Quoting Tim Klein <tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> My '67 is starting to show a disturbing trend.
Tim, don't know if you remember, but I had an identical problem with my 68
LeBaron. Mine almost always occured while I was stopped or barely moving.
First, if your engine dies while moving do the following: 1st if you go lower
than 60, try to remember to throw the torqeflite on low gear as it is more
likely to keep the engine spinning (power steering works) and help you slow
down. On 3rd gear, the engine will stop turning at around 40 mph from my
experience. Then, as you slow down further, you can try 1st gear (say around
25-30 mph). If you try to down shift after the engine stopped turning, too
late! The tranny pump is dead. When the engine eventually stops and power
steering is gone, you can still stear your car, but be prepared to apply a lot
more force, and the steering will not turn as fast. If you anticipate it and
manouver accordingly, you can reduce the risk level significantly. Second,
there is still vacuum stored in your brakes for 1 pedal stroke, even after your
engine is dead and stopped turning (there should be vacuum even with the
ignition off when the tranny is spinning the engine, as long as you keep your
throttle closed). Use it wisely. If you start depressing your brakes with
engine stopped, do not let go and try to hit them again, because your foot will
be on its own then. Just wait for the right time to apply the brakes, and when
you start applying them, hold on to them till you are totally stopped. The
trick is not to panic and apply brakes right away. Let the car coast so you
can stop and park where you want, not where the car wants. I have had my cars
stall on the highway a few times, all I was on the left lane. In all cases, I
was going fast enough that I coasted to the right and parked safely. At 30
mph, it may be a bit more tricky.
Now, with some help from the IML, here is how I eventually found my problem.
On the 68s, there are 3 large wires that connect the wiring harness to the fire
wall. I traced my problem to the one in the middle. I looked at the shop
mannual, and there were 3 or 4 "hot" wires there. One of them was obviously
cutting. WIth a digital voltmeter, I started measuring voltage, and indeed one
of them was unstable: (ie voltage indication kept on doing this: 10.4, 7.6,
12.4, 9.8,...) while all others were a solid 12.4V. It turned out that this
was going to a junction on the firewall, and the nut holding the wires was
loose.
D^2
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