Engine shuts off when put into gear

GABE D.

MEMBER
1966 FORD MUSTANG
3.3L
6 CYL
AUTOMATIC
98,000 MILES

So I have an inline six cylinder. Every time I put the car into gear it shuts off. It idles just fine but once I put it in reverse or drive it immediately shuts off. What could be causing this? I already tried adjusting the carburetor and filled the transmission with oil because it was really low.

Thursday, January 25th, 2018 AT 1:49 PM

3 Replies

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

You need to see if you are losing ignition signal at the coil when it goes into gear, you can check this with a test light on the positive side of the coil. Do this and report back your findings. Put the test light on the coil and it should stay on with the ignition on, if it goes off when the car is in gear, something is shorting out the ignition.

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Friday, January 26th, 2018 AT 9:08 PM

GABE D.

MEMBER
10 POSTS

Sorry for late response but the car all of a sudden stopped dying when put in gear so it runs good now I still checked the ignition coil and power is going through it but the car still shakes pretty hard when it's in idle could this be the carb?

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Sunday, February 4th, 2018 AT 3:11 PM

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
54,144 POSTS

It could be but I would start with a compression test to see if we have motor.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

This way we don't chase our tail.

Please let us know what you find. We are interested to see what it is.

Cheers, Ken

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Tuesday, February 6th, 2018 AT 12:35 PM