[Darth Menace]

Hey today i started the car up (with a boost but thats another thread down the road) and it started, idled fine, etc. This was more t see if there was any fluid drip from below (nothing but a dabbl of antifreeze coming from the overflow hose) anyway i ran it for a while then put it into Drive and it automaticlly stalled. I couldnt get it started again until i put some gas in the carb and held the petal down to the flloor and it finally started. Im thinking some of this if not a lot of the problem is lack of fuel. Where would you guys start? Replace the fuel pump, replace carb or pull the carb and clean it? I`m not going to lie I am getting exhausted with this car so the shortest route the better.

[cuz68]

Try to put a 1/2 tank of gas in it first then prime it again.

[Txbobcat]

Also put some sea foam in the tank with the new gas. You could have water in the tank. Of course best would be drop the tank clean it out and start with fresh gas and seafoam

[2002Z4CSS]

How much fuel is in the tank?

[gtohurstjudge]

Darth, I don't know if the guiness book of world records has a category
for most things wrong with a used car when purchased, but if it does your car would
be the world's record holder. In the future when I have a problem with one of my old cars
I'll think of you and I won't feel so bad. I wish you luck in your endeavours and maybe someday your car will be driveable. I have to admire your perseverance that's for sure.

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

Darth, I don't know if the guiness book of world records has a category
for most things wrong with a used car when purchased, but if it does your car would
be the world's record holder. In the future when I have a problem with one of my old cars
I'll think of you and I won't feel so bad. I wish you luck in your endeavours and maybe someday your car will be driveable. I have to admire your perseverance that's for sure.

Haha,ya I thought of that too, but then I decided a lot of cars would be like this or worse. Just some of these problems are things you guys can fix in your sleep, but I need to start a mile long thread about it. Sometimes when I do something I make/uncover another thing that bugs me, so I am my own worst enemy at times. I do see what you're saying though. The list is truely getting shorter though and I am guessing a lot of the issues are related. Would I make the purchase again? Likely not, but that's life. My wife says she thinks I enjoy working on a car, but I beg to differ.

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by 2002Z4CSS

How much fuel is in the tank?

About 3/4. I don't think that's the issue because once I start it it idles forever with no issues. Just the gas issue upon starting I almost gave up on the car yesterday. A winter long of working on it, fixing stuff, and it doesn't even start right/died when I put it in drive (but none of my work was put towards this issue anyway so I guess I shouldn't be too shocked. Thank goodness I have my wife to point this out after I go turrets on the thing). I think I need a day off from it.

[Verdoro 68]

What have you worked on/changed since it used to work?

You can test the fuel pump pretty easily by disconnecting the line from the carb and turning the engine over a couple times. No fuel means broken pump.

What's your timing and idle mixture like? All your vacuum lines hooked up with no leaks?

[GTO68FXSTC98]

I don't know the history of your car, but if that carb hasn't been taken apart and cleaned, I would start there. If the gas in the tank is older than 2 years or hasn't beed treated, dump it (or run it in your lawn mower) and replace with fresh.

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

What have you worked on/changed since it used to work?

You can test the fuel pump pretty easily by disconnecting the line from the carb and turning the engine over a couple times. No fuel means broken pump.

What's your timing and idle mixture like? All your vacuum lines hooked up with no leaks?

I cant say it ever worked properly. It always had the hard to start issue and when i'd put it in drive it would die/almost die. I have had other issues I wanted to take care of before worrying about this, but it is time.

The only thing I have done on this motor is new spark plugs and new vacuum lines, but as you can see from my "lack of power" thread is that the vacuum lines are plumbed wrong anyway so this could be dearly related.

I don't have a timing light so I haven't been able to test the timing, but if the markings on the pulley are any indication it is at the 4

[Verdoro 68]

If you can get it started again, my bet is it's either timing or idle mixture related and not the fuel pump.

You'll need a timing light to see what the timing is. It's well worth the investment. Another cheap but useful tool is a vacuum gauge. I use mine all the time when tuning my car.

This article might be useful to you when troubleshooting this issue:
http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...s/viewall.html

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

If you can get it started again, my bet is it's either timing or idle mixture related and not the fuel pump.

You'll need a timing light to see what the timing is. It's well worth the investment. Another cheap but useful tool is a vacuum gauge. I use mine all the time when tuning my car.

