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My Packard is very difficult to start in the morning. I took the air cleaner off and pressed the accelerator and fuel poured into the carb. After much grinding it starts, sometimes close to a flooding condition.
After driving for a time at high speed, it slowly lost power as I exited on an upgrade off ramp. I waited about a hour to cool it then it started.
new plugs, wires, fuel filter, coil, and points. rebuilt engine, starter, fuel pump, carburetor

The car runs powerfully and cruises up hills, but the starting problem makes it unreliable.

I had a 110 back in 1950 and it started flawlessly hot or cold.

My 1948 jeep sits weeks or months, pull out the choke and it starts on the first couple of turns

That is what I expect from a Packard.

thanks

bob hattler

GENERAL LEE

Bob, have you checked your automatic choke setting?

(o[]o)

And, if you have an oil bath air cleaner its condition.

G'day Bob(GENERAL LEE),
Although a PackardInfo member for some time, see it's your first post, so

I invite you to include your '40 120 in the Packard Owner's Registry.

dry air cleaner, choke works perfectly, heat riser works.

I maintain the car in a near perfect factory condition so you can see why I am so frustrated.

On the open road cruising at interstate speeds it registers the coolant at slightly above center line, just like the manual says. As soon as I stop it goes to hot while waiting for the light to change green. Usually it returns to idle, but sometimes it quits.

Thanks for your input,
Bob

Battery, condensers and coils have caused grief for several. If the battery has a cell going bad possibly the load of the starting motor is causing the voltage at the coil to drop so low the spark becomes weak and is not able to fire the plugs reliably with a cold engine. A couple of people have also had some ignition switch problems with poor contacts inside the switch and also the insulation on wire inside the armored cable breaking down and causing issues with the spark.

Condensers -- even brand new ones -- have been reported as causing issues fairly often over the last couple of years. Often the posters report the engine starts and runs fine when when they commence a drive but engine starts running poorly or quits and won't restart. A few have reported being able to continue after the cool down period but cycle repeats after more driving time. Coils are another notorious intermittent failure item when hot.

Bob, check your distributor vacuum advance. A bad chamber can cause hot temps at idle.

(o[]o)

no vacuum advance, heavy duty battery, no condenser on coil.
double grounds to engine and body.

I noticed that the car starts when rolling down hill on the first couple of turns. I try to park on a down hill.

Is that a clue I'm missing?

If it starts basically by hand cranking the engine like a model T, all I need is a hand crank and a hole in the front.

Probably not.

Thanks for trying,

Bob

When "jump starting" while rolling down a hill there is no lowering a battery voltage. From that clue it may be the voltage has excessive drop when using the starter.

When the starter is not engaged and the car is just sitting and not running measure the voltage. Then engage the starter and see what the voltage is.

Quote:
Doesn't your car have a condenser inside the dist across the points?

As Fred said, measure the voltage. Best would be if you can remove the armored cable cup from end of coil and access the terminal coming from ign sw. Doing it at the coil would let you see if there is any loss thru ign sw as well as a drop when starter is cranking. It should be sitting around 6v with key on and points open. Also wiggle the key while measuring to see if there is a good solid voltage all the time. While trying to start the car, if it drops much below 5v the spark will be very weak.