please help me, its still dieing......

[hewlett2002000]

ok yall i replaced all the rubber fuel line and it still dies after bout 15 minutes of driving. i know for sure that its not the distributor, coil, carb or fuel pump. i have no earthly idea where to look next. i can tell you exactly what happens before it dies. it starts sputtering like its out of gas, then it just dies. about a minute before it dies the oil pressure goes down a little bit, could that have something to do with it? it will start back up but it just sputters a little and dies again. somebody please help me, ive tried everything i can think of.
thanks,
John

[joehalford01]

is it flooding or out of gas? change the fuel filters and run gas out of clean one gallon gas can, see if it does the same thing. if your running it out of a dirty old tank, it could be clogging the fuel filter, pump, or carb.

if it's flooding, tap the top of the carb with the wooden end of hammer, might be little bits of junk clogging stuff up in there.

also, have you checked the timing?

[60ratrod]

hey hewlett, try closing the choke flap just a bit when it starts to sputter before it dies, not all the way but enough to keep running i had to do that on my old holley cause it was so far out of adjustment. i'm still thinking that your carb is out of adjustment, and on holleys you really cannot tell very easy if its the floats, curb idle, in gear idle, or air/fuel needles. thats why i switch to edelbrock carbs. easier to tune. but you also may have an air/vacuum leak some where. take a can of ether(aka starting fluid) and spray it around your manifold, carb, and vacuum fittings on the manifold. if you have a leak your idle will increase for a moment.

[hewlett2002000]

the filter is clean, im pretty sure thats not whats wrong. could the timing be causing this? the little timing tab is broke off so i cant set it perfect, so i just set it by ear. if the timings wrong its not by much. ill try the starter fluid thing tomorrow.
thanks,
John

[evilweevil1]

It sounds to me like a bad coil. Have you tryed a different coil? I'v had this problem twice in my life, it would start great, and run for 10-15 min. then just die. When it sputters if you stepon the gas, and it trys to "diesel" it is a pretty good sign of a bad coil. You might try one of the clear gas filters to be able to see if it is a gas problem. Good luck!!!

[ClassicAutoResto]

I had a similar problem on a car I had, I ran a Holley as well. Mine did what you were saying and it turned out I had water in my tank. I loosened the sight plug and ran the car. Beads of water were popping out of the plug like crazy. The fresh gas can is your best bet to rule this out. Good luck! Jerry

[hewlett2002000]

the water in the tank could be a possability. as for the coil its very unlikely. this truck was doing this when i first got it. i put the new HEI distributor and coil, holley carb, edlebrock intake, and fuel pump on and it kept doing it. im almost positive none of that is bad because it was doing this before i put all the new stuff on. it has to be something in the engine(doubtfull) or somewhere between the gas tank and the fuel pump. i tried two different coils when i had the points and then put the hei distributor and coil and it never stopped.
thanks,
John

[salazar44]

On my old cutlas there was a problem with a clogged filter screen in the gas tank. You might want to try the gas can technique with a temporary hose line from it to the fuel pump as classicautoresto mentioned. Especially if you think all is well from fuel pump on up.

[Chevy Fleetside]

Have you followed the fuel line back to the tank to see if some other owner might have put a filter in near the tank? Just a thought. Usually the problem you talk aboiut is electronic. Was the HEI new or used? If points go out they usually won't work again, but if the gap is shut it might. Been so long since I have messed with points but I do remember them grounding out and had to change them. So if the HEI is used it could have a bad module. I say don't go out and buy one but see if you can get one somewhere so you can try it.

[hewlett2002000]

im gonna try running the fuel from another source. i think that is probably whats wrong. the day i got the truck it had been sitting a while so i changed the plugs and wires and changed the oil, you know the regular. well i took the sender out of the tank to check inside the tank the best i could and the pickup and float thing was rusted off. so i took the tank out of my 62 that is "ok" but not the cleanest. so i dont doubt it if its the tank.
thanks,
John

[Billla]

Originally Posted by hewlett2002000

im gonna try running the fuel from another source. i think that is probably whats wrong.

Good idea; I've done that before too - just a long line from the pump inlet to a lawnmower gas tank

[Billla]

I had to think about this one a bit. The first suggestion is to stop changing parts and find the root cause.

You definitely need to verify the timing - setting by ear is virtually always way too advanced. A timing tab is a couple of bucks - verify TDC and set your initial timing to 8-12 degrees.

