I've had this car forever and this is my first time ever asking a question about it on the internet...I can't seem to figure out why my car dies in drive when i am at a stop light. I can last at most lights but the more i sit still in drive the rougher the idle gets until it finally just dies. The problem gets worse when it heats up and when i am in stop and go traffic its nearly impossible to keep it for dieing, even if i am footing it. in park it seems to idle fine same in neutral. I have the stock two barrel carbs on it. I am extremely wet behind my ears when it comes to this stuff but i am really willing to learn. if anyone has had a similar problem or any ideas on some standard procedures i can go through to rule some things out that would be great. -Michaelo No:
I had a problem like that about a month ago in park she runs good also in neutral shes good but when u put her in drive she misses an just runs very poor i pulled the heads after about 2 weeks of toying around trying to tune an pray she gets right. The cause of all this was that she had a bent valve.
it sounds good from the pipes in the back, but i have noticed a ticking noise coming from one of the valve covers, was going to post that problem in a seperate thread, could they be related?
that ticking sound is the valve i have been threw this two times this year one on both sides at different time about 4 months apart.
If you are really that inexperienced, you should take it to a friend with mechanical skills or a mechanic who is willing to show you what is going on. On this vintage car I would start with the ignition, which gives about 95% of the problems. How does it go under power? Pulls smooth, without bucking, what? Too many questions could be asked, circling in on the solution. You say "carbs", plural. Do you have three two-barrel carbs on it?
is it expensive/difficult to replace a valve? Is there any website or book you could recommend to me to study up on this before i start taking apart my engine?
the problem is when he puts a load on meaning but in gear or transmission to block. Let me ask you this when you go down the road does the transmission take longer to shift??? If so then what is going on is its sucking air cause the valve is nine times out of ten open.
when you get pass the red light an get moving the car does lets say ok only because it being dragged along like forced to act right.
A compression test will be able to tell you also or sometime you can pull the valve covers an look at the train to see if all is moving fine some times.
I guess i haven't stressed how much a difference this problem is once ive been driving it for a while. When its cold its almost not a problem at all, but when its hot its almost impossible to keep it from dieing unless i am actually down an open road.
well that valve might not be your issue if it runs good cold thought it ran this way all the time. water pump thermostat maybe.
Maybe your fuel is boiling off. Try insulating the line from the pump to the filter and from the filter to the carb. John
If that's the problem, it would also do it when he puts the car in N or P. I think it's engine vacuum related.
In N or P there is no load on the engine and it will idle faster, fuel pump will pump more gas, and he can rev it when if it stumbles. I don't see vacuum issue as being heat related--can you explain? John
