OldIHC

Hello! (and help)

My C900 has the 4-152 paired with a T-13 and I've been having some difficulty with it.

On Sunday I drove it about 40 miles round trip to church, about 25-30 of which was highway cruising. Had a little 2 mile trip to grab lunch and then headed home. I stopped for gas about 3 miles from my house, but left it running because I have been having trouble occasionally starting it and don't like to jump the starter terminal at a gas pump. (kaboom) Got a few comments on the truck, pulled out of the gas station, and the truck started stumbling when I went to accelerate. I worked the gas pedal a little bit back and forth to try to make it happy but she died right there and refused to start after that.

Got a tow home and parked it the driveway to sit for about two days. I tried to start it yesterday afternoon, it cranks and turns over but does not start or even seem like it tries to.

Important things I have noticed! (They seem important... to me)

1. There was a stain on my driveway below the radiator, I opened it up and it definitely lost a good bit of coolant. All of it? Not certain yet, but definitely a good bit, so it's possible that idling at a stop without coolant caused me to overheat?

2. I have a fuel filter between the pump and the carburetor which normally appears to be about 1/4 to 1/3 of fuel, but currently seems empty. if I remove the filter from the carburetor and crank it, the line takes a while, but then fuel starts to flow out of it, so possibly a clog in carburetor jets?

3. I should probably just put an LS1 in it eh?

On your issues, can not help. Putting a different motor and rear end in it would bring it's own issues. Others will probably have help for you. On your radiator, fill and then see if you can get or make some sort of "unit" to put some small pressure on the system(might need it warm so thermostat is open) look for any pressure leaks. Check your plugs to make sure none are fouling out.

How long has it been since the engine has had a good complete tune up by someone that really knows what he is doing?

Thanks for the assistance!

Updates!

1. Ibesq: I'm only joking on the LS Swap (though the thought does get half entertained on occasion). I like the oddity of a motor that is the 4-152.

2. The issue, turned out to be the gas cap which appears to be from an old Chrysler, it wasn't venting. The moment I took it off I got fuel flowing again and she started up no problem.

3. As far as the Radiator goes, upon closer inspection it had been patched before and had sprung a leak, so I ended up ordering a new radiator, and a new water pump while I was at it. The whole system is going to my local classic radiator shop to get flushed (lots of crap in the coolant) and then have the new water pump and radiator put it after it's all cleaned up.

3. Spark plugs all looked great, no fouling at all.

4. 1975IH200: It's hard to say, I'm no expert on these older IH's by any stretch. I have put in new: plugs, wires, oil, oil filter, mechanical fuel pump, alternator, voltage regulator, fuel filter, the carb was new when I bought it, removed the gas tank and had it baked and sealed, and replaced the fuel lines from the tank forward. Not sure what else may need to be done except maybe a head gasket and a valve cover gasket.

Re: tune-up: Have you replaced the points & condenser in the distributor?
Distributor Cap & Rotor in good condition, ie. not burned, cracked or worn contacts, etc? High quality parts?

I ALWAYS use the highest quality tune-up parts.
Standard Ignition Products typically has a higher level quality line of tune-up parts above their standard line.

Re: tune-up. I haven't replaced the points or the condenser in the distributor, but I did pull the cap of and it looks practically brand new.

I've been using Standard Motor Products bits all over the truck for the most part to replace electronics, haven't had any issues so far.