I suspect it's a fuel issue too. The quickest check I can think of is to pull the sight plugs on the primary bowl of the Holley and then start it up. A little splash out of the hole is fine...but if there's NO splash at all it's getting too little fuel, and if it's gushing out, too much. If the Holley was installed out of the box I'd figure the float level was in the ballpark - so either of these conditions reflects a problem upstream in the fuel system.

The only cause I can think of for too much fuel would be a pump putting out more than 6-7 PSI; your previous carb could have been flooding due to a bad needle and seat or incorrect float level, and now it's flooding because a too-big fuel pump is overpowering the Holley carb. The pump you installed was a STREET pump putting out 6-7 PSI? Easy check is to plumb in one of the cheap fuel pressure gauges from Schucks/Kragen. Anything more than 6-7 PSI is too much.

Too little fuel makes me think you've got crud at the bottom of the tank blocking the pickup or somewhere along the fuel line between the pump and the tank. Try blowing it out with a compressor at 10-15 PSI - be sure to remove the gas cap first

Wish I was there to help; may be time to get another pair of eyes looking at it with you.

[Chevytrux4me]

Hey, I just remembered something that happened to my dad a few years ago. He had a nice fairly-new Chevy Luv several years back, and he'd occasionally put some STP or some other gas treatments in it from time to time. His truck got to where it would occasionally die, kinda like you had described. You could let it sit for 5 - 10 minutes and it would start back up and run fine. He'd had it back to the dealership numerous times, but with no luck. Finally, a local mechanic, on a hunch, pulled the gas tank, and there, in the bottom, was a small round disc of cardboard, from under the lid of one of those gas treatment bottles dad had used at some point. It had apparently slipped in there, unnoticed, and would get 'sucked' up against the tank outlet. After a few minutes of no gas movement, it would slide back down to the bottom of the tank. Don't know if this is your problem exactly, but it kinda sounds similar. Hope this helps, best of luck.

[LuckyLightning]

Gonna resurrect this one with the hopes that hewlett2002000 can update this thread with what the issue ended up being? I'm having the exact same issue with my '62 C20 with a Rochester 1BBL. Thanks!

[danheit]

One oddball issue I ran into with my 71 C10 was the short piece of rubber fuel line running from the frame hardline to the fuel pump. It's a curved piece, and as you drive, it heats up. This would soften the rubber and the line would collapse from the fuel pump pulling pressure on it. Changed the line, made a little bit longer of a curve in it, haven't had the problem since. I was experiencing the exact same issue as you. Mine was on a sbc though, so if you're running a 6cyl, wouldn't have the same issue (there's enough length in the rubber line.

[LuckyLightning]

Thanks danheit, yeah I'm running a 235 inline 6. But I am thinking of replacing the rubber hoses of my fuel line with new ones. I doubt it will solve my issue, but it's a good idea to do it anyway.

[firemanjimtfd]

You might check the gas cap if its a non vented may after driving create enough vacuum in tank that pump can't pull fuel or the new ethanol has eat up lining of new rubber hoses and is collapsing. I have replaced a lot of fuel line till I started using ethanol compatible line.

[LuckyLightning]

Great suggestion firemanjimtfd, I'll certainly look into that as well.

[LuckyLightning]

A small update:

This past week I put in a "new" (used) gas tank, a new fuel sending unit, new spark plugs, and new spark plug wires. I figured maybe my issue was coming from one of those, even though the idle issue was much worse before I replaced those parts.

I found a very small leak right where the fuel line attaches to the fuel sending unit on my tank. I wrapped the threads in teflon tape and put it back in - this seemed to solve the gas smell I had in the cab (I also thought there might be a vacuum issue). I checked the throttle screw and the vacuum screw on the carb, adjusted them a bit in both directions but it just made the idle worse, so I returned them to where they were (although whatever idle screw adjustment I made, it seemed to keep the engine from dying although the idle was still rough).

I checked the distributer cap, because when I changed the wires the other day, there was a very small amount of play in the cap. Maybe 1/8" it was very loose but would hit a hard stop in either direction. While the engine was running, I checked and the cap was firm (no play), but I tried to very very slightly turn it in both directions: first direction (clockwise) the idle got worse, then counter-clock it got better. I kept it at about 1/8" counter-clockwise advancement since it seemed to hold the idle a little smoother.

I let it run for about 5 minutes in my driveway and it didn't die (I also took the gas cap off once or twice but no difference in idle), so I thought "okay, problem solved - just some very minor adjustments was needed and all is well."

Nope.

