not an a body but need some help

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65dart360

65dart360

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My 78 dodge warlock is driving me nuts. The truck has a 383 in it runs great until you go over 1/2 throttle for 15 or 20 seconds it loses power and wont run more than 1800 rpm and will die when i come to a stop. Truck will fire back up after about 2 minutes of sitting and run ok at lower rpms. This all happens between my work and house which is about 5 miles on the highway. The truck has a new distributor, new msd street fire box, new coil, new fuel pump,new exhaust, switched carb with a known good carb. compression is 120-130 on all cylinders. The truck has done this since i got it and truck had been sitting for several years any help would be awesome thanks guys
 
You said it had been parked for some time?
Did you check inside the fuel tank? Over time old gas evaporates and the remnants break down and settle into this Stinkin' black tar substance. Check the sock on the bottom of the sending unit/pickup, it could be partially plugged. Sounds like it is starving for fuel?? Just my lousey 2 cents.
 
Can you pop out the catalytic converter and test drive it? A clogged cat is my guess. second guess would be too low fuel pressure.
 
Adding a fuel pressure gauge just before the carb should tell you if you are fuel starved.
 
thanks for the replies guys fuel tank was taken out cleaned and new sock put on. The truck doesn't have converters on it but will try unbolting the headers maybe something got blown into the muffler when i had the exhaust done?
 
i will hook up a fuel pressure gauge what should it read with the stock fuel pump
 
I'd bet fuel. Inspect the line, REAR to front, look for kinked, line, rubber or steel, and collapsing rubber connector lines. If you have dual tanks, suspect the valve.

Invest in a vaccum/ pressure gauge, 20 bucks at any store. The pump should pull 12" or more on the suction side of the pump, and you can use the gauge to read pressure

"Read it while driving?" Sure you can. String the hose up out of the hook, through the grill, whatever it takes. Tie a rag around it and use wire tie wraps to anchor it to the cowl grille or even a wiper blade. After all, you're not gonna GO cross country are ya?

Tank venting? Pull the cap off for a test run
 
CUUDAK said:
Sounds like it is starving for fuel?? Just my lousey 2 cents.
Click to expand...

:cheers::violent1:

Could also be vapor locking! Its been HOT as hell here and I bet its the same in the "Show Me" state! Could also be a rubber line that is dry rotted and drawing air into the fuel line.
 
I say fuel filter needs changed. My Dart acted the same way after I drove it away from the place I purchased it. Turns out he bought it out of a barn and put fresh fuel in the tank and drove it to his place. I put at least four new filters on before it cleared up and now I can drive it without those problems. I should have dropped the tank and had it cleaned along with cleaning the lines from the carb to the tank. Changing the filter did the trick.

What was happening for me was I'd drive down the road and get just out of town and start to accelerate to highway speeds and it would sputter out and only allow me to run with the throttle a little over idle position. I could go a mile or two like that and try again and the same thing. I figure what was happening was the fuel bowl on the carb was going nearly dry and the filter could only let enough fuel through to support the engine at an idle or a little over.

That's my thoughts without being there to see what's up in your situation.
 
Sounds like fuel also. Once when driving cross-country in my 69 Dart w/ 225, it did almost the same. Ran fine up to a certain load, then no more power. Started in Mississipi, but we kept going since managed 60 mph on flat land. Seemed worse as it got hot and so bad by New Mexico I stopped at an auto parts and looked it over. I found the inlet fuel hose was collapsing just before the fuel pump. Probably wasn't compatible with the then new ethanol. A cheap 5 min fix and we had full power back.
 
Did you check the inside of the fuel line? I bought a 69 GTS a while back, dropped the tank, cleaned it out, changed the sock, and still had black crap plugging my fuel filter. I looked inside the fuel line and found the crap ran front to back, so I change the line, and the problem went away.
 
When getting the Dart running after sitting I had the same issue. Replaced all the rubber lines and it helped but did not cure the problem. Pulled the sending unit from the tank and found that the pickup tube was almost completely plugged. Cleaned it out and now the problem is solved.
~Michael
 
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