Engine cutting out under load

I was climbing a hill, and my battery fell out of its holder and got cut open on the fan piece on the alternator. I know, I know, I'm making a hold down for it now. When I went to limp home, the engine would cut out when it was under any load. It idles fine, and will drive fine as long as it's not under a load. I figured it was just the bad battery, and replaced it, but it didn't fix the problem.

I'm guessing that I fried some ignition component when i drove it the mile home with the engine barely running. This is on a 231 V6 with HEI ignition. I replaced the coil with an old one that I think was good, but it didn't make a difference. I ran out of time to mess with it tonight, but the plan is to replace the whole ignition with spair parts one at a time to see if I can pinpoint it.

What do you guys think? Any ideas as to what happened?

 

I had the same problem, was a dirty fuel filter,,,,,,

 

Another one that suprised me was plug wires but that is usually at WOT...


BUBBA

 

Fuel pump still works, i can hear it and i have a steady 3 psi in the fuel line. The fuel tank, lines, and filter are all pretty new, but the filter might still be worth checking. I'll check the plug wires to make sure they're still good too.

I can't think of anything fuel related that could have been caused by the incident. The spark plugs might be fouled now, but I'm not sure if that could cause the problems that I'm having. I'm going to go mess with it and see what I find.

 

I swapped out the cap, rotar, coil, module, etc. and none of that changed anything. I checked the resistance in all of the spark plug wires, and they were all pretty close to eachother, so i think those are ok. I checked the fuel filter and it's clean (always wear safety glasses when doing this, gas in the eyes really hurts). When i was bypassing the wire to the coil, i had to kill the fuel pump to shut it off. It idled for about 5 minutes after i shut the fuel pump off, so im pretty sure it's getting fuel.

I'm running out of ideas for this one. Any other thoughts?

 

I'm thinking electrical, not fuel related.
How about the battery? Did you try a different one?
How about the alternator & wiring at the alternator?
Timing?
Just thinking what is on that side of the engine compartment. Seems like the wiring between the altenator and starter and the main wiring harness that goes from the altenator area to and through the fire wall.

Sorry but nothing real specific jumps to mind.

Let us know if you find it.

 

The battery is new, it's the only one i have that will fit it. The alternator puts out a steady 14v, and none of the wiring is damaged. The whole thing only has like 4 wires to begin with. The timing is a little bit off, but the light isn't jumping around or anything, so I don't think that's it.

The only things that were directly physically damaged at all are the battery and the alternator belt. That's what's making this so hard, I've checked everything i can think of even if it couldn't have been caused by what happened and still haven't found it.

I'm going to go buy a new coil just in case the extra i have is bad, since I've run out of other ideas. The local Napa has one for 60 bucks, the Napa right down the freeway from me has it for $24. I'm amazed there could be that big of a difference.

 

Ok, so I went out and drove it around for a little bit. Now, when it's idling and i push on the gas to hold it at a constant rpm (say maybe 2500) it will do ok. If i slowly start to push the gas pedal farther in, the engine starts to die... If I let off the pedal for just a second and then push it again, it starts running normally again.

I tried driving up a hill. The engine tries to die at the beginning of the hill, and then once it powers through that it will go up the hill with the engine bogged way down. Then as soon as the ground levels out, the engine will start running normally all of a sudden. If I stab the gas on and off repeatedly as I drive up the hill, it doesn't bog down at all and drives normally.

It's kind of starting to sound like a carb issue now maybe? Any ideas?

 

The choke isn't hooked up to anything, so the butterfly is loose, but it's been that way for quite a while before the problem. The accelerator pump does sound like it might be the cause. I don't understand how the battery falling out could have caused it, but rebuilding the carb is pretty easy to do, so I might as well.

 

I just rebuilt the carb, problem solved. I'm pretty sure the accelerator pump was the cause.

 

If you are positive it is not plug wires(they can miss under a load) there is a somewhat unlikely but not unheard of problem that can cause what you have described and that is a partial clog in the exhaust system such as a part of a rusted muffler that can move as you begin to rev the engine and cut off exhaust flow. If that is the problem you can save your self time and money by simply dropping the exhaust pipe and the manifold, drive it under the conditions you discribe and see if the problem dissapears. Noisey but effective and cheap. kb71

 

mine did that. replacing the acceleator pump solved it.