This article might be useful to you when troubleshooting this issue:
http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...s/viewall.html

Hey thanks for the link, it looks daunting yet doable. Like I mentioned earlier I think a lot of the problems are linked. Solve one problem and it might be solving two or three at the same time. I am not wanting a hot rod but I do want it to run proper...I mean hard starting and stalling when I put it in drive is utmost irritating. I'm hoping they are related problems. Likely vacuum lines plumbed wrong is related too, but that's for my other thread.

I'm thinking having a manual choke and little knowledge on the tricks of a carbed car makes my life more irritating than it has to be.

[verackashotrods]

I had a 70 gto that would start and idle great and when I tried driving the car it would stall out I tried and replaced everything up top and it ended up being the original fuel tank sock was plugged up,changed that and its been great ever since.

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by Darth Menace

Hey thanks for the link, it looks daunting yet doable. Like I mentioned earlier I think a lot of the problems are linked. Solve one problem and it might be solving two or three at the same time. I am not wanting a hot rod but I do want it to run proper...I mean hard starting and stalling when I put it in drive is utmost irritating. I'm hoping they are related problems. Likely vacuum lines plumbed wrong is related too, but that's for my other thread.

I'm thinking having a manual choke and little knowledge on the tricks of a carbed car makes my life more irritating than it has to be.

Hard starting + stalling in gear could mean your timing is out of whack. Go get a timing light

Don't sweat the learning curve. I'm well over 20 years into my car and still figuring out how to make this thing work.

[cuz68]

Originally Posted by Darth Menace

Haha,ya I thought of that too, but then I decided a lot of cars would be like this or worse. Just some of these problems are things you guys can fix in your sleep, but I need to start a mile long thread about it. Sometimes when I do something I make/uncover another thing that bugs me, so I am my own worst enemy at times. I do see what you're saying though. The list is truely getting shorter though and I am guessing a lot of the issues are related. Would I make the purchase again? Likely not, but that's life. My wife says she thinks I enjoy working on a car, but I beg to differ.

I keep on wishing for you to change your log in name to DENNIS THE MENACE, Is that ok? You might wont to set your idle up a little, Dont use the choke the next time you try to start it. Just pump the gas about 4-5 times and see if that works, I dont use a choke, Good Luck Randy.

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by cuz68

I keep on wishing for you to change your log in name to DENNIS THE MENACE, Is that ok? You might wont to set your idle up a little, Dont use the choke the next time you try to start it. Just pump the gas about 4-5 times and see if that works, I dont use a choke, Good Luck Randy.

I have had the username Darth Menace on forums since the horrible movie of the Phantom Menace came out. I guess it is a mash-up of Dennis the Menace and my love for Star Wars.

Now onto the car. I have had 3 days off of work and this was going to be my time to accomplish things and finish off some projects with the car. My first day started amazing, the windshield washer installed nicely.

I then stared the car (I have had a battery tender on the battery for the winter, but it needed a boost from another car. This sucked, but not enough to ruin my day) So I start the car, and warm it up...not a single drip from the motor...this was amazing to see considering I had a leak in almost every area when I got the car. I let the car warm up, and topped up the transmission fluid (I currently dropped the pan for a fluid/filter change) so I top up the tranny fluid and after that it was all downhill from there. I put the car into Drive and it immediately stalls (Strike 1, but this was a pre-existing problem I haven't worked on trying to solve yet) and I roll it out of the garage so I can clean the garage. I go to start it again and it turns over and over but it doesn't fire (Strike 2, which led me to start this thread), and as I am trying to start it, the battery gets weaker and weaker, then no turning over. (Strike 3, I had the battery and alternator tested and they both came back as a pass, so I wouldn't think this should happen).

I was irritated so I thought i'd get onto something else I can accomplish to make me feel better..so I unhook the speedo cable from the speedo, and I am unable to get it unhooked from the bracket underneath so I decide to spray some silicone lube down there, hook it back up and hope it worked. I could not get the speedo cable hooked back up to the speedo. I was pushing so hard that I decided I had to stop before I broke it (Strike 4)

I then decide to fix the licence plate light. The wire was snipped so I assumed this would be an easy fix. I get the old crusty bulb out, buy a new one, splice the wires back together, and no go. To top it off, I re-installed the blinkers, and grounds to make sure everything worked right, and the driver's side rear blinker that goes into the GTO emblem was permenantly on, although it should be blinking with the rear blinkers (Strike 5)

