HELP...Will not idle in gear

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kazooom

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First a little history.. I have a 67 Dart with a Dodge Aspen 225 Super six transplant.. 2 years no problem. Then a month ago car would not start. Ran all the usual checks and was electrical. Looked like a distributor problem so put a rebuilt in.. still no start so I changed the ignition control module and fired right up. Now its time to set the timing. I checked with my brothers finger in the #1 for TDC and made sure the rotor was pointed to #1 spark plug. Then adjusted idle screw and plugged the vacuum line. Put on the timing light and it was way advanced running so adjusted dizzy all the way and got it to +15 degrees. went for a drive and starts great cold start with choke full on. Warms up choke off and idles in park and neutral but will cut out when coming to a stop. Will not idle in gear...
Any ideas? Should I set the timing to +10 or +5 degrees... I set the idle screw dang near all the way in and still does not idle in gear. Right now you need two feet to drive her. Ok for the track but dam trickey coming to the stop light, still frosty here.. help please
 
Had this problem with my 318, holley 750, auto trans. I solved it by adjusting the idle mixture screws. I believe they needed to be a lot more rich to get it to idle in gear. Hope that might help ya.
 
If its lean, itll do that. There are idle tubes on that carter, they are under the 2 screwed cast part that might have a 23 on it, where shooters would be between the bores. Remove them and wire clean them. Curb idle on a super six carb is screw just touching then 2 more turns.
 
What was the timing set at, and how far out were the mixture screws for the last 2yrs.?
Put 'em back,if it won't run, somethin's wrong. May or may not be related to the parts swap.
Unlucky coincidence, it happens, but first you need to get back to -0- and figure it out from
there. As pish says,a little carb cleaning action may be called for, or maybe you've got the
timing too jacked up to jive w/your idle mixture. Maybe go back to the orig. dizzy if they
didn't send it back already.And I've seen aftermarket boxes run,but run terrible,so..........
:coffee2:
 
Sounds like the timing marks are lying to you.(you did disconnect the Vacuum advance for setting the idle timing,right?) Put some idle-timing back into it, til the idle screw is back to a reasonable place. Then drive it. Keep putting timing into it until it pings;then back it up a bit.
Now go figure out whats wrong with the marks.
Finally hook the V-can back up to the spark-port.
 
Thanks, ballast resistor, ICM box new and rebuilt distributor put in already. Lots of spark but timing still advanced 15 degrees and will not idle once warmed up. I'll get the distributor off and adjust the bottom plate to give me more room to retard to close to 0. Then find the mixture screws for the idle and clean and adjust... I'll report back this weekend once this is done... thanks guys... Derrick.
 
If the marks are right, then retarding it will just make it worse.

So to recap, from previous posts;

A) Verify that there are no vacuum leaks, where air is getting into the engine that is not controlled by the throttle plates.Such as the booster system,the PCV system,the base gasket and the intake manifold, or a falling-apart carb., or any other vacuum systems.
B) Verify that the low speed circuit is working.I usually remove the mixture screws and blow a little compressed air in there.A couple of short,low volume bursts will dislodge dirt stuck in the airbleeds.The low-speed fuel circuit is usually OK, but this too will be cleared with the air.Be gentle with the air.
C) Verify the timing marks, and the timing systems.
D) Saved for last is a valve lash adjustment and compression test.
E) And if all else fails, a Leakdown Test.

These are listed in the sequence I would do them.
 
While it's not always the case, retarding the timing may in fact not make it worse,
since the mix was set for the other adv.. Over-adv. will make an eng. behave exactly
as if it were running lean, including surge at part throttle etc., that aside, AJ pretty
much summed it up for you.
If you don't know how to verify the timing marks,you need to learn, here's how I
do it with the head on.Get an old spark plug, snap off the ground electrode,then
bust off and out the ceramic and pos. electrode.Once you've hollowed out the plug
body, get yourself a 5/16 all-thread piece about 3.5" long and two nuts, one plain
and one flanged. Put the flanged one on the "top" side,and the plain one chamber
side,run the all-thread thru' almost all out the chamber side. The trickiest part is to
grind the chamber side nut 'till it passes thru' the plug threads,it will be round when
you're done. If you can find a short threaded sleeve that already fits you can skip
that step.
Once you have assembled your positive stop, round the end of the all thread off
w/a file or your grinder so you don't nick or gouge your piston. Then set the
timing marks well before TDC. Install your stop,and with all the plugs out,slowly
bring the crank around by hand 'till it hits the stop.Mark your damper,then roll the
engine back round backwards 'till you hit it again, then make the second mark.
Exactly halfway between those marks is true TDC,at least on that cyl.(#1).
If you have trouble turning the eng., there are posts a few pages back addressin
that. If you're running stock valves or lift under .500", don't worry about valves
hitting you're stop, you'll be fine. GO EASY..
 
