Minatawa

I have a 66 with a little 200 under the hood that won't even crank now if the temperature is less than about 45 degrees! Anyone know what I should do? (other than trading in the little 6 for a gas guzzler :-P )

Also, when I changed the oil the other day, I had a brain fart and grabbed the wrong box and accdentally put 5w-30 instead of 10w-40. Will this cause any problems?

stanging

Are you sure you've got a good battery, or one that is big enough, (more cranking amps).

sweet 65

Check the battery. Next time it gets cold take another battery from another car and hook it up. If it turns over then its your battery but if it still wont turn over, it could be that your starter is bad. The oil wont really hurt your motor but you might want to change it again. I think that the 5w is thinner and your oil pressure will be less. Check the oil pressure when it gets heated up.

Minatawa

Battery is fine. The starter is turning just fine too. When I first get her started (which is no easy task on a cold morning) she runs rough until I get her a few miles down the road. It took me nearly 20 min. to crank her yesterday morning. I would fight with her a few minutes to get her started then when I would put her in reverse she would choke down. Once I got her going down the HWY, she did fine and I didn't have another problem with her all day. That has been typical of cold mornings lately. The colder the morning, the harder it is to get her started. This morning I couldn't even get her out of the driveway.

Soaring

You need a general tune-up. New plugs, wires, points/condenser and set the timing. Change the oil back to 10-30. You also need to set your choke to full closure at cold, and full open at temp.

sweet 65

so it turns over when its cold it just doesnt fire? I would probably rebuild the carb if that was the problem.

Soaring

Nah, the carb just needs to be properly choked when it is cold. It sounds like you are in need of a tune-up, with the choke mechanism working properly. In order to narrow it down to that, you need to make sure all the other electrical/fuel issues are in in order, and that requires a tune-up. These old engines need a tune-up about every 6 months or so. When was the last time you tuned it?

Minatawa

I don't know much about the carb and I am on a college student budget at the moment, so having it rebuilt it is out. I don't know how to set the choke. Is it a simple operation? I have never messed with the timing, but it seems simple enough to adjust. I'll just have to borrow a buddies timing light. (hopefully I can borrow the buddy along with the light lol )

Thanks for the help folks.

85lebaront2

If you have the original Ford carburetor, the choke on them is a bit weird. If you look at it with the air cleaner off, you will notice that the choke doesn't close all the way at idle. It is designed this way as there is no pull of diaphram or piston in the choke system! In order to start one of these you have to hit the gas once, then hold it about 1/2 way down while cranking. This way the choke closes fully, you can verify this with the air cleaner off by opening the throttle slightly, the choke should close all the way, then as you open it further, kick open again when you reach the unloader on the throttle. If the car has the Holley/Motorcraft 1940 series on it, the choke spring may be bad, or even on the Autolite (that's what it was called) the spring may be bad. Good luck with it, I learned about these carbs when I had a rented Mustang after my Falcon was hit at an intersection many years ago.

Colorado_Mustang

Hard cranking is going to be due to the oil and the condition of the electrical system. Synthetic oil will solve half that problem. Make sure the battery cables are clean where they connect and are in good condition.