicle were new and they weren't all that great even then . You should be glad Luke is keeping them running and on the road instead of being sent to the crusher like so many have been. I like the older ones too, but my 74 F100 360 4 speed gets a whopping 10 mpg and I would love to put a T5 into it to help with fuel economy and streetability !! It's about keeping them on the road more than keeping them a stocker !
Why is your tool box such a mess ? If you're a mechanic, don't you need that to be neat and organized so you don't waste time ? I should think you may want to revisit or address that going forward...just a thought...
All my stuff could be classified as “a mess” - but I typically know exactly where everything is, so it’s not really an issue. How would you like it if I told you how to live your life?
@@ThunderHead289 Sorry. My intent was not to offend you. Just wondered how you are able to find what you needed -- sorry if I overstepped. I really do like that car. I like the old ones, and the simpler, the better. Good luck to you on getting that all sorted out...
That’s the one great thing about the old rigs.easy to fix.I miss my old truck.being a tech myself.the new stuff is a pain to deal with sometimes.🤦♂️.nice job Luke 👍
Love this kind of video, real deal, no bs. Yes maybe a sketchy repair but w/ no tools on a backroad, job done and the truck hit the road again. Well done sir
Be proud of you banjo engineering. As you called it. You drove the old girl home. And going through the systems is how you find the problem . Also on new rigs. Almost always you towing it home, even if you find the problem.
14:15 ты действительно веришь что человек был на Луне?! ))) даже сегодня космонавты/астронавты/тайконавты не поднимаются выше 500км, космическая радиация это не шутки.
Failure, is that what they're calling trouble-shooting an enshrouded broken grounding. You Sir, are a Wizard! Fuel, Fire, and Air make the engine go - I was hung up on the bang... Thanks for sharing...
When you said there was a big bang I immediately thought of the ignition. I had a 57' Chevy wagon and it started dying and banging as I was going down a hill. It kept running long enough for me to get home. I discovered that one of the wires to the ignition resistor had broken, right at the resistor. The wire would drift away from the resistor on acceleration and reconnect when the engine died. That created big bangs and did bad things to my muffler. It never looked the same again. Glad you found and fixed your issue. No fun to be stuck at the side of the road.
Oh, Before watching any more than the opening break down line. My wife and I experience that same, really really loud bang. I can tell you right now it's the faulty brain box, on the driver inner fender that throws the timing off. My had been fine ever sense we installed a new one. But it blew the seams out of at least 2 muffles, and didn't do our ears any good, before we broke down in front of a mechanics house. He even got burnt on his hand on my hot engine, trouble shooting. we found it would shoot spark the coil wire even when the truck wasn't being turned over If I remember it right. I carried a brain box spare like some F-150 owners do but for diff. reason ( not for this rare problem). in the glove box. I mentioned this to him. He switched to this new one and "it" was fixed for good.
I am an old dodge man by heart, but i love them all, and i like the GM trucks just because more is available for them. I bought a squarebody 1-ton dump truck, and it came with its own adventure to get it home to Kentucky. There's nothing i might need that i can't find for this truck, and it can still do serious work for the homestead. I let my boys drive it in the field and make them back laps around, too. 12 year old hates that, 10 year-old loves it and is pretty good at working with those mirrors! My dad had a '68 chevy when i was a kid, and i almost bought a '72 just like yours, it was orange, working factory ac, and pretty orange color. Wish i hadn't passed on that one! For the record, my squarebody came from Georgia, her name is Peaches. Maybe it's the fenders, but i would name that truck "rounder"
That was cool. The loud bang followed by silence was kind of a giveaway for the ignition module. I destroyed a muffler on a Lincoln when the big box on the fenderwell gave up, fun times. The fix was awesome! Leave it that way, it'll be fine.....
Seems like a bad initial design. The ground wire flexes each time the ignition advances or retards. It’s going to break sometime, and you can’t get to the bottom screw without taking the distributor apart.
but at least you can do it without having to spend $400 on replacement modules and sensors like newer cars. I just had one of my coil packs go out on my mercedes and it wasnt that expensive - $70 but it could have been a lot more especially if I sent it to the dealer. He fixed it practically for nothing except for his time, which regrettably, can amount to a lot.
