bad miss under a load


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By larrys 55 - 15 Years Ago
i have a 55 ford fairlane with a 272 in it.it runs good at idiling and as soon as i drive it down the road it misses  raly bad and breaks up and most of the time it stalls.i had the carb rebuilt.new distributor,points,condensor,plug wires and fuel pump.can somebody please help me out. thanks larry
By 55Birdman - 15 Years Ago
You need to do what I call the "nickle and dime stuff" . Check everything. Distributor points secure, gapped properly ,distributor tightened . Timing set ,Condensor grounded and tightened. Wires in good shape and properly seated on the plugs and distributor. Coil connections . Proper wire to proper plug and connection on Distributor cap. Seems like a timing issue.
By Pete 55Tbird - 15 Years Ago
Larry

  There are so many possible things that might be the problem so you can help yourself by giving more insight into just what happens and how. You run it at speed and it misses then stalls. Can you restart it OK?

Can you do a compression check? After it stalls if you remove the aircleaner can you see gas squirting from the squirters inside the carb when the linkage is moved? Can you do a vacuum check on the intake manifold?

Because at this point it  may just be rays from Mars.

Who rebuilt the carb and dist and can they look at it?   Pete

By idaho211 - 15 Years Ago
I had a 65 mustang with a 289 that my dad rebuilt and it had a annoying miss when I powered up a hill but on flats and not under load it would be fine.  Rebuilt the carb, still the same problem.  Turned out to be a bad plug wire.  It coundn't hurt to check the plug wires buy putting a spark plug in the wire, turn it over (of course with all other plug wires disconnected) and put the plug against the exhaust manifold and see if you are getting a good spark. If good go down the line and check them all.  I am sure the guys on this site will have much better ideas.
By Grizzly - 15 Years Ago
My 56 played up big time when it still had the advance-o-matic dizzy and a hole in the diapham. What distributor have you got and have you replaced/checked your vac advance diapham?
By larrys 55 - 15 Years Ago
the car misses a little in park.when you rev it up in park it doesnt break up or nothing.it has a new distributor (57 ford one)it also has a new vacuum advance on it,new points,condensor ,cap and rotor.the plugs and wires are also good.we did a compreeion test and it was good.soon as you put it in drive and start down the road it starts missing really bad and breaking up you can run about 35 mph tops and when you come to a hill 10 mph tops.hope this helped everybody out.thanks everone for all your sugestions so far.thanks larry
By Nick Brann - 15 Years Ago
Hi Larry,  I've had cars that behaved like you describe- it turned out to be a bad ignition coil in a couple of cases.  The other one was a bad condenser, even though you have a new one, try a different condenser.  In another case a wire had been pulled off of the coil resistor, and the wire was just barely touching the terminal of the resistor.  Hope this helps- good luck!  Nick Brann - K.C., MO
By rick55 - 15 Years Ago
It seems we have all experienced these symptoms at one time or another. My experience with these symptoms turned out to be the point gap was too close. Check your point gap with a dwell meter if you haven't already.

Failing that as Birdman and others have said it will be ignition problem somewhere.

Regards
By pegleg - 15 Years Ago
Go back thru your ignition wires and check to make sure you have them on the correct cylinders. I suspect it's wired incorrectly.
By Talkwrench - 15 Years Ago
And maybe something so simple as the leads not being pushed into the dizzy cap far enough.. I was suprised how far they go in. Put a timing light on each one for a quick check
By petew - 15 Years Ago
I agree with the coil diagnosis , I have seen those exact symptoms cured by a new coil
By lovefordgalaxie - 15 Years Ago
The two times I had a problem like this, the culprit was the coil. I also noticed you changed a lot of parts, but not the coil, and it's not a expensive part to buy.
By jdj9410 - 15 Years Ago
Did it have miss before putting the parts on? If not very likely have a crossed wire as mentioned. If it had miss before replacing parts and you changed it one wire at a time the previous owner/mechanic may have got one crossed also and you just repeated the oversight. Doesn't cost anything to run firing order first then go with coil. Sounds like one of them may be the problem. I know if they are in the wire brackets it is a pain to run them. Here is link http://www.ford-y-block.com/tuneup.htm .
By oldcarmark - 15 Years Ago
Regarding tracing ignition wires when they are in the proper brackets.When I installed my wires in the brackets I drew myself a diagram for each side.I marked what cylinder each wire was for in both the brackets that bolt under the exhaust manifold and what wire was which on the rear  brackets.In other words I have 4 diagrams.Tacked it up on my garage wall.Now if I need to figure which wire is for which cylinder its easy.I am thinking about the problem in this topic.It may well be ignition related BUT is it possible its starving for fuel?Check everything else suggested especialy the coil first.Doesn't fix the problem have a look at fuel system.