Running like crap!

-
gtxdude

gtxdude

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2011
Messages
633
Reaction score
282
Location
Bloomington, MN
65 Dart, mild 318, 600 Eddy, 904 auto, MSD ignition, there that's out of the way. Had Dart out all weekend taking in as much fall colors as could here in the Midwest. Came home last night, cleaned bugs of front of car and parked. Went out this afternoon, started ran like s##t, barely keep it running, loping, gave it gas seemed to smooth out but when I backed off it wouldn't idle and died. Carb or timing not quite sure which one, almost liked it jumped a timing chain tooth? Anyway at least it's the end of the season up here. thanks
 
Had a similar situation with my Swinger. Been running great all summer, now it suddenly runs like crap, but seemed to smooth out when you give it some RPMs. Threw plugs in it, even though the old ones looked okay. Checked the distributor for frozen advance weights/busted springs, cap and rotor looked normal. All good.
Started thinking timing chain, but checked and confirmed all was as it should be. I even ran fuel from a gas can into it, in case I got a tank of bad gas... no dice.
Then I noticed a bit of fog in the engine compartment, and a little water dripping from the right side exhaust. Opened the cool radiator cap, and the darned thing was spurting up like Old Faithful. Put the compression tester on it and sure enough, 4 & 6 were down. Head gasket time (if I'm lucky).
Like you said, end of season anyway, so put it away for the winter. When I get time I'll probably just yank it and freshen the whole thing. Like I didn't have anything else to do...
Hope you fare better.
 
Did you spray under the hood, water in the distributor cap?
 
gtxdude said:
65 Dart, mild 318, 600 Eddy, 904 auto, MSD ignition, there that's out of the way. Had Dart out all weekend taking in as much fall colors as could here in the Midwest. Came home last night, cleaned bugs of front of car and parked. Went out this afternoon, started ran like s##t, barely keep it running, loping, gave it gas seemed to smooth out but when I backed off it wouldn't idle and died. Carb or timing not quite sure which one, almost liked it jumped a timing chain tooth? Anyway at least it's the end of the season up here. thanks
Click to expand...
Almost seems like something got into the carb... could be water, idle circuit plugged, etc
 
Could be many things. Carb flooding? If you can keep it running at fast idle, look down the throttle bores with a flashlight. If you see fuel dripping from the brass nozzles, carb is flooding. Do you have a fuel filter?
 
Went out this morning to run car again. It ran fine, I have this feeling that my choke got caught somewhere in the middle yesterday ( If that's even possible ) anyway I'll take it out in a couple of days when warmer see if it's really better. Maybe a carb rebuild, new filter etc over this winter before next summer cruising season. Thanks everyone for your tips
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top