The wrong ballast resistor will lower spark energy a TON and will make idle and operation rough. There are a ot of wrong ballast being innstalled; the proper one will have a cold resistance of 0.5-0.6 ohms. The MSD 0.8 ohm ballast is a pretty close substitute. BWD RU19 is close too.

Using your finger on/in the spark plug hole for TDC is a good way to get inaccurate results. You need to use a piston stop and re-do it for the correct results.
 
Using your finger on/in the spark plug hole for TDC is a good way to get inaccurate results. You need to use a piston stop and re-do it for the correct results.

I think he was just using that method to ensure the dizzy went in right, as opposed to being out 180*, to guarantee a quick easy lite-off?
 
First off... thanks for all the advise.
I checked the carb and its a carter 2681, looks like only one mixing screw on the bottom at the front. I replaced the vacuum line because I had some. Then pulled the dizzy and set the bottom plate so I could set the timing to "0". Car would start with ignition knock but would not idle. sooo I went the other way, pulled the dizzy, set the plate for advance. Started and ran but would not idle in gear. Bought a vacuum gauge and read 17 " mercury, not enough. Made a richer adjust on the carb but still 17". I remembered comment about the timing soooo pulled the dizzy again and set the the assy forward to where I thought the vacuum line off the distributor was close to the frame rail. I adjusted the back plate to the middle and reinstalled the dizzy. Made sure the rotor was pointing to #1 spark plug. In the process I saw the #3 spark plug wire had a broken end so I replaced it with a spare. Got engine running and set mixing screw with the vac gauge to 20". Advance the timing by ear and tightened down the bolt. I went for a drive and as close as damn is to swearing.
I arrived home from the drive and went to put the timing light on her. Then saw another groove on the front pulley.. wth. My brother in law may have made the paint mark on the wrong groove ( damn Chevy guy)

Oh well looks like a bunch off errors. #1- I may have put the dizzy back in the wrong position with the rotor still pointing to #1 spark plug.
#2My brother in law made a paint mark on the wrong groove on the front pulley
#3 the #3 spark plug wire end was broken, poor contact
and #4 carb was set too lean.
Back running again until the next adventure

thanks again Derrick.
 
OOps
Yeah they aren't very happy running on 5. They will run on fewer tho.But once you get down to to 3 , she'd need a bigger flywheel.Years ago I had an Aspen given to me cuz it was only hitting on 4. Turned out it needed a valve job.
If you have set the timing by ear, you have no way of knowing what the power-timing is, and that is not good. So you really need to chase that. In the mean time, try not to work the engine too hard.
 
Ya good one.. should have made him stick something else in there.. ha ha.. will get new spark plug wires on this coming weekend and have another look at the timing.. thanks again guys.
 
Ya good one.. should have made him stick something else in there.. ha ha.. will get new spark plug wires on this coming weekend and have another look at the timing.. thanks again guys.

Lmao!! Alrighty then.... glad she's rollin' again, and no problemo !:coffee2:
 
Slants usually have stretched timing chains. My problem is the same as you described. I'll come to a stop in gear and it wants to stall but the second I hit the gas pedal it straightens out. Figure its a sloppy chain because when its sitting, the chain is loose and when you give it gas it tightens up and is fine. Slants are notorious for stretching timing chains just figured I would mention it. :)
 
Another cause of decel stumble or stall is water in the tank. That one stumped me 25yrs.
ago, '72 duster slanty, cust's name was Ralph....nice guy. I had gotten to the point of riding
on the inner fender w/my timing light looking for ^^that^^,while another tech drove me in
the lot goooOOOO STOP!! After a couple of those, and an experimental bump of 5deg in the
timing,I decided that wasn't it. I pulled the bowl,cleaned it and the block/jets,and put the
carb back together. No sign of water in the dump when I pulled it. Seemed better for a bit,
but two mi. into the test drive it started again,pulled the bowl again... no real signs of H2O.
The fuel sample I took looked fine,the press. was fine, and it ran perfect otherwise. I was
getting pissed, as I didn't have an answer, and I was discussing pulling the tank. The car was
already a little rough to be polite, and i knew that could be a can of worms. The cust. said
"before we do that, let me talk to this old guy I know". That gentleman had a fuel/water
separator unit(maybe from a marine supply), and put it in before the pump. Guess what,1/2qt
later, they had gotten almost all of the water out,problem gone.The '72 system had a return
and would send part of the gulp of H2O back,but just enuff went in and sucked in the eng. to
cause the stumble,and the evidence was already gone by the time I'd open it up. FYI:coffee2:
 
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