Whats wrong....

[Slammed70]

Work buddy has a 69 LWB, 327/350.

And today at lunch he was telling me about how the truck is kind of hard starting and to keep running (cold blooded?)

But once he gets it started, it will idle kind of sloppy...then it will smooth out after a quick few blips of the throttle. And idle fine, but the second he puts it in any gear other than PARK it just dies. Starts right back up, and the same thing...even in neutral.

It idles ~800 RPM. It will sit in park and run all day until it runs its self out of gas.

He said he put a different carb on and adjusted the idle to speed it up a bit thinking that a higher idle speed will help. He said theres three screws on the carb, didnt know which one was the idle. So he tinkered with all the screws from left(drivers side) to right until it idled up. I dont think that has anything to do with it dying. But hey, it might...I dont know.

Im thinking it might be a vacuum problem, the dude knows nothing about trucks and I didnt want to follow him home to look at it. So I told him I would ask the "guys" what they think and get back to him...

So....any ideas?

Thanks,
Mitch-

[67ChevyRedneck]

Sounds like the timing is off?

[Ole Blue 68]

Did he have problems before putting the new carb on? If not, there's your culprit. Then you're probably talking vacuum leak or idle like you mentioned.

[RyanG]

I agree if it started after the carb change. But if it was a vaccum I think it would die eventually even in park....Definetly check the timing.

[69halfton]

what kind of carb did he put on? Ive got a 750 demon carb, and they dont have any kind of choke on them. I have to start the truck, and hold my foot on the gas over 1000 rpm for like a minite and a half, two min when i first start it on that day. If i dont, i experience the same problems. However i can drive to work, and let the truck cool off completly, and it starts and runs fine right off the bat.

[Ole Blue 68]

Originally Posted by RyanG

I agree if it started after the carb change. But if it was a vaccum I think it would die eventually even in park....Definetly check the timing.

Not always. I had a vacuum leak last year and it wouldn't stall at idle. I could actually drive it up to about 20/25mph before it would cut out.

[TRUCKPOOR]

I had a 55 hardtop that did the same thing. Turned out it was the coil. No warning, just fired it up, put it in gear, and it would just die, but it would idle all day! If the coil doesn't do it try checking out the timing chain! Good Luck

[Bishops Trucks]

Spray some carburator cleaner around the base of the carb and vacuum lines while it is idleing and see if that makes it cut out. It sounds more to me like it's in the ignition.

[Slammed70]

See, I told him it was vacuum related too....but then I corrected myself by telling him that vacuum problems would cause a choppy idle. Atleast it has in all my vacuum related experience. I ruled out timing because it would idle fine, I dont know....if I liked the guy more I would throw a timing light at it for him.

I dont know about the carb, he said it was sitting for seven years or so, and all the old gas gummed up the factory 2brl. So he threw on this old one he had lying around. And it fired right up. Thats all I know about the carb.

[71MUTT]

Originally Posted by Slammed70

I dont know....if I liked the guy more I would throw a timing light at it for him.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by Slammed70

See, I told him it was vacuum related too....but then I corrected myself by telling him that vacuum problems would cause a choppy idle. Atleast it has in all my vacuum related experience. I ruled out timing because it would idle fine, I dont know....if I liked the guy more I would throw a timing light at it for him.

I dont know about the carb, he said it was sitting for seven years or so, and all the old gas gummed up the factory 2brl. So he threw on this old one he had lying around. And it fired right up. Thats all I know about the carb.

I recently swapped balancers in my truck (old one started vibrating) and my truck idled great, but ran like crap down the road. I rechecked the timing and it was at 16 dbtdc, so I bumped it back to 10. Truck runs WAY better now.

[cdowns]

has the engine ever had a complete tuneup by somebody that knew the proper things that should be included?

[bryanw1968]

This could be a fuel issue. However, whenever my cap and rotor get to the point that they're about to crap out my truck acts EXACTLY like this. As a matter of fact it's doing it now. It wouldn't hurt to take a peak and rule out any ignition issues.

[Longhorn321]

I have been burned way too many times by ignition problems so I would def take a look at the plugs, coil, timing etc. Sounds to me like if it sat for 7 years it may be cuz it was not running properly and if that is the case, there is no telling what was done to the poor beast to try to rectify the prob. I would not rule out vaccum but the symptoms sound more like ignition to me.

[boundstaffpress]

I ran some really nice copper core wires through some old factory wire looms, and cut through the insulation. It would idle sloppy. I could rev it up and hold it and it would be fine, but It was a chore to keep it running at 10mph even with a long warm up. I changed the manifold gaskets and rebuilt the carb before I realized the problem. I would look to ignition before I assumed vacuum.

[jamie72]

sounds like fuel filter to me..

[Slammed70]

I wont see him until Sunday when I go back to work....Ill tell him everything y'all said and have him check that night, Ill get back to y'all with the results.

[ksjh1316]

You said it sat for 7 years dumn question to start out did this guy drain the fuel tank? Or like most non mechanical peple did he just add more gas to the trash that was left in the tank. He may have a bunch of junk in the filter and lines that he gets enough fuel to start and idle but under a load starves it out.

[TRUCKPOOR]

Originally Posted by Slammed70

I wont see him until Sunday when I go back to work....Ill tell him everything y'all said and have him check that night, Ill get back to y'all with the results.

Not sure about the others that replied but I would like to know what the problem was. Hope to see the answer here soon, it could help another member in the future! Good Luck to All, Robert

[Longhorn321]

Quick question...when you say hard to start, does that mean slow to turn over? If it turns over like the starter is dragging or like there is not enough juice in the battery then definitly take a look at the timing. If the timing is too far advanced it will be hard to start in that it will turn over slow and labored.

[GREASEMONKEY72]

i vote timming chain

[Slammed70]

Yeah, his timing chain is about 3 feet too long Im guessing. I can hear it slapping on the cover its bad. And when he put the new carb on he just plugged all the vacuum lines. The gas smells fresh too....