No Power on Hills???

[Bruzilla]

Okay, this one is a first for me. I know my trans issues are resolved because this problem just came up.

My 74 Roadrunner, 440, full tank of gas, starts on the first crank, idles fine, and revs fine. Put it into gear and drive down the road, no problem. But now it's started pinging when I accelerate hard, which it never did before, and... when I go up a steep grade near my house, the engine starts sputtering like it's about to run out of gas. If I turn off the road into a parking lot, the engine keeps idling, and will rev up a little, but then sputters. Now, once I get level, or go downhill, it revs fine except for the pinging on hard acceleration.

Another oddity is the passenger side Idle Air screw is now doing nothing. Turn it all the way right, or all the way left, it doesn't affect the engine RPMs.

Any ideas???

 

[RT K_line]

I'm not sure about your hill issue but for your idle screw issue take them out and spray into the hole with the tube on the carb cleaner can. I do it every once in a while to keep things clean.

 

[Bruzilla]

Okay, I think I found the problem, but now it's more of a mystery. I thought maybe the fuel filter might be an issue. It isn't that old, but I had a spare and figured I would replace it.

When I disconnected the radiator side of the filter, a little gas came out. None came out when I disconnected the engine side. I put the filter down and adjusted the hose clamps, then I picked the filter up and tipped it so the engine side was down.

There was a brief rush of blood-rust colored slime that came out of the filter, and it came from the side where there should only be filtered gas. I drained it out, then blew through the filter until is was all out. I put a soda bottle on the fuel line and cranked the engine and nothing but clean gas came out.

I put the filter back on, started the car, and it raced right up the hill like it should. So the filter, and I'm guessing the idle air passages, were getting clogged with something but I have no clue what. I pulled the screws and flooded the carb with cleaner, and now they seem to be working fine again.

 

[Dennis H]

There are hills in Florida?

 

[oldbee]

A little bit of "crap" to get you worried! Glad you figured it out.

 

[65wgn440]

Gonna happen again, eventually.

 

[Ranger16]

I don't know what carb you are running, but I'd open it up and clean the float bowls. Depending on what you find will determine if you need to go farther. It's real easy on an Edelbrock. Don't even have to dismount it.

 

[Bruzilla]

I don't know what carb you are running, but I'd open it up and clean the float bowls. Depending on what you find will determine if you need to go farther. It's real easy on an Edelbrock. Don't even have to dismount it.

Yeah... You should take an Edelbrock off. Too many "Jesus!" clips and pieces to be fooling with anywhere but on a table with a white towel.

Anyway, I took the car out and drove about 30 miles, doing some frequent acceleration tests along the way, and it's now running fine. I sure would like to know where the Hell that rusty crap came from and how it got past the filter.

 

[747mopar]

Is it the original tank? I've had those problems with our boat, after the second time I threw the tank in the trash and bought another. I didn't even risk it with the Charger and bought a new one.

This could be the reasoning for why you've been fighting with that carb so much.

 

[YY1]

That's very similar to what was happening with mine.

While I was inspecting things, I moved the filter (I like those clear, glass ones) so that it was in between he tank and the pump, instead of in between the pump and carb.

That way I can see any crap from the tank or line before it gets into the pump.

 

[IQ52]

Older cars that set for awhile have rust in the fuel tank and old steel fuel lines. The ethanol in gasoline now days removes the rust and clogs the fuel filters. When rescuing an older car I keep one or two new fuel filters with it. After the first filter change I generally have no further problems. Sometimes it does require the second filter.

 

[Bruzilla]

Just seems odd to me that this sludge would just show up out of the blue after months of driving. I could understand if it was there months ago after the car had been sitting, but I drained out the tank, have refilled it two or three times, was driving fine on Saturday and then voila... sludge on Sunday.

 

[IQ52]

It doesn't plug it up immediately, it takes a period of time until it gets bad enough for you to notice it. If you prefer, we'll chalk it up to evil spirits. They are however more difficult to filter out.