At a red light...gauges got nuts and engine stalls

[ValerianMagnum]

Hi guys , it never happened to me before , like the title says , car was warmed up...ran good , and bam gauges go nuts and the engine shut down , a loud sucking noise came from the carburator when it stalled...Car was very difficult to start and went back home ( 2-3 miles ) going like 10-15 mph, started the car again yesterday and it dies after a couple of minutes if its in gear , very hard to start , even the mini starter works hard to start it. The carb never had a choke and i always liked it that way , last time the carb was rebuilt it was like 10 years ago , its an holley 4777 650 dp , great carb all around , can it be the power valve / vacuum leak? The squirters ? Bottom plate ? Trans is new and a new torque conv too , i dont think its the TC sticking , shifted fine and the color is great. Your toughts ? Thx for helping me out

 

[Cuda416]

Hard to start as in just took a long time or hard turning over?

Loose distributor?

 

[Dana67Dart]

Sucking sound and bad to no idle in gear sounds like vacuum leak

When you say gauges do you mean factory or aftermarket

 

[middleagecrisis]

Gauges going nuts sounds like an electrical issue. The other stuff sounds mechanical. Hard to start "even with a mini-starter" sounds like the timing is super advanced. Have you put a timing light on it when the engine is cold? What is your amp or volt gauge reading when cold and running and then again when you manage to get the car started when hot?

 

[dano]

Sounds electrical and/or ignition related. Carb wouldn't affect your gauges. Battery life, grounds and ground quality, failing coil, etc.

 

[Dana67Dart]

If an engine running at 700 rpm suddenly has a huge vacume leak and is now running between 400 rpm and 600 rpm fluctuating wildly, AND you have aftermarket gauges that react instantly, I can see the description fitting.

Op has not described hard to start yet which could mean hard to crank OR hard to get to run.

 

[ValerianMagnum]

Yes , i have a charging problem its been a couple of weeks , i was running only on my fully charged battery. It was holding up pretty so i wanted to stay like this to end the season , i can afford an alternator right now , im broke ! ( school fees and some vacations ) So...i took a little walmart cell charger to read my volts and it was 12.4..12.0 ...11.4 when i was running and never it never went around 13-14 if i was heating the car up to 2-2500 rpms , Changed the voltage regulator and the ecu and it didnt change anything, same problem. It might be a weak coil too or an electrical gremlin. I wasnt expecting the engine to shut down when it was hot ( 170* ) and yes now its even harder to start it + its getting colder , i have this car since 2008 and even without a choke the engine never acted that way. The coil is the big yellow Accel , i tought it was the carb , so its maybe electrical then. * Dont forget that it can be confusing because these autometer gauges are very sensitive and have a needle / not digital and when it died on me i was in neutral ( redlight ) and put it in gear ( D ) and it went coocoo and died , since then its acting very funny

 

[mygasser]

mechanically my first thought was slack timing chain has jumped a tooth or two. and the sucking sound when it died was in fact air coming back up out of the carb. i'd pop the dizzy cap off and rock the engine back and forth on the crank' pulley bolt to check how much slack the chain has.
electrically it sounds like you already know the ongoing charging issue could be the culprit.
neil.

 

[67Dart273]

Some gauges are a three wire deal a "bridge" circuit. Make sure they are grounded.

 

[Bewy]

If system voltage dropped to 11.4v, you have a charging problem. That needs to be fixed FIRST & might be the only problem. A fully charged bat is 12.6-7v. For the bat to be charged, the charging system needs to have an output voltage greater than this...or the bat will discharge.