MTFCA Forum

H~E~L~P ... Need someone to get my 27 going ... I'm in Pasadena (CA) disabled, stuck & baffled ... Will pay for your time (& pizza too). Contact me here, on fb, or in private.

Problems:

1- Car starts, but does not continue running for more than a few seconds.

2- Car runs on Battery, Magneto is OK, but when switch to it, engine shuts off.

#2 remove and clean pickup on top of hogshead. Good place to start.

Could be dirty or weak contacts in switch. Turn ignition switch back and forth a few times between bat and mag. If the bat. Side has a steady buzz for one of the coils it might be OK.
Start the car and switch to Mag. If it continues to run OK that might have been it. Hope this can help.

Any little kids been playing with the choke/carb adjustment ? How old is the gas ? Is the choke sticking closed ? If I still lived in SoCal I’d be happy to help

Not sure how long a few seconds is - but if it suns on BAT and not on MAG - I'd start with checking continuity of the switch in MAG position

I had a similar issue... it turned out the nut holding the mag wire at the top of the terminal was loose and when running the car vibrated enough that it touched the block and shorted out the mag. It was a very simple loose connection.

There isn't anyone in the LA area that is available to help this guy?

If I was on the other side of the state I'd be there.

Sounds like 2 different and distinct issues causing 2 problems -

(1) - the car starting then dying after a few seconds sounds like a fuel issue. Make sure your sediment bulb isn't full of water / dirt / grit. (EZ to check on a '27 as its right there, not under the car). You may also have rust on the bottom of the tank blocking the tank outlet. IF all that checks out OK, then you probably have crud in the bowl of your vaporizer... because it sounds like just enough fuel is getting thru to top off that float bowl, then when it's empty, it dies.

(2) The No Run on Mag is a different beast - you could have a bad switch, a bad mag contact post (or one full of band "fluff"), or loose wiring. (It's not bad coils as it IS running on Bat, and you're sure your mag is hot - eg, you've checked it, mag post to ground with an AC voltmeter, right?)...

Likely since she runs on Bat, your switch is at least OK there, tho they have been known to fail on 1 side or the other. Check all your wiring, both at the mag post, the terminal block, and at the back of the switch. Pull your mag post, and make sure the contact isn't obstructed with "stuff" (band wear material). Clean it, and reinstall. Try it.

If all that is OK but you still have a "no run" condition, then I'd do one more check before I condemned the switch...

Make a jumper wire that will reach from your coilbox to your mag post. Remove the ignition wire from the back of the coil box (IMPORTANT as you do NOT want battery current to go into your mag). Hook up your jumper wire to the post you just removed the ignition wire from. Run it into the car, hook it to your freshly-reinstalled mag post, and see if she starts (you should be direct from post to coils, bypassing the ignition switch). IF it runs on mag now, you have a 95% chance it's switch issue, and a 5% chance you have bad wiring or a bad terminal block.

Unhook your mag jumper (killing the motor), re-hook everything up, and run it on battery to get her home. OR use your jumper wire connection at the mag post as your "switch", and get her home on mag (if she ran on mag).

BUT... the first thing is to figure out your fuel issue.

Good luck!!! (and were I not 550 miles away, I'd help you suss this out).
Susanne @ the Forge