Yea there could be lots of things. I had a similar problem with my Bronco, it would die and then not start again and the battery would die really fast trying to crank it. I went through hell trying to figure out what kept making it just die. Finally I was getting the alt tested and they found nothing wrong with it, but did mention it looked like it had a little water damage. Which I found really odd. Until I got lucky one day and noticed a pin-hole leak in a coolant line was spraying into the alt, making it short out and stop working, making the truck run on just the battery until it died, then not being able to crank over without a jump. But by the time I would get it jumped the alt would dry out and be working again. Until I drove it long enough to get hot enough to spray coolant into the alternator again. So yes, it COULD be something else... You should always start with the obvious stuff first though. And hope to hell it's not something totally obscure. Or you wind up throwing money away replacing good parts.
some testing when the problem is present can save you money on throwing parts at it. when the car dies. pull the coil wire off of the distributor and lay it close to but not touching something metal. this is the hard part. usually takes 2 people but creativity can work here. turn the key to the crank position and watch for spark. if you have spark jumping from the coil wire to the metal you ignition system is not the problem. if you dont have spark then it is the ignition system. if you have spark you need to be looking at the fuel system. easy test is to take air cleaner lid off and look down the venturies of the carb and move the throttle lever. you should see fuel spray out of the carb into the venturies. if you dont have this spray then its a fuel supply problem. its up to you if you want try testing or if you want to do shotgun repair and throw parts at it and cross your fingers.
Well none of the wires going from the cluster to the modulator to the regulator have been replaced so I figure I re wire the whole electrical system of the car due to possible wire shorts or breaks.
that qualifies as a shot gun repair. while its possible to be the problem i would doubt it. to rewire the whole car is an expensive thing to do just to guess to fix the problem. if it doesnt die regularly then put a new ignition module and proper coil for it. thats where i would throw your money if you dont want to do testing.
I'm still curious if it's not a fuel issue. He can hit the throttle under the hood and see the fuel squirt down the throat of the carb, but that's only working off the accelerator pump...and the actual bowl could be dry due to the needle sticking closed so he wouldn't be getting fuel thru the idle circuit, right? I'm curious if he opened the top of the carb directly after noticing this problem to see if the bowl is dry.
Yea, diagnosis would be your friend, not shotgun repairs. Rewiring the car would be very frustrating just to find out the fuel tank had trash or rust inside, momentarily clogging the fuel filter or hanging the check valve in the pump, or the needle in the carb open. Then there's the alternator issue mentioned. I would find someone to properly diagnose it for you before you dump tons of money down a hole. If you want to learn and do it yourself, you would learn and understand more if you step back and take things a step at a time until you figure it out. If you throw parts at it, you may actually fix it and still have no clue why or how the thing works.
If it happens again, or begins to happen regularly here is the first and best step to figuring out what's wrong. Follow these steps. Open the hood. Take off the entire air cleaner so you can see into the carb. Start the engine and let it warm up. Grab a six pack of beer and wait for it to die while carefully observing what happens. Hopefully you notice something obvious, like a big puff of smoke shooting out the top of the carb, or jets of coolant spraying around, or hear some noise that clues you in. I've also found that if you have a digital audio recorder it will pick up all the mechanical noises that your ears can't hear over the roar of the engine. If it is sufficiently sensitive anyway. You may also want to jam the throttle to get the revs up around your usual cruising rpms. or 2k rpms. If you listen to the radio while you drive, have it on as well. Basically try and recreate the atmosphere that makes it die.
when a carberated car dies from running out fuel in the carb, the accelerator pump will be emptied out also. this happens because as the bowl runs low on gas the operator of the car will start pumping the pedal to try to get the car to go. then when the motor stops and they try to re-crank the motor and pump the pedal some more. this will ensure the accelerator pump is empty in the original post they said that the motor just stopped. not that it started to stumble and then died. this is usually a sign that the spark died. with the symptoms of driving a mile, putting in gas then driving another mile then it just shutting off, it sounds like the ignition module overheated and died.
I'd forget the rewiring the car! Seldom will the actual wires go bad. The terminals do, though. I'd disconnect the plugs that are attached to both your distributor and to the module. Inspect the terminals for corrosion. ( greenish looking stuff ) There will usually be some white grease in the plug to prevent corrosion, but it eventually dries up and goes away. There are two tabs on each of those plugs that will usually break off. No biggie! When you have cleaned and regreased the terminals, put the plugs back together and put a wrap tie around them so they can't pull apart. If you need to take them apart again, just snip the wrap tie.
I don't know. I think it's a timing or fuel issue along with the modulator coil problem. I have been driving now since this morning and when I drive I have no issue except once the car died again for no reason (or sign it was going to die like a sputter) while I was driving and pushing the pedal. I dropped it in nutral started it again and continued driving. It just doesn't quite make sense to me. To the question asked earlier I still have a stock carb.
I still say fuel filter is plugging up, when the car dies the pressure is let off some allowing the trash to back off of the fine mesh filter and let some fuel through, crank it and it runs till it pushes the crud back against the screen and then the problem comes back, easy and cheap thing to do is replace the filter, and if you do, pay close attention to when you remove it, turn it up over something clean and light colored on the inlet end and see what comes out.
