I am currently driving my 1968 Buick Skylark Custom convertible 350-2 as my daily driver, since I am only 17 and am not permitted to store another car in the garage for the winters. I often times have problems with the car stalling or even not starting in the winter because the butterfly "flap" (sorry, I'm not as technical as I'd like to be) on top of the carb will stick, preventing air flow into the carbeurator. I usually fix this by placing a small screw driver into the flap while I start the car. Now that the summer has come, I thought that my troubles were over, but I was wrong. A few previous times this summer my car stalled on me and it happened last night and early this morning while driving in high traffic areas. Usually it is only a simple matter of putting the car back into park and turning the key several times. Nevertheless, it is still frustrating and can be embarrassing, if I'm with a bunch of friends. My father and I have replaced several things on the car lately, for comfort, performance, and in an attempt to fix this problem. I was hoping someone could supply me with a few ideas as to what may be the problem. I am willing to investigate all scenarios and I appreciate it very much. Jacob P.S. If this has anything to do with it, when I start the car in my garage, it usually starts right up, idles momentarily, and then shuts off. My follow up procedure is to pump the gas a few times, turn the car for a few seconds, and then it will usually start in a very high idle. I don't know if this is related to what I already posted or not, but any leads on how to fix this as well would be appreciated. Thank you, I really appreciate it.
Jacob first when the car has sat overnite pull the air cleaner and pull back the throttle linkage one time. The choke or what you call the "butterfly" should be closed with some light preasure on it . If it has preasure I would have to say choke pull off or vacumm is not correctly routed or maybe not hooked up to the choke pull off. If you find the choke has very little preasure I would get a new choke spring that mounts to the right side of the carb in the intake manifold. Hope that helps ya ! Let's go from there ! Good Luck to you !:Brow: :TU: :TU:
Jacob, Like Bruce stated, it sounds like your problem may be the choke pull off. When you set the choke on a cold engine, the thermostatic coil in the intake manifold should hold the choke valve fully closed across the opening of the carb. Once the engine starts, engine vacuum should cause the pull off to open the choke valve a set amount, so that the engine will run without loading up. If the choke pull off diaphram is defective, the engine will stall after cold startup because the mixture will be too rich. An easy way to see if this is your problem is to observe the diaphram on a running engine. Vacuum should pull the link in. Here is a picture of the 2 barrell carb. The choke pull off is at the top right of the picture. Notice the linkage and how it affects the choke valve. Hope that helps.
