idles good, dies in drive???

[El Bombero]

Alright fellas, here is my newest problem. I start the truck up, (zz4/700r4), were talking a cold start here, and it idles at about 1600. Ok great. When I go to put her in drive after she drops down to about 1100, she slowly dies. I start her back up, she will idle at about 1100 for a second or two then die. I talked to a mechanic friend of mine, and he said its possible that my torque convertor could be locked up. Im stumped at this point. Later today, Im going to jack up the rear end and start her up and put her in drive and see if it makes a difference with the wheels off the ground. I will let ya know. But if y'all have any advise or have been through this, I would love to hear about it. I will be back on later and let you guys know what happened. Thanks for your time!

P.s. it got down to 40 degrees last night! so when I say cold start, take it as you will

[Luvlegs]

It sounds more like a fuel or perhaps a vacuum (loss) issue to me.... or a sticking choke? I'm not an expert but like to think I might know where to start... Let's see what it turns out to be - good luck.

[heavy71chevy]

change the fuel filter...had the same problem recently and it was a clogged filter..also check the vacume hoses

[Longhorn Man]

don't bother looking at the converter... if it was that, it would slam into gear and stall instantly.
Sounds like your timing is way off to me.

[mnunn454]

Yeah. I agree it's not the converter.

Major vacuum leak, timing or fuel mixture way off is my guess.

Are you getting black smoke or no smoke out of the tailpipe when it dies?

Is the automatic choke stuck? Or, is it coming off too quickly?

[joemacho]

its sounds like your accelerator pump went bad or your floats in carb are bad.

[odog]

My other vehicle, a f*rd, did that to me 3 weeks ago, after a cold night. I don't think the cold had anything to do with it, #4 and 7 plugs were fouled. Seamed to idle fine, but sputtered and died when backing up. I changed the plugs and have had no problem. Just an idea.

[El Bombero]

Well, I couldnt get to the truck today. Got stuck running errands all day. I gotta work a 48hr shift starting tomorrow. So hopefully I will have it figured out by Sunday. Thoes are all good points guys. Im leaning towards a vacum problem so far. I will keep you posted! Thanks for the help so far!

[Longhorn321]

[QUOTE=El Bombero;2532464] (zz4/700r4

Can you give me a little more info? What is a zz4? How does the engine sound when starting? If the timing is too far advanced it may sound sluggish...If the timing is retarded, it will start easier but may have a problem when under a load (like when you put it in drive). Also, what is the maintenence history if you know? When have the plugs/points/cap/rotor been changed? When have the fuel filter/filters been changed? Gotta start with the basics...Let us know! Good luck! Dwayne

[custom72c20]

My truck kept doing that on the way home from work and I ended up having to get towed home. When I worked on it in the morning, I took the distributor cap off and the top of my rotor was burnt to a crisp and there wasa hole in the dist. cap right below the coil.(H.E.I.) I have no idea how it happend, but it doesn't hurt to check.