Stutter in 3rd gear
 

Just got my truck on the road, and I know it has some pretty old gas in it but it runs decent until 3rd gear (saginaw 3 speed). Then it starts to shudder and feels like its missing a beat every once in a while. Could this be cause of old gasoline? Or something else maybe. Brand new plugs, wires and all that jive have been installed.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

old gas could do it but it might be a carb adjustment to. have you cleaned the carberator.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

Umm. Never cleaned it, any particular way to go about that? The gas is about a year old BTW.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

just standard carb cleaner should do it. Its a spray can autozone has many kinds ive try about all of them and havnt really seen any difference. I clean my carberator about every3 months about every time i change the oil. Save on gas and you get a better responce from the engine.

The carberator should be a bit black inside from carbin build up. as for the old gas get some octan booster that should solve that problem or if the tank is at a 1/4 or so fill up with 89 or 93 to even up the octan.

As for cleaning it take the spray can and just spray it inside the carb and hit the injectors i also pull the throttle back just to get a full clean. after spraying it might be a bit hard to start. carb clean is flamable but alot chocks the engine.

This should fix the jurking in the engine. I did this one time on an old engine and afteer cleaning the carb and driving about 5 miles my rpms went throw the roof so keep a screw driver handy. (The engine had a very high idel cause the carbrator was cleaned)

Hope all this info helps

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

Thanks man, appreciate the help. I work at AutoZone but I've never had someone ask me about cleaning a carb, haha.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

i add more info also never try that injector/carb cleaner crap. carb clean does the job and if it anything else just 93 octan will solve it.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

I hear half of a cap of tranny fluid down the carb will lube the jets and clean the walls makes the truck smoke like a freight train till its gone but buddy says it werks and his is still ticking.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

Awesome, I'll see how she does tomorrow.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

im not going to lie that scares me just a bit.

Ive also heard water down the carb pulls carbin out of the engine i did it and it seems to work but i asked an old timer at a car show and he sayed yes it works but if you dislodge a big chank ull make all kinds of niose it wont hurt anything but it will make u tink you have a bad valve tell it passes. so im not doing that again

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

Also, I'll prolly start a thread for this one, but is there anyway to get the precision back into my shifter? Its a car trans and shifter and its sloppy, and very very hard to get to 2nd gear from 1st and back to 1st from 2nd. The trans is nice and tight when playing with the rods from underneath, its the shifter assembly. Any ideas?

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

Be VERY careful doing this. I read a story about someone doing this with a coke can full of water. They tilted the can too much, a bunch of water went into the carb, and the engine hydrolocked in an instant. Broke a rod.

Seems like it would be best to use a spray bottle that puts out a very fine mist and spray lightly if you must do this.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

o did use a spray bottle as for the transmission shifting i got nothing i first thought sincros but not that if it a shifter issue might just need some greese.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

Well its about 11:30 and I just sprayed some carb cleaner on the jets and added some gas treatment from work. It already runs better, but smoked just a bit at first start. I'll see if I can clean the carb anymore tomorrow when I get off work earlier in the day when its light out, haha. Thanks for the help so far.

BTW, I have not driven it yet since its late so I'm not sure if the problem is solved yet.

Re: Stutter in 3rd gear
 

I'm a little suspicious of year-old gas. My '79 is real picky about gas, in fact it missed and bucks on Wal-Mart gas, even if it's fresh. It prefers major-brand stuff like Texaco or Chevron, the fresher the better. These old trucks were jetted real lean so they'd pass the smog tests, and the least bit of degradation of the gas can aggravate them some.

Even a small amount of buildup in the tiny internal fuel passages will also make them go lean enough to misfire a bit. Next time you're at work, slip over to the chemical aisle and grab a jug of Berryman's Injector Cleaner (in the white plastic jug). Put it in your gas tank. It will help clean out the inside of the carb where the spray won't go. It will also eat paint, so be careful and have a rag handy when you pour it in.