Mine died today

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rickf
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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by rickf » July 29th, 2018, 2:34 pm

That's kind of where I was headed. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: How much is a series 60 rover diesel? :roll: But then you wouldn't have had this lovely learning experience. And all of the ball busting I am SURE you get from you buddies. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Oh, and if you are still married after all you have been through with that mutt she is a KEEPER!!!
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

Auzziemutt
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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by Auzziemutt » August 15th, 2018, 11:59 pm

Howard, there is a place west of Sydney that sells the correct Mutt spark plugs . I will send you the phone no. if I can find it . Col

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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by kmam » August 16th, 2018, 12:43 am

Hi Col

Thanks for the tip. I have two spare sets of original and one spare set of normal plugs but it never hurts to have info like that. Do they sell the original Aitolites.
Howard

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AM General M151A2
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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by kmam » August 25th, 2018, 1:03 pm

Well it is home again. As we drove off to collect it I said to my wife that it was like going to the hospital to pick up your new born! She thinks I am nuts...

It has a new distributor cap amd new spark plug leads. Set the timing with a timing light and it is spot on, steady, advances and holds steady when revved. Set the mixture using an exhaust analyzer. The engine purred nicely sitting on 50+mph all the way home. Tucked up in the bottom shed now and resting after its twelve weeks adventure (Can’t believe it has been that long).
Howard

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AM General M151A2
Austin Champ

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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by Fil Bonica » August 25th, 2018, 3:27 pm

Congrats on your persistance!
Aren’t you glad you didn’t throw in the towel .
Enjoy driving it around,

Fil Bonica
K1ABW

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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by kmam » August 26th, 2018, 1:45 am

Thanks Fil. Yeah, luckily I pulled out of that moment of frustration/depression/financial fears :)
Howard

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You can't win!

Unread post by kmam » September 16th, 2018, 2:14 am

Well, it has been going OK although I have not driven many miles since it was fixed. A couple of times lately it has missed while going up hill which I put down to possibly the float sticking. Anyway, this afternoon I drove to the local shops, parked in the underneath car park and bought some groceries. Back to the MUTT, no start!! Checked spark, fuel, distributor cap, swapped from mechanical fuel pump to electrical fuel pump, but no joy. At this stage my diagnosis is that the Swiss Control module has died - again! I will get it towed home tomorrow and do some tests on the module. If that is the problem, my question is - what can be causing module failure? I would guess that it may be some sort of high voltage spike hitting the module but why, where? The generator is not putting out more than 28V. The only place I can think a high voltage spike could come from is the output of the coil. Could that somehow be getting into the module?

I have some more bits arriving this week including a distributor with points and a new module. I will put the distributor in and see if that fixes it. If it does I am inclined to stay with points rather than electronic but I may be jumping the gun here...

I will post the outcome.
Howard

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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by rickf » September 16th, 2018, 9:27 am

The original (as in not aftermarket) Swiss controls modules are damn near bulletproof and almost never go bad. To have two go bad so close together in the same vehicle is going to be pretty rare. This is assuming they are not the Chinese replacements, they are not much better than the coils. Did you actually find that you have no spark? Do you know you are getting voltage to the coil? And is the coil good. That is not the symptom of a bad coil normally though, unless the switch was left on.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by m3a1 » September 16th, 2018, 10:25 am

Begin with the basics. ...and I'm jumping in here because there are other people who might be following along.

If you're leaning toward it being an ignition problem, begin with making sure uninterrupted power is getting to the ignition. I bring that up because I don't recall you speaking about the condition of your wiring or checking any of that sort of thing.

In my experience I have seen quite a few wires looking very war weary at the point where they go into the cap-like connector at the capacitor. There's a fair amount of heat in that area because of it's proximity to the engine and the wire is largely unsupported there which often causes the insulation to go bad meaning even less support for the wire there.

Electricity travels on the outside of wires, not through them. If the wires are broken (then, fewer wires have to carry the same load) or if they are corroded, the flow of electricity is impeded, heat is generated, resistance goes up and, well, you know what that means. Some people will put some RTV on there in an attempt to re-insulate a wire but again, if it's corroded, the problem is then merely put out-of-sight.

I haven't seen many pics of your rig so if none of this applies to your truck, sorry for wasting your time.

