Good afternoon,
Newbie here, just bought my 1925 Runabout a few months ago. Car looks like it may have been restored back in the 50s or 60s but really shows its age now.
The other day I was taking family members for rides and my aunt noticed that the muffler didn't look right. On investigation, I found the outer shell and baffles had slipped past the edge of the muffler end piece, leaving it wide open. I am sure the car was this way when I got it as it has been a little loud since then. When I reassembled the muffler, the car would not run - would start but sputter and die. Any thoughts on this? My first thought is that the air mixture needs to be re-adjusted, but apart from that not sure what would be next. Any help is appreciated!
Bill Brunia
Dexter, IA
Maybe it came apart for a reason Bill. It could be blocked by some foreign object like a nest or the remains of a mouse. I guess you didn't notice any thing or you'd have mentioned it. If it's blocked it can cause a no-start condition. My 2nd. T, a '23 Touring, hadn't run in 15 years. My bad luck was it was facing out of the garage when I got it started. What an unholy mess came out of that pipe. I'd never given a thought to what might be in there.
If it is a repro, pressed steel end type, it could be that the inner segments are out of time. The shells have openings at opposite ends for the exhaust gasses to bounce back & forth, in effect causing the "muffled" effect. Could be that ? If it was running O.K. prior to you re-assembling the shells, mixture shouldn't be an issue.
I'm not a model t expert yet but I ran into a similar situation a few years ago when I bought a used car. The car started when it was delivered via a trucking company, the next day I went to start it and no go.
After several weeks of tinkering and scratching my head I decided to undo the catalytic converter from the exhaust manifold. Started right up.
So it's plausible the muffler or something is causing a restriction. You could try a vacuum gage to see if you are pulling any vacuum.
Philip
So who on here is old enough to remember not wanting to go to school....
and stuffing potatoes up the exhaust pipe of the school bus? Stopped cars from working, but the big old buses had such large cylinders that the exhaust pressure pooped the potatoes right out!
I'm with Charlie on this one.....When my 25 TT Dumptruck sat for about 5 years ....There were twigs and seeds stock-piled in the #1 exauste port of manif.......I just happened to notice when I took off the Hot-Spot carb....Thats a good lookin' little Runabout Bill.....Have Fun...Carl
What did you find out Bill ?
I had a '79 Harley Sportster that had drag pipes with baffles. The baffles were easily removable. Just one screw each. Well, the redneck, I mean, good ole boy, in me comes out sometimes and I wanted those baffles out of there. Dang thing wouldn't run for crap without them. Probably could have rejetted the carb, but just put the baffles back instead. My Panhead runs GREAT with straight pipes and no baffles. Sounds good too. There's that redneck showing again.
Bill,
Maybe it is out of gas. Don't cut short your trouble shooting short just because the problem happened to show up when you were working on the muffler. Could be a muffler issue and maybe not.
Jim