engine stall/lack of fuel

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jwh70valiant

jwh70valiant

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This is the first mopar ive ever owned and, frankly, the oldest car I have ever owned, so please forgive me if this is a simple problem.

My 1970 Valiant tends to stall driving around town when the accelerator pedal is pushed lightly. If I push hard on the pedal, though, the car accelerates and has no problems. Also, after coming off of the interstate, and coming to a complete stop, the engine will die altogether, requiring me to put it in park, pump the gas and restart. While idling too longer, the engine sometimes dies, as well, but not at higher speeds, such as intersate driving.

I checked the automatic choke, and that seems to be fine. the fuel lines also look good. What might be causing this? I am assuming it must be something with the holley carburator, and I may need to get a new one.
 
Check your vacuum advance at idle.
and for good measure run some carb medic through your carb.
 
Also check for vacuum leaks in the intake manifold or old hoses.

And of course check you accelerator pump.
 
Thanks! I check a vaccum hose coming off the carb going to distributor. It disinigrated in my hands! I replaced the hose, and she idles much, much better. Starting is also a lot easier.
 
Well that didn't last long. Now she wont start. I had a feeling that was just way, too easy of a fix. I check my ignition points, which is something new to me because all previous cars I have owned had an electronic ignition. One of the positve red wires seems very brittle, so I am guessing that my points are probably bad. It comes off of the ignition module into a little cylinder, a hole on top just big enough for the one wire to enter. It is a loose connection.

A little history on the car.

I found the car sitting behind a barn, where it had sat for the last 15 years. It had a blown piston rod. I rebuilt the bottom half of the engine, replaced all the gaskets, replaced the brake master cylinder, (manual brakes, much easier than the power brakes I had to redo on a Toyota) I replaced the wheel cylindars, as they were all siezed, and ran a new break line. The automatic choke was disconnected and a jerry rigged manual choke was in place. I checked the automatic choke, which seems to work fine, and reinstalled. Also changed all the fluids. (the antifreeze was black, so I fulshed the system). I found that the head was crack, so I put some liquid copper stop leak in. Sealed the problem right up.

Since then, I have driven the car about 1400 miles, so I guess my luck is beginning to run out.:clock: For a car that sat for a long time, it has surprised me with how well it has done. I am sure there are many more suprises I head with it too.
Where can I find a decent set of igintion points?
 
if it isn't firing at all, check for spark.
if no spark, check the dwell,
if no dwell, turn the ignition on and start checking voltages.

Points, condenser and ballast resister replacement is pretty easy and cheap, and most auto parts stores will have them.

You will probably be replacing your heads soon as that copper stuff will not last forever.

You may find one on the cheap at a junk yard or just asking nicely here :)
 
Well, I believe I found the root problem. The Auto Choke seems to have gone bad. I also replaced my ignition points while I was at it, so I should not be having any more problems with the ignition for a while. Thanks for the help Guys!
 
The choke wasn't staying open. When I would try to start the car, after pumping the accelerator once, the choke would close and not reopen. Also, I found driving around that sometimes, i.e. sitting at a redlight, the engine would die because the choke closed all the way. I also had some bad vacuum lines that I know contributed to the problem.
 
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