Starting and Idle Issues

[DemonicAngel]

Hey guys, I know nothing about carbs so I'm quite clueless here and seeking help.

When I try to start up my car, it cranks but doesn't fire up. It takes a few tries before my car starts.

When it does start up tho, it goes up to 2k rpm and then the rpm drops immediately to 0 and dies on me. Basically, it only stays at 2k rpm for 2 seconds max. So it doesn't cold idle on it's own.

I would try to manually keep the rpm at 2k by stepping on the throttle. However, when I step down on the gas pedal, there is a long delay before the rpm goes up. Anybody know why there is a delayed response?

Anyhow, when I do manage to keep the rpm at 2k by manually stepping on the gas pedal and warm it up that way, it'll idle around 500 rpm and feels like its about to stall. If i drive it around and come to a complete stop, the car dies on me. I noticed that anytime I step on the brake pedal, the RPM drops to maybe 400 and causes the car to die. It'll stay alive if i step on the gas a lil bit while coming to a stop. But having my foot on the brake pedal and gas pedal at the same time is extremely annoying and tough to drive.

The car was running fine just a few days so I'm not sure what's up. The problems all started when it would no longer cold idle. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[HLW]

It sounds like you may have a very bad vacuum leak and you may need to replace the fuel filers, one between the gas tank and the left rear wheel and one near the carb. Mine had a leak that caused a rough idle until it warmed up. Last week it got so bad I almost could not drive the car. I changed both filters and found large cracks in the A and B joints for the Air Suction valve tube. I taped up the joints to see if it would help and the car runs better than when I bought it. The tape is a temporary fix, but it works for now. The tape I used was electrical tape because it stretches and forms to the joint.

Start by changing the fuel filters and looking for vacuum leaks.

[Demon1024]

^^^ nice first post


Vacuum leak would be my guess to.

Is it popping bad? Take the air filter off. Look at the choke (the plate over the rear barrel) before you start it cold. I't should be closed. After warm it should be open.

I'd suggest reading all the info you can find on these carbs on this site. A read threw on vacuum removal and tuning and you'll have a better understanding of where to look.

[DemonicAngel]

Thanks for the responses guys. I haven't had the chance to work on the car until today due to being in school fulltime.

I tried to search for a vacuum leak but couldn't seem to find any.
I was able to replace the fuel filters today but i'm still having the same issues.
However, we sprayed sum fuel directly into the carb and it was able to idle for a few moments and started to die until we sprayed more into it.

What exactly does this mean? Is it still a vacuum leak but i just wasn't able to locate it? At least I eliminated the fuel filters from the equation and know they're fine now.

[TotaledTL]

You could try putting a vac. gauge on it & see what it reads. I think normal is betw. 15 - 20 at idle but don't quote me on that. Somebody will chime in & correct me if need be.

[DemonicAngel]

Alrighty, thanks for all the advice guys.
I managed to finally fix the issue.

So, like i stated above, i checked for vacuum leak but there was none.
I replaced the fuel filters but that did not help.
Did a compression test on the engine and the numbers were good.
I bring that up because another person had the same issues, she brought her car to the mechanic and it turned out to be a cracked block.

anyhow, I bought a rebuilt carb today, installed it and now my car is alive again.

I know a lot of people are experiencing the same problems so hopefully this helps you guys out!

[Dr_Snooz]

We've been getting so many threads with crazy carb issues. These carbs all seem to be failing in unison.

[DemonicAngel]

Yea, no kidding.
All seem to be experiencing the same problems as well.
I was just lucky i picked up a freshly rebuilt carb, new distributor cap and wires for $50.
The lady i bought it off of just wanted to get rid of it.

[DemonicAngel]

Alright, so the car ran fine for a couple of months but now has issues again.
The car has a lot of trouble starting up now.
I need to pump the pedal many many times before it will even start.
When it finally starts, it dies immediately and is tough to start again.
With a newly rebuilt carb, i doubt that is the issue.
Any other ideas?
Distributor cap and sparkplug wires were recently replaced.
Fuel pump maybe? I'm not sure and am frustrated now.

[DemonicAngel]

i decided to say goodbye carb since it has too many potential issues. Picked up a parts car today for efi conversion. Wish me luck.

[Dr_Snooz]

Yikes! Good luck with that. What direction is the swap? FI parts into carb car or everything from the carb car to the FI car? I'm not sure what would be worse!

[TotaledTL]

I wish you the best of luck with that project.

All carbs go to hell.....

[DemonicAngel]

Yikes! Good luck with that. What direction is the swap? FI parts into carb car or everything from the carb car to the FI car? I'm not sure what would be worse!

EFI parts are going into the carb car (hatchback).

Thanks Totaled, sucks to hear about your car. Mine's been sitting for a while now too and finally decided to give up on the carb and do this swap. Hopefully will have time this weekend to strip the parts i need.

[91lowrider]

[QUOTE=DemonicAngel;1078427]EFI parts are going into the carb car (hatchback).

Thanks Totaled, sucks to hear about your car. Mine's been sitting for a while now too and finally decided to give up on the carb and do this swap. Hopefully will have time this weekend to strip the parts i need.[

Do you still have that rebuilt carb or did you get rid of it already? im thinking i need a new one. I installed a new timing belt yesterday and went to get TDC and put everything together but the car will hardly run. the dizzy is all the way advanced and the car sits at like 600 rpm and is popping.

[91lowrider]

Ok my damn car is making me mad. My car starts just fine and sit at idle great. Im on 18 BTDC and in park and neutral it sits at 1500rpm, but once it is put into gear it drops rpm and dies. I just got finished replacing the oil base gasket and dizzy o-ring. Need help with this!!!

[DemonicAngel]

I stripped all the parts needed for the conversion but never got around to installing them due to the cold weather here in Vancouver. Just waiting for it to warm up before doing so.

Right now the car will run but I have to keep turning the car off and on.
So what happens is i'll start the car and it rpm will drop and the car will stall.
So i start it up again and most likely it'll stall again.
I repeat the process until it idles perfectly. Once it does, it runs like a charm.
but as soon as i turn the car off and try to start it up again, it'll die on me.
Then i have to keep starting it up again till the car decides to idle perfectly again.

I dont' know what is causing that issue...it's super annoying tho.
On very very lucky days, it'll idle perfectly the first time i start it up. haha.
Anybody know what the issue might be??

[91lowrider]

Well i got my to stay running in gear but it has no power and when going up a hill it dies under the load. Any ideas why? I have idle in park at 2000rpm and in gear its 1000rpm. I found 2 vac leaks in the lines right at the carb. I replaced them and both fuel filters. Any help would be AWESOME !!!