T16 running problems

[jeff davis]

Take a look see what kind of coil your running.
Not sure on voltage output. My Carrier also had problem with blocked fuel line that allowed me to drive it long enough to have it stall in awkward position during parades .
I have a Mgb that I dropped a fridge on and smashed the hood that has not seen road for years because I am so pissed off .
Regards
Jeff

[andrew honychurch]

Originally Posted by jeff davis

Take a look see what kind of coil your running.
Not sure on voltage output. My Carrier also had problem with blocked fuel line that allowed me to drive it long enough to have it stall in awkward position during parades .
I have a Mgb that I dropped a fridge on and smashed the hood that has not seen road for years because I am so pissed off .
Regards
Jeff

Ah, yes these things can be very frustrating. I will check the coil tomorrow and report back.

Richard, I will check the coil wiring and think about the condenser, but must remember that this is a T16 problem so on any normal ignition issue I would of course think these are real possibilities. Perhaps it's throwing me off the scent and it is one of these after all . I wonder if there is an electronic ignition kit that fits in the divers helmet dizzy?

I was speaking with our mutual friend Bill who recalls going on a road run with 7 or so T16s and every one stopped dead and were towed off to ashford never to be seen again!

[horsa]

Might be good to verify the cable from the coil to the dizzy is good. Breaks, bad connection or corrosion would prevent the coil from being able to hand off power and it would overheat and produce intermittent performance. When restoring the dingo recently, I had very similar issues which symptoms would have indicated a fuel issue. Vehicle would start from cold and run smooth a bit before seeming to have a fuel starvation issue with rough running and then stopping. Couldn't restart immediately which would have seemed like the engine was flooded or we had a vapor lock issue. Coil was extremely hot though after a race car mechanic suggested it was an electrical issue. In out case is was coil issues and this resolved everything. If it ends up being the same situation for you, a heat shield for the coil, or modification of the mounting bracket to get t further away from the head might help. Alternately getting a coil that is rated for high heat and for shock since some will fail if bounced around too much.

[rob love]

One thing I have learned with the early ignition systems is to stick to metallic wiring for the ignition wires. The 7mm and 8mm modern carbon core wires that are commonly installed on these engines in the past 60 years or so are not ideal.

When it comes to ignition parts for the Ford Flathead, there is really nothing that is not available from places like Mac's. Even the original distributor mounted coils are now available. I have used them and am quite happy with their performance.

[andrew honychurch]

Originally Posted by rob love

One thing I have learned with the early ignition systems is to stick to metallic wiring for the ignition wires. The 7mm modern carbon core wires that are commonly installed on these engines in the past 40 years or so are not ideal.

When it comes to ignition parts for the Ford Flathead, there is really nothing that is not available from places like Mac's. Even the original distributor mounted coils are now available. I have used them and am quite happy with their performance.

I will check my HT leads but feels confident that they are the style wire multi core type. I maybe wrong . Problem with fitting the 6v coil is that I dont have the voltage reduction item (can't recall what it's called now)

I do wonder why they were specified with 12 volt electrics and a 6 volt coil. Surely not cost cutting?

[horsa]

I'd reiterate what Rob says with making sure you have metal core wires and not modern performance types with a carbon core.

When I had my T-16, it did suffer from this issue but I was convinced at the time that it was fuel/heating related and not an electrical/heating issue. I switched to an electric fuel pump and it seemed to resolve the problem for the most part. The dingo came along after we'd sold the T-16 so I wish I still had access to it for testing the coil/wiring fix since it 100 percent nailed it in the case of the dingo. I was very skeptical until I saw the results first hand changing the leads and ensuring good connections.

A related issue for you is the noise suppression "filters" on the coil and spark wires. Essentially each is an electrical short waiting to happen if you have them installed. Basically 18 self inflicted places the wires can be getting poor connections as the wood screws loose contact with the wires they are threaded into. Sixteen ends on spark wires and two ends on the coil wire. Very similar mechanically to how the dingo wires have the screws to make contact inside the waterproof distributor housing.

On 6v to 12v, Ford was using 6v on cars and trucks at the time but they wanted 12v for the wireless set. Easier for them to stay with a stepped down 6v coil during the war.

On electronic distributors, most come with a very hot coil which is likely epoxy filled as opposed to oil filled so they can be mounted sideways and are shock/rattle proof. Many oil filled coils will begin to fail if mounted sideways/horizontal which gets worse as they overheat. I'd get a high performance epoxy filled coil and check wires before changing to an electronic v8 dizzy. If you do go electronic, you'd not be out anything since you'd need both anyway.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by andrew honychurch

I do wonder why they were specified with 12 volt electrics and a 6 volt coil. Surely not cost cutting?

Andrew,
This was to aid starting, as is done on the Rolls B range engines only they have a 12v coil on a 24v system, running through a ballast resisitor. This is bypassed all the time the starter is engaged, giving double the voltage to the coil to compensate for voltage drop due to starter motor.

[RichardT10829]

I had an issue on a run where mine started to lose power then ultimately called it a day.

The issue was the ignition was drinking the battery dry, the generator just wasn't putting enough juice into the battery.

I had the brushes changed on the generator and the problem never came back.

Should it happen again it's worth checking your battery just after it happens

[andrew honychurch]

Hi David. Long time. Thanks for the advice, I am going to look at the coil and leads tomorrow and see what I have fitted. I did manage quite a bit of work with the T16 when first restored but the problem was always there but just getting worse all the time. Another owner here in the UK with exactly the same issue solved it with a new built electronic distributor. Apparently his Carrier now runs non stop all day and is as sweet as can be. He did fit a new high powered coil to go with the dizzy. Since I don't do much with the T16 I was rather hoping to avoid the cost of a distributor but I am convinced the divers helmet is at fault, at least in this application. I copied the bracket for the coil from a British Army mod on yet another T16 here in the UK but you are probably right it's getting just too hot. I think we may have discussed this before but again quoting an old wives tale, I was told by someone that a large batch of rotor arms were made with the wrong bacolite mix which resulted in tracking. That maybe rubbish of course but sounds credible. Did you once tell me that your T16 suffered from this as well?