SRichards Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 After a recent tune-up by a trusted shop, with all the usual things done (new cap, rotor, condenser, re-timed, etc), my car is acting peculiar. 1st gear is only good to about 20 mph, then the engine misses and loses power in a major way. OK, so when would I ever need to be in 1st above 20 anyway? But I use 2nd gear a lot to keep my speed up on steep hills, and now it's only good up to 25 mph -- then the same symptoms of shuddering and engine missing. 3rd gear takes me no higher than 50 mph now, and that only on a dead flat road. Right after the tune-up my fuel pump failed so I thought all these problems might have been due to the pump going bad, but a new pump hasn't changed anything. I've never had these problems before -- any thoughts would be very welcome!- Steve RichardsonSt Louis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRichards Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 Yes, "going dead" is a good way to put it, with the engine sputtering and the car actually slowing down until I let up on the gas. And now you're making me remember something. When I got this car its gas tank had a number of pinholes, so I found a replacement (non-leaking) tank from a junkyard out in Arizona. But the pickup tube on that tank was blocked. I took a threaded rod and ran it up and down that line as best I could (it has a couple of bends) with every kind of liquid I could think of that might help dissolve the crud. Then I took it to a radiator shop that let it sit in their tank for almost a week. The net result was that the pickup tube was only partially open -- if I blew into the fitting there's a lot of resistance, compared to the original tank where there was free flow through the tube. Now I'm wondering if I should fix the pinholes in that old tank and put it back on -- maybe that would make a difference. Thanks for the idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I had a similar problem with my old 1957 Chevy stepside. It would go smoothly down the road until I needed to go a little faster. When I hit the gas, the truck would try to "go dead" on me. I found out that there was a flake of rust in the line. While idling or not under a load, it would run out great. When I hit the gas, the little flake of rust would flip up and block most of the fuel line causing it to stall and try to die. Look for flakes of rust in the line before going all the way and removing the tank. This, I believe is what drove me nuts and now I am a full on old car guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRichards Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 Another good idea - thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK M Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Get yourself a boat tank and hook it up straight to the fuel pump and eliminate any fuel supply problems.No boat tank? Just a hose in your gas can would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest elmo39 Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 sorry but my suggestion is get your timing checked again, it sounds as if it is way out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRichards Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 On this particular car it's extremely hard to see the timing marks, so I was trusting the shop to have timed it correctly. "Trusting the shop" - now there's something I don't normally do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Plymouthy Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Actually a lot of these conditions are injected into the car during a tune up. The wire inside the distributor could very well have been mounted in such a position that when you are accelerating and advancing the points plate it is shorting out against the distributor body. I would suggest you inspect this area first...remember..it only started doing this after the tune up...second call would be the breakdown of the condenser..this could be identified quickly as the contacts on the point are now blue or very well burnt in this short period of operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRichards Posted October 19, 2008 Author Share Posted October 19, 2008 Plymouthy - You were exactly right. I took a close look and found that the wire to the contact points had chafed through and was shorting to the distributor body. Easy fix -- thanks!- Steve RichardsonSt Louis MO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Plymouthy Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 Good news....glad to hear you are back up and running... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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