I took the truck for a drive around the block (I end up revving the engine very high for shifting out of 1st and 2nd because I the clutch isn't very smooth) and after getting into 4th gear and going about 40 mph, I notice a little roughness in the engine so I give a little more gas to keep the RPMs up but not really go faster. I then approach a stop sign so I let off the gas and put it into neutral as I coast to the stop sign - and sure enough it dies on me again just like it was doing the other day. Starting again takes a lot of pumping of the gas pedal and shifting requires very high RPMs to keep the engine from dying.

I'll look into changing the rubber fuel lines, and maybe blowing some compressed air into the hard fuel lines just in case something is lodged in there. I may also look at changing the ignition coil and rebuilding the carb but I really don't want to just throw parts at the problem and hope one of them fixes it. I also don't know enough about carbs to figure out if the fuel-to-air/vacuum ratio is good or not (but a rebuild may fix a stuck float problem, if that's what it is).

Anyone else have any ideas for what it could be?

[luvbowties]

Originally Posted by LuckyLightning

A small update:

This past week I put in a "new" (used) gas tank, a new fuel sending unit, new spark plugs, and new spark plug wires. I figured maybe my issue was coming from one of those, even though the idle issue was much worse before I replaced those parts.

I found a very small leak right where the fuel line attaches to the fuel sending unit on my tank. I wrapped the threads in teflon tape and put it back in - this seemed to solve the gas smell I had in the cab (I also thought there might be a vacuum issue). I checked the throttle screw and the vacuum screw on the carb, adjusted them a bit in both directions but it just made the idle worse, so I returned them to where they were (although whatever idle screw adjustment I made, it seemed to keep the engine from dying although the idle was still rough).


I checked the distributer cap, because when I changed the wires the other day, there was a very small amount of play in the cap. Maybe 1/8" it was very loose but would hit a hard stop in either direction. While the engine was running, I checked and the cap was firm (no play), but I tried to very very slightly turn it in both directions: first direction (clockwise) the idle got worse, then counter-clock it got better. I kept it at about 1/8" counter-clockwise advancement since it seemed to hold the idle a little smoother.

I let it run for about 5 minutes in my driveway and it didn't die (I also took the gas cap off once or twice but no difference in idle), so I thought "okay, problem solved - just some very minor adjustments was needed and all is well."

Nope.

I took the truck for a drive around the block (I end up revving the engine very high for shifting out of 1st and 2nd because I the clutch isn't very smooth) and after getting into 4th gear and going about 40 mph, I notice a little roughness in the engine so I give a little more gas to keep the RPMs up but not really go faster. I then approach a stop sign so I let off the gas and put it into neutral as I coast to the stop sign - and sure enough it dies on me again just like it was doing the other day. Starting again takes a lot of pumping of the gas pedal and shifting requires very high RPMs to keep the engine from dying.

I'll look into changing the rubber fuel lines, and maybe blowing some compressed air into the hard fuel lines just in case something is lodged in there. I may also look at changing the ignition coil and rebuilding the carb but I really don't want to just throw parts at the problem and hope one of them fixes it. I also don't know enough about carbs to figure out if the fuel-to-air/vacuum ratio is good or not (but a rebuild may fix a stuck float problem, if that's what it is).

Anyone else have any ideas for what it could be?

Expanding on another poster's earlier suggestion, have u tried running it with NO CAP on the tank at all? Can't tell from later posts if u followed his advice to that extent.
Sam

[franken]

"Starting again takes a lot of pumping of the gas pedal and shifting requires very high RPMs to keep the engine from dying."

That sounds a lot like a vacuum leak. Have you tried spraying carb cleaner around the base of the carb and on the intake manifold where it bolts to the engine? An increase in idle speed indicates a vacuum leak.

[LuckyLightning]

Hey luvbowties, I did take the cap off for a few seconds but there was no difference in the idle. Are you suggesting I try driving with the cap off?

franken, does the carb cleaner act as a seal? I'll try that as well. (I should note my carb does leak a bit around the upper-middle gasket).

[l79m20]

sounds like sticking float or float with a hole in it.

[Dans66Chevy]

Hook up a temp. gas tank in the cab. Like a gas can with a hose from the pick-up to wear it attaches to the real tank. Try driving the truck and see if it runs,timing is not the problem. If it runs at all its close enough to run. It is running out of fuel. If your pumping and cranking and then it starts its fuel. It could be the fuel pump. This new gas EATS fuel pumps...

[LuckyLightning]

franken, when you say "base of the carb" are you referring to where the carb attaches to the intake manifold? Or is there a section on the carb itself I should spray?