1983 Short Beds dies in gear

[mike14_07]

my 1983 short bed dies when put it in to reverse or drive. you give a little bit of gas to raise the engine speed up does great. also i have to pump the gas pedal once or twice to get it to start. checked all my vacuum lines. i just replaced all the gaskets and seals besides head gaskets and put new coil, wires, fuel filter and plugs. ran great for a few day until the belt broke on my wife and ran a little hot. Egr has been blocked off. Only thing i can think of is to rebuild my carb.

[crossy]

Usually an HEI module won't give any 'warnings' that way but seeing the overheat issue involved , she could have entered some bad ju-ju into it. check the vacuum advance diaphragm . a CLEAN piece of vacuum line and a good inhale on the tube while the engine is running should speed it up(advance the timing) if it is OK. Even with what you already replaced there are so many small things that can cause that. I'd check th e vacuum lines again with some 2+2 to see if the engine stalls whille idling. crossy

AHHH- Commerce , Tx.-- been there a few times. My wife is from Emory. iwas there once when the Bank digital showed -4 degrees. .
Hell,I have not seen it that cold up here and i lived in S.E. Pa. for 14 years!!! LOL.

[mike14_07]

but what gets me is if you give it some throttle it will purr like a kitten

[crossy]

yes, MINOR vaccum problems will go away. if yoou hold it steady at a certain RPM will it pick up a miss?
could be intake gaskets or any number of things.
It it were the vacuum advance the mechanical advance takes over when you build some rpm. .

[mike14_07]

No it wont pick up a miss. what about the starting issue? and why did it do this only after it got hot? its definitely not the intake. i seriously doubt a vacuum leak sense it just now did it. could it be a fuel related problem at all?

[crossy]

you're saying you have to hit the throttle to start it like that's not normal? Thats a way of life with carbs. If you're saying it was nevr that way before then you were a fortunate man. Why is it that way now. i dunno. I also dunno how hot it got. did you loose piston ring tension now? that would cause excessive cranking to get it started. did it boil the fuel in the bowls and ruin your floats? see where i'm going? there could be two dozen things causing this.

[mike14_07]

i no thats the way of carbs. ill double check the the vacuum lines tomorrow and if not ill pull my carb apart

[heavychevy79]

Originally Posted by crossy

you're saying you have to hit the throttle to start it like that's not normal? Thats a way of life with carbs. If you're saying it was nevr that way before then you were a fortunate man. Why is it that way now. i dunno. I also dunno how hot it got. did you loose piston ring tension now? that would cause excessive cranking to get it started. did it boil the fuel in the bowls and ruin your floats? see where i'm going? there could be two dozen things causing this.

I know, it's hard for me to fix something I can't put my hands on.

I don't think it's in the ignition though, I would think it was a timing chain or
transmission problem before that.

[68c10owner]

Originally Posted by mike14_07

it happens everytime. i dont have a tach, but without it in gear it runs fine, im not worried about the starting, just though they may be realated. plugs are new as well as all the ignition except the dibitor.

I know you put new plugs in already but have you taken them out to see if the are wet with gas?

Originally Posted by heavychevy79

I know, it's hard for me to fix something I can't put my hands on.

I don't think it's in the ignition though, I would think it was a timing chain or
transmission problem before that.

How could the timing chain cause this?


Do you always have to give it gas or just at the first time the gear is engauged? What about after driving a bit and coming to a stop?

[heavychevy79]

Originally Posted by 68c10owner

How could the timing chain cause this?

Engine doesn't have much vacuum when the timing chain is worn out,
it's not a common problem though, and neither is the HEI cutting out.

Sounds like the idle circuit is clogged, or idle speed is not high enough, but
that's just my best guess with the info provided.

[68c10owner]

Originally Posted by heavychevy79

Engine doesn't have much vacuum when the timing chain is worn out,
it's not a common problem though, and neither is the HEI cutting out.

Sounds like the idle circuit is clogged, or idle speed is not high enough, but
that's just my best guess with the info provided.

i get you now but I`ve see chains so far worn that the timing fluxuates 12* and the truck ran and didn`t have this issue. My expereince with HEI parts quiting is there is no "starting to go". They either work or they don`t.

[68c10owner]

Is this everytime you put it in gear or only when cold? What is your idle set at? Is it set to low? Your carb could be flooding over a bit. What do your spark plugs look like? For what it`s work, I have to pump the throttle 2-3 times everymorning for my 84 to start up. Once it`s up to temp I don`t have to and thats pretty normal for a carb.

[mike14_07]

it happens everytime. i dont have a tach, but without it in gear it runs fine, im not worried about the starting, just though they may be realated. plugs are new as well as all the ignition except the dibitor.

[Damien]

When you replaced the intake gaskets, did you get the distributor back in correctly and set the static timing with a timing light? If not, I would start there.

[mike14_07]

i did put the timing back ran good tiil it got hot. i have to steadly give it gas to keep it going in gear. sparyed some carb cleaner in there and it worked great for a bit, then it was back. out on the road it runs good. oil is good no coolant or gas. could this be a blown head gasket? i think somethings up with my carb possibly it acts as if its not getting enough gas

[mike14_07]

o and it stumble a bit then dies. 10 sec max tho

[66truckin]

sounds like the accelerator pump on your carb to me. Take your air cleaner off and look at the accelerator pump, if its wet thats a sure sign but it doesnt have to be wet to be bad.

[mike14_07]

its not wet but it may be bad. i fixing to pull the the quadrajunk apart

[mike14_07]

i also noticed it did this a couple of times before

[fast75]

ok, its not the hei, those are either good OR bad, no in between. i agree with 66truckin, i think you have a carb problem. you have anyone close you could swap carbs with to check this out? quadra-craps are just that: CRAP. I use one for a door stop in my shop, they ARE good for that. also check for vaccuum leaks. the best way i know of is to use a hand held propane torch. JUST DONT LIGHT THE TORCH.............lol.

[mike14_07]

alright, cleaned out my carb. doesn't die just idles rough. tuned on the carb as much as possible. however it will die every once in awhile. and in a parking lot if you hold the steering in lock(putting load on the engine. it will die. any ideas? vacuum problems? fuel pump problems? could a plug or wire have broke down?

[menace121978]

another way to check for vaccum leaks is to spray carb cleaner all over around the hoses and intake with it running. if theres a leak the idle will either smooth out and raise up or try to die...

another way to check the plug wires is to spray windex over them while running and at night and look for blue sparks around the boots ect.

good luck man.

[ScottH]

Might want to check the cat as well as the heat riser on the exhaust manifold.