Engine shuts off after twenty minutes of driving

HEATGUY70

MEMBER
DODGE TRUCK

Hi guys, new to the forum. I have a 1987 Dodge 250 pickup 83,000 miles, 360 engine Rochester carburetor. Truck is a little hard to start, runs fine for about 20 minutes then stalls under any driving conditions and weather. Restarting the truck takes effort almost draining the battery and pumping the accelerator while cranking to restart. After it starts it runs fine for another 20 minutes and the same thing happens. Only replaced the fuel filter at this point. The truck is only used for Home Depot runs and pushing snow. Am I looking at a fuel or ignition system issue? Thanks for helping the Heatguy!

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

As mentioned if we can start the vehicle using starting fluid, that would point to a fuel issue. However, on your carburetor it was common for the floats to stick which would either flood the engine or starve it from fuel. So we need to check this to see if it is the issue.

It could also be a weak ignition issue as mentioned but the way to check this is to remove a plug and connect it back to the ignition wire, then hold it against the block and crank the engine. The spark should be strong and blue. If it is not then we need to dig further into this as most likely the secondary side of the coil is not delivering the high voltage needed for the ignition system.

Here is the needed info to dig through this. Please post any questions and we will get back to you. Thanks

Images (Click to make bigger)