So I am beyond livid so I decide to pull the car back into the garage and park it for the night, and go have some beverages and watch my Maple Leafs win. I boost the car and get it inside the garage, and when I go to take the key out, it will not come out anymore (Strike 6)!!!! What a way to top it off...when I should be fixing things, I take a step backwards instead. I don't know if there is too much tranny fluid in there (the dipstick says it is okay) and it thinks for some reason it is still in gear and won't let me take the key out. So the key is permanently in there for the time being

So, needless to say after that day, I decided to take the next two days off and calm down. Kind of like taking a break in a relationship and trying again later. I was told by a mechanic that I should do all the other replacing on the motor (wires, coil, vacuum lines) and do the timing last, but if timing is a huge issue here then maybe it will be good to get this out of the way so I can resume my good relationship with this car. I will be buying a timing light tomorrow so I can get this going

Sorry for my long rant, but that day just pushed me over the edge. I continue to think how long I work on it and how fast it could be solved if I had more advanced knowledge.

[Verdoro 68]

Hang in there.

There's no harm to checking out the timing as is. I don't know that I'd advise changing a bunch of stuff at once unless it's in really bad shape. I try to do one thing at a time that way if something stops working or gets worse I know where to look.

What's your ignition/distributor setup like? Are you running points, HEI or an electronic conversion like a Pertronix? How/where is your vacuum advance hooked up? Just curious as it's a few more things to take into account.

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Hang in there.

There's no harm to checking out the timing as is. I don't know that I'd advise changing a bunch of stuff at once unless it's in really bad shape. I try to do one thing at a time that way if something stops working or gets worse I know where to look.

What's your ignition/distributor setup like? Are you running points, HEI or an electronic conversion like a Pertronix? How/where is your vacuum advance hooked up? Just curious as it's a few more things to take into account.

Ya, heading out to get a timing light during my break. I have to get this thing working better before I go nuts. Problem is I am trying to get the free/cheap things done first as I have a surgery to pay for soon, so I haven't bought too much for it as far as new caps/rotors/plugs/coil.

Now to your question, I can't answer fully about my vacuum advance, but I can say that as has been pointed out in my "lack of power" thread, my vacuum lines are plumbed all wrong. So I have no idea here. I haven't looked yet, but I will just assume this car is running points.

[gtohurstjudge]

Darth, on the dying when you put it in gear, one thing you need to check
for is the presence of a ground strap between the engine block and the firewall. Novices
often leave these off when swapping engines and it can lead to all kinds of driveability
problems due to bad grounds. Make sure the strap is there and that connections on both ends of the strap are clean and tight. On the key coming out, it sounds like your antitheft rod
that goes to the base of the column under the hood from the shift linkage may be out of adjustment to where the shift collar on the column doesn't go high enough in park to allow
the key to be removed, Try grabbing the collar with your hand and rotating it counter clockwise a little and see if the key will come out. If it does you need to adjust the anti-theft
linkage rod at the bottom of the rod you can loosen the bolt and adjust the rod to be a little bit longer and that will fix it. on the speedo cable, they can be very difficult to get snapped
back in. You have to just keep jiggling the cable while you depress the latch spring with your other hand. Sometimes you have to jack with them for ten minutes, then all of the sudden the cable just suddenly jumps on no problem.

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

Darth, on the dying when you put it in gear, one thing you need to check
for is the presence of a ground strap between the engine block and the firewall. Novices
often leave these off when swapping engines and it can lead to all kinds of driveability
problems due to bad grounds. Make sure the strap is there and that connections on both ends of the strap are clean and tight. On the key coming out, it sounds like your antitheft rod
that goes to the base of the column under the hood from the shift linkage may be out of adjustment to where the shift collar on the column doesn't go high enough in park to allow
the key to be removed, Try grabbing the collar with your hand and rotating it counter clockwise a little and see if the key will come out. If it does you need to adjust the anti-theft
linkage rod at the bottom of the rod you can loosen the bolt and adjust the rod to be a little bit longer and that will fix it. on the speedo cable, they can be very difficult to get snapped
back in. You have to just keep jiggling the cable while you depress the latch spring with your other hand. Sometimes you have to jack with them for ten minutes, then all of the sudden the cable just suddenly jumps on no problem.

GTOHURST-As far as the ground, if you mean the ground that goes from the tranny fluid fill tube and the firewall, I know this one is connected for sure. I had to disconnect it to try to get the old fill tube out, and I know I re-connected it.

I will look into the key thing. I found it odd that it suddently happened when I filled the tranny fluid AND fidgeted below the steering column with the speedo cable. I likely messed something there. I just HATE it when I set out to fix something and then something else happens like this.