got the 83 D-150 out for a drive today,,
about 30 miles out and back,,

did fine untlll I got about a block from the house,, running at about 20 mph, motor would start to stall,, catch,, stall again,,

got in the drive way and let the truck idle,, after a few minutes, did it again, went from a smooth idle to missing and shaking, occasionally put out a puff of black smoke from the tail pipe,, feathering the throttle did not help much,,

interesting, after a stall, hit the key and it would re fire immediately,,
idle smooth for several minutes, then go back into the sputtering and eventually stall.
I went through several cycles of that.

I put a timing light on it and watched,, when the sputtering started, the cycling of the timing light would get random..

I am going to change out the HEI module,,

does that sound like the likely issues?
do HEI modules fail intermittently?

thanks

Id say nothing is impossible, but generally when the modules start to fail they will cause a no start when they get hot, but tend to run okay for the first 15-20 mins of running. Does it run and drive fine after it cools for a while?

Now when you say the light seemed to be random, do you mean it would not flash when it sputters, or that the mark seems to be moving as it sputters? If it seems to move that normal because the engine speed is fluctuating. But if it seems to not flash intermitenly then yea somethings causing it to drop spark to the cylinder, maybe a wire arching out, play in the dizzy causeing a loss of signal to the module, worn posts in the cap, possible to even be the coil itself. Especially if its an old coil.

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"if it aint broke, fix it till it is"
78 Plymouth Volare Super Six wagon
89 Volkswagen Golf GTI 16v
92 Chevrolet K1500 5.7
98 Ford Escort ZX2 zetech

Look down the top of the carb and see if fuel is dribbling from the booster at idle. If so the needle-seat assembly and/or float are suspect.

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Joshua

the timing light, while connected to the #1 sparkplug wire,, would not light at all,, when the motor would sputter,, it would flash really random then not at all and the engine would die,, however when I would immediately flick the key it would re start and the timing light flashes would be regular.
Another couple of minutes, the same sputtering..
before hooking in the timing light I did that,, the set up here is an Holley 2280 fed with an in tank electric pump from an 90 D-150, the fuel pressure is controlled by an Aeromotive bypass regulator,, the pressure at the regulator shows a consistant 8 to 9 lbs, with the reg on its lowest setting,, I looked in the carb with the motor ideling and in the sputtering condition, did not see any extra fuel,,,,, also, I figure if the motor was flooding, it would not re start so easily..but yes,,,

Distributor cap and rotor in good condition?

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1964 Dart GT

I'm not a gambling man,but I'd throw a bit of money on a heat related electronics issue. Given that the Mopar pick up is very reliable,my guess would be the HEI module or coil... Do you have another coil to swap and try? Also check the heat sink for the module,if you have a low resistance type coil the modules can run pretty hot. That being said they should be able to tolerate a reasonable temp considering they were originally mounted inside the distributor and they can get pretty hot. Most guys tend to have a spare module as insurance,so even if you bought one and it isn't the problem it isn't a bad thing to have a spare in the glovebox.

at 8-9psi it could be flooding.

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81 LeBaron Salon,88 5th ave,79 Aspen SE wagon,79 W150
Don't worry, nothing is going to be alright.

I had previously spoke with Aeromotive on that, the tech there asked that I disconnect the return line,, hook up a short temporary return to a suitable container to verify that back pressure in the return line is not holding the indicated delivered pressure up. I have not done that yet,
Although I have a 3/8 feed line from the tank and a 3/8 return line where at the tank it reduces to the stock 5/16 return,, fairly straight lines with large radius bends,, but I really don't think it is flooding, as the engine re starts so quickly..

here is a shot of the HEI / coil set up.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/13718356@N02/13934648945/

around the block and at idle, it has been fine since I swapped out the HEI module,,

I had bought the HEI module through Summitt last September, per the web site has a 1 year warranty, spoke with their help line this AM,, the guy there said he would exchange it out,,