Cheers,
TJ

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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by kmam » September 16th, 2018, 8:05 pm

Thanks for the feedback and thoughts Rick and TJ. It sat at the supermarket for two hours and then we towed it home. Before we towed it I tried to start it again but not even a kick. This morning I went to the shed ready to pull bits out and check them but first tried it and it started immediately! Now the fact it sat for two hours yesterday before I tried eliminates a heat issue (I think). I am inclined to think it is electrical and that there may be a poor connection somewhere that reconnected when it was towed (a few jerks and pulls along the way). The thing that puzzles me is that I pulled a spark plug at the supermarket and there was spark although it did look weaker than I recall.

So now begins the painful task of trying to find an intermittent fault. Oh, by the way, the wiring loom was replaced before I bought the MUTT and appears to be in good nick. I think step one will be to trace the 24V lead from the distributor back to its power source and check that there is not a loose connection there.
Howard

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AM General M151A2
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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by rickf » September 16th, 2018, 8:48 pm

I think you already did this in the last episode but what about the ignition switch? Your sure the fuel pump and filters are all good? By that I mean you have actually pulled the line off at the carb and cranked it to verify a strong flow of gas. I say that because just recently another member swore it wasn't the problem because he had just replaced the filters. Come to find a clogged filter!
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

kmam
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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by kmam » September 16th, 2018, 9:06 pm

I have a paper cartridge in line filter as well as the one at the carbie. I will replace it today anyway just to be sure. I did swap between the mechanical pump and the electrical pump but could not see the flow as I was on my own and did not want it pouring over a hot engine :roll: However, there was residual in the line from the mechanical pump when I used the electrical and that residual pumped out OK. I will check it, though, when I have someone here to help. I have not checked the ignition switch but i will when I do the trace back from the distributor.

The big problem is that I have to find the cause as I don't want to take it in the bush while there is a risk of it failing.
Howard

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AM General M151A2
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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by m3a1 » September 17th, 2018, 1:10 am

This sounds exactly like what I was experiencing with my truck and while it is true that I did find a very questionable filter (and I'm using the term "filter" VERY loosely because it was a certified bubba mod) the fact remains that I had a Prestolite module that was causing the real trouble.

Truth be told, that was a Gremlin that I refused to confront owing to my erroneous belief that modules either worked, or didn't work ......which is total bunk.

Mine never failed completely (meaning to the point of actual death) but there was a weak spark with correspondingly poor performance and what I assume to be an on-again-off-again comatose state brought on by heat. It was a problem that usually rectified itself after everything cooled off.

So, if you have another module, my recommendation is that you drop it in there immediately. If you don't, I'd recommend you go get another and put it in there. Mine ran like a race car after a new module and has been trouble free since the replacement.

I think the fact is, these modules don't last forever and many are reaching the end of their service life right about now. We may be thankful for it because the unknowing often part with their M151s for cheap simply because they don't know their module is old and tired; causing them problems that they cannot solve.

The odd by-product of having lived through this is I am now a bonafide distributor hoarder (meaning everything that can be found in the distributor housing) and yes, I am also passively building up a points distributor.

Remember the old axiom -

Proper Planning and Practice Positively Prevents P*ss Poor Performance, Pal!

Cheers,
TJ

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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by rickf » September 17th, 2018, 8:54 am

Whatever you do be sure to only replace one thing at a time so you know what the culprit was, if you replace several things and it runs great then you do not know what one of those parts was bad. And if it fails again then you have to decide if all of the above parts were failures or what one part of the new ones could have failed. I have to say I have never seen anyone with as many failures as you! I thought my luck was bad, It probably would not be good for the two of us to get together. Mr. Murphy would have a field day. :lol:

To be perfectly honest, I would not consider the M-151 a dependable enough vehicle to take out in the bush alone. Far too many parts to go wrong on it, like the 12 u-joints. The carburetor which will clog on a piece of dust is another issue although it would keep running but poorly.
It is sad but these were the first of the vehicles that were built with political interference. Actually the M38A1 was the first. These and all that followed are nowhere near as good as the ones prior. All of those were built to be dependable to the very end. And repairable with the most basic tools, pliers, screwdriver, hammer and a couple wrenches.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: Mine died today

Unread post by m3a1 » September 17th, 2018, 11:32 am

Agree with Rick on that matter.. All of them, actually.

Semper Paratus anytime you're going out into the wilderness. You should have a backup ignition module anyway or, using Rick's method, an entire distributor as a backup. Of course, Rick's method means you'll need a trailer for all the spares and yet another trailer to haul spares for the first trailer. By golly, you'll have a train of vehicles stretching all the way back to Terre Haute! If you set up the last trailer for laying commo wire, you can even call back for the few spares you forgot! :lol: :lol: :lol:

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