Re: 1941 Runs rough when warm

Posted by tsherry On 2022/11/16 0:59:45

I've had that happen on two Ford products; my '69 Galaxie convert about two years ago, and on Monday night, on my 71 F-500.

The Galaxie had about 500 miles on the tuneup, with the original coil which looked fine and tested good when the rebuilt engine went in. One summer day she just start to miss intermittently; I had stock points in it then. Replaced those with a drop in electronic ignition, sort of improved but not fully. About a month later the coil just gave up and I replaced it with a universal replacement--started and ran like a dream.

The F-500 (has a hydraulic ladder/lift on it) was running at a fast idle as I was installing Christmas lights on one of the big trees out back. As I finished up that two hour project (truck running the whole time due to the cold and high electrical loads from the lift and hydraulics), the truck stalled. Figured it was just the added demand of retracting the ladder; nope. No spark whatsoever.

That engine has about 18 years of use on the only tuneup I've ever done to it, and, ahem, untold hours on it since it's used infrequently for house painting, changing parking lot lights at church, tree trimming etc.

Tested everything; coil was the culprit and started it right up with a new unit. Then for good measure replaced points and condenser just because. At this rate, I won't have to do it again until I'm 80, which means, uh, never.