Odd sudden loss of power
Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 7:57 pm
Coming back from a camping trip this afternoon and climbing a long steep grade I had a sudden loss of power and lost all throttle input. I was climbing a long grade at 55mph indicated (so more like 52) in third gear. It had been around a minute or two at this speed and rpm when all of the sudden the engine lost all power and the throttle had no response. The engine slowed and stalled. This was all within a few seconds. No noises, shutters or strange feelings. I shut the key off and coasted to the side of the road. Went back to check on things and saw nothing out of place. All wires tight and in place, throttle cable intact (this was my first thought as that is what it felt like, a broken cable), all plugs tight. Went and tried to start it back up and it fired up and ran perfect all the way back home including another hill climb and a run up to 60mph in third.
During this loss of power head and oil temps were fine and oil pressure was normal. This is a Camper Special engine running a Mallory Unilite distributor so those high sustained rpm are easily doable and have been many times before. I have no idea what could have caused it. It seemed electrical as it was like a switch was thrown when the power loss occurred. Did I hit that mystery ECU rpm cuttout, hot coil, freak AFM malfunction?
During this loss of power head and oil temps were fine and oil pressure was normal. This is a Camper Special engine running a Mallory Unilite distributor so those high sustained rpm are easily doable and have been many times before. I have no idea what could have caused it. It seemed electrical as it was like a switch was thrown when the power loss occurred. Did I hit that mystery ECU rpm cuttout, hot coil, freak AFM malfunction?