First break down(s)

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73VAswngr

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If you want to skip the story there is a question at the bottom...

Beautiful day yesterday in VA, sunny and almost 60. I decided to take the Swinger to work and show her off for a bit. Took a little to start up and it died after it had been running for a few minutes. Blamed it on the cold and started it back up and headed to work. Drive in went great, 60 mph all the way and green lights. Right as I got into all of the traffic trying to get on base it died again. Not good timing. I cranked on it for about a minute before it started and made my way to work without any further trouble. When I left work it had warmed up significantly and the Dart started up the first try. I got about 5 miles down the road to the biggest intersection in town, stopped at a light and it died again. Put on the hazards on and started cranking as the four lanes of traffic started working their way around me. Luckily I was right next to a Nissan dealer. I hopped out and started pushing and somehow managed to jump back in and hit the brakes before I banged up any of the new cars. A guy came out to help me get it in the parking lot. After looking it over (it started right up first try) he suggested I replace the fuel filter and pump.

Is there any trick to replacing them other than making sure all the gas doesn't run out? It looks like a fairly simple process but I figured I'd ask to be safe. Thanks!
 
If it's a slant 6 you have a bit of a hassle, if it's a V-8 it's a little easier. That is, IF it's your fuel pump.....

Your best bet is to try and duplicate the problem and check for spark first. Those damn ballast resistors go bad and can cause this problem (it's that white ceramic thing on the firewall with 2 wires going through it...), next up could be the ignition module (flat box, either black, orange, or natural silver with a 5 wire plug....). To check if it's fuel when the car dies pop off the air cleaner lid and pump the throttle linkage once or twice while looking directly down the carburetor throat. If fuel sprays, look else where. Crank it with a plug wire held against ground. If there is no spark, there you go.

If it is the pump, you would do well to try and pinch off the inlet line from the fuel tank before dis-connecting it or you'll have a steady stream of fuel running out. Vise grips work in a pinch, or just stick an old spark plug in the line. Let us know what you find....
 
When I work on the fuel system and fixing to take something loose I always have a large bolt to insert it into a rubber fuel hose somewhere near the tank. I pull the line and quickly insert the bolt to keep the fuel from running out. It won't come gushing out as much as you think. When finish pull the bolt and hook it back up.

Are your idle mixture screws adjusted properly on the carb? You might need to richen the idle circuit in order for the motor to stay running.


http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/howto/45638/index.html
 
The strainer or sock in the tank can cause one to run out of gas too.
As suggested above recreate the fault 1st. When it quits imediately look for that squirt from the accelerater pump.
I sincerly doubt the mechanical fuel pump is the problem. It's lever can stick in the down position causing it to stop pumping but thats rarely if ever intermitent. They stick and stay stuck or they leak and keep on leaking.
Good luck
 
Ive had a coil heat up and do this. Tried everything ... As soon as the coil would cool down to a certain point vrrrooom back to running for a few minites.
My 02.
Frank
 
mullinax95 said:
When I work on the fuel system and fixing to take something loose I always have a large bolt to insert it into a rubber fuel hose somewhere near the tank. I pull the line and quickly insert the bolt to keep the fuel from running out. It won't come gushing out as much as you think. When finish pull the bolt and hook it back up.

Are your idle mixture screws adjusted properly on the carb? You might need to richen the idle circuit in order for the motor to stay running.


http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/howto/45638/index.html
Click to expand...
Just had the carb rebuilt so I hope thats not it.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I'll work on it today and let you know how it comes out. Hopefully I won't be looking for advice on how to fix something I break!
 
73VAswngr said:
Just had the carb rebuilt so I hope thats not it.
Click to expand...


That's good that it has been rebuilt but if the idle mixture screws aren't out enough the motor will die at idle and especially when you put it in gear. The car will run fine when you have opened up the throttle and going down the road. It just sounds like it COULD be the problem since it sounds like it dies when you have to stop. That link I posted will help you eliminate that theory in just a few minutes.
 
D'oh! I didn't notice the link in the last post. I went ahead and replaced the filter...pump looks like a lot more work so i'm gonna run it like this for a while and see if it happens again. Thanks again!
 
The filter didn't look that bad off. I went ahead and replaced the ballast resistor lik eyou all suggested and it's been running like a champ! Thanks again.
 
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