Pertronix is JUNK. I have a 1968 F250 that I built from the frame up 35 years ago, out of at least three different trucks, not including the engine and transmission. It is a standard cab 2 door, 2 wheel drive, bench seat, long bed. 390/C6. It is on its third engine so far, in over half a million miles. I have an Edelbrock carburetor and points ignition. These trucks are built like tanks. They can be kept going for several million miles. There are a huge number of different engines that will just bolt in, so you never have to worry about not being able to get an engine, although all of them are readily available. I am now 65, and have no doubt this truck will last me the rest of my life, and probably my daughter and son in law's lives.
Had a similar problem with my 70 F100. It would cut off intermittently, then compression start, then die. Turned out to be cracked insulation of coil positive(?). As the truck went faster the wire would blow around until it grounded on nearby metal. Took forever to figure out until I noticed the wire blowing around from the fan and it happened while I was watching. Never got stranded since once it slowed to a stop or nearly so, it could start again until ....
i have a 1978 ranger xlt lariat,with the cb made in the dash,only 961 were produced,it went 487,000 miles with a new set of valve springs and rocker pedestals,54 trips to texas pulling weight every time,yeah made a helluva truck,mine is 460 385 series J MOTOR,FORD TRUCKS CAN TAKE IT
I haven't watched it yet further than the muffler big bang comment. So I thought I would add a solution I found after at least 2x blowing up the muffler with the loudest bang . I never put 2 & 2 together, but one day I broke down if front of a mechanics house. he was out in there pool, and walked over to help. I told him my trouble, that it blows the seams on the mufflers right out once it a while, with a very loud explosion. He went to check with the spark and found it was continuously sparking with out the engine running. I always carry an extra brain box. we exchanged it and all problems went away. No more blowing my ears and muffler's out or truck spark not right making it barley run, sometimes and put you on the shoulder broke down.
My daily for 22yrs. is a 70 Falcon wagon. 250 inline, one barrel, c4. No a/c, no power assist. Best 350 dollars ever spent. ( bought got it paid off) Side of the road times were brief and caused by my stupidity. On the other hand I can work on the "Bird of Prey" with mostly positive results. Have I driven a Ford lately? Enjoyed video, fun stuff. 🇺🇲🍺
Love old trucks, I had a 91 chevy c1500, not quite as old, but still nothing like these new cars, it had a gutless 4.3 in it, I installed a rebuilt trans in 2002 when my grandfather still owned it, I bought it off him in 2017, had 417,000 miles on it, original engine, the typical chevy blue smoke on start up, I sold it in late 2019 with 687,000 miles on it. The only reason I sold it was because I needed a little more power, I still see the dude driving that truck every now and then, it just wont die, it doesn't have enough power to kill its self lol.
I had the same thing happen in my 85 F350. Just stopped on the way to the store one day. Took me a week to find the issue. Glad you found it right away.
Old fords are good but they aren't nearly as long-lived as late 80's and early-mid 90's Toyota and Honda 4 bangers. I have seen two corollas exceed 1,000,000 miles on their OEM powertrains, and my own personal '91 civic hatchback did the same. All of these 5spd sticks. See also the Lexus LS400. Not a 4 banger but I've seen 3 of those eclipse 1,000,000.The key is no short trips, change your damned timing belt, tensioner, and water pump every 60k miles, and don't live in the Salt Zone. Salutations from Arkansas!
LoL, the hater's are gonna rally on that SAE vs Metric for sure. They just don't get it..... lol. I joke that it's a $100 extra every time I touch my metric drawer. It's not because I hate the metric system, it's because I hate modern computerized cars/trucks that just so happen to use it.
Had a 78 ford truck 300 six 3 speed best truck I ever had. Turned over.4 times.on odometer. You can laugh at the 300 straight six but it was ford tough .
And this is exactly why I'm rebuilding a 77 f150..good old truck that can be fixed ez..I have a 2002 gmc lemon..everything with the 2002 they say breaks is broken. electrical dash..dont work.exaust bolts in heads..broke..power seats..dont work..and the list goes on..cant really push stuff cause the truck has air bags and plastic everywhere..new stuff is junk..not made for the hard working man that likes a good work truck.
Ever notice how the Fomoco carbs look exactly like Holleys? That happened to me in a 74 MkIV, it was the nylon distributor gear. Could be worse, remember the GM caps with the points window? No puddle required, just humidity.
Was driving a F150 through the desert and all was fine at 65 MPH. Anything faster and the temperature gauge would go up. Finally deduced that the push on connector on the sending unit would make a poor connection due to air blowing the wire around. First time more cooling air across the heat exchanger increased the temp.
The Moon landings Contrary to urban myth, NASA did use the metric system for the Apollo Moon landings. SI units were used for arguably the most critical part of the missions - the calculations that were carried out by the Lunar Module’s onboard Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) during the computer-controlled phases of the spacecraft’s descent to the surface of the Moon, and for the journey of the Ascent stage of the craft during its return to lunar orbit, where it would rendezvous with the Command and Service Module (CSM). Apollo Guidance Computer Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) and DSKY (Display and Keyboard) As is the case in the UK with road signage, the use of metric units in the USA is often hidden from public view. The Apollo Guidance Computer is a good example of this. The computer display readouts were in units of feet, feet per second, and nautical miles - units that the Apollo astronauts, who had mostly trained as jet pilots, would have been accustomed to using. Internally, however, the computer’s software used SI units for all powered-flight navigation and guidance calculations, and values such as altitude and altitude rate were only converted to imperial units when they needed to be shown on the computer’s display.
Big backfires does sound electrical, since the plugs stop for a moment and the fuel just motors on through the exhaust system. When we did it on purpose, we called them key-bangers. You'd just switch off the key for a few seconds and pump the throttle and then turn the key back on and BANG! My mum was driving our 1979 Ford Falcon (Aussie version) and unbeknownst to her the wire from the condenser to the distributor was hanging by one thread, and it did exactly what your truck did, but the wire didn't break completely and it did keep going till she got home. Fords, eh? They fall apart, but never actually die!
My Grandpas '74 2bbl 360 used to let out some serious back fires turned out the cam was flat. Upgraded to a reman 390 with a 4bbl and edelbrock manifold huge improvement.
Sorry to correct you, but the most critical calculations of the loonar mission were made with metric units. Only displayed in USCS units. ukma.org.uk/why-metric/myths/metric-internationally/the-moon-landings/ And to make things further complicated, the head scientists were all germans who used SI-Units. At least the ones from the rocket. Anyway, thanks for the good and fun to watch content. Hopefully I can remember something when I break down with the '62 Wolga M-21 from my grandfather. When it runs again in two years or so.
Hey Luke, I’ve got a ‘75 f100 at home with the 390, and I’m looking at getting a new intake, but I can’t seem to find one. Do you have any recommendations on a decent one? I already have an edelbrock performer, but I’m looking for one with more coolant passages
Thanks again Luke. I just stopped watching a video with some idiots talking about about putting an ls engine in a very old Ford AA wrecker. They said they wanted to keep it as Ford as possible but they wanted at least something reliable. I bleed 🩸 Ford and that Chevy engine in a AA is sacrilege. Have a great day. Oh how about doing the lawn mower carb on a 300 inline six, ford of course.
Had similar issue with my 75 slant 6 except did not figure what went wrong until after I paid for the tow home Lol. Turns out my pick up wires from the distributor had frayed to the point (from heat and I age) that they were barely connected so when I would hit a bump just right and the connection wiggled, it would cause the engine to instantly quit. Nothing like your engine choosing to quit while you are on an incline in a busy parking garage Lol. Once towed back home, found issue by wiggling wires by the distributor. Moved the pick up wires just slightly and re-created the engine shut off problem, then on closer look with a flashlight is when I noticed the frayed, barely connected pickup wires. Issue diagnosed:-)
Gets stuck on the road and AWESOME knowledge gets him going back down the road. I've been stuck on the road quite a few times and always had to get towed.
I enjoy your intelligent approach to all your projects and experiments. I don't own a carbeurated vehicle but I think your carb cheater is awesome and long over due. Let's see your take on putting capacitors on spark plugs/ plug wires with real world results,good and bad. I think you're the man for this job. Keep up the great content.
Here in Australia the old Windors and Clevlands especially when run on LPG over there you guys call it propane for some reason in the distributors there is always corrosion on contact points and the points need cleaning and re adjusting. We were using a 250,000km 351 clevland on petrol and lpg tow a 3 tonne trailer everyday she was old and tired but kept going it was a former army ambulance from the 60's.
I drive a 73 bug with the electronic ignition. It's usually wise to have a spare distributer with points set and ready to install plug in play in case that petronics fails. usually, when they go, they are done, without warning.
