Hiya guys, it's Steve the car-dummy again with another exciting problem. I was on my way to work today when the Maverick suddenly stopped giving me accelleration and the car started to slow. The power steering was still there and my guages were still going. So I pulled over to the side of the road and she finally just died. I turned the key and it started right back up, but as soon as I gave it even a little tap on the peddle it died. It was able to start up no problem 3-4 more times before it wouldn't start anymore. So I sprayed some starter fluid in her and she started right up, ran for a few seconds and crapped out. At that point I assumed I had a fuel-delivery issue. Made some phone calls and figured I had 20 minutes to wait around, so I kept trying to get her to start. Eventually she did, and I just idled the car a few miles till I got to a gas station. Once I was there I killed the ignition, started her back up, and she drove perfectly fine. I turned it off, waited 15 minutes for my girlfriend to show up, and then had her follow me to work. I thought it could be the fuel pump, since I wasn't flooding the carb with my excessive pedal-pumping. I know the lines are clean and the fuel filter is new - so I discounted that. Another guy told me he thought it could be the floats being stuck down, but the carb is fairly new, too. Any thoughts?
if the fuel pump, carb and filter are all OK, then check the see if the rubber hoses between the engine and tank are collapsing .
Did the 73 have an EVAP can on it? or did it have a vented gas cap. A plugged tank vent can cause those problems.
I'm not sure if the fuel pump is okay, is there a way to check? Or is it assumed to be okay since the car started working again?
Had the same problem last summer, was a weak fuel pump, put a new one on and all was fine again. All above gave good advice as well. Dan
Carb iced up? I know ya'll been having some cold weather out there. If the heat isn't getting to the carb, ice can build up and close off the airflow. After it sits a few minutes, it thaws out enough to run. Check to make sure the hot air tube or water lines are connected to the manifold or carb base. I have seen this happen in the middle of summer on a hot humid day.
Only issue with that theory is that I'd been driving for 15 minutes when the car died. And it was actually a surprising nice morning, not as frosty as it had been. We've had colder days.
Would it be intermittent like this? I've always had a sinking suspicion that the fuel pump was out to get me. A related problem that may help out with that: when the car is cold and I floor it the RPMs droop below 300 before finally sputtering and giving me full acceleration; sometimes the car dies. Once it's warm, no issues at all. It's a locking gas cap and always has been a little loose, never even inspected the rubber, but I don't think it's a ventilation problem simply because of that. I'll check before I leave work today. Thanks guys.
The temp of the day makes no difference......I have seen carbs ice up in 100 degree summertime. The air flowing thur the carb flows fast, cooling the carb throat. When conditions are just right, right amount of moistiture and cooling of the carb throat, ice will form on the walls of the throat, causing the air to flow even faster and form more ice.....to the point of throwing off the mixture so much the car floods out. That's why stock carbs have some kind of heat to them, it helps keep the ice from forming in the first place. After it sat a few minutes, the under hood heat melted the ice, then it would run fine untill the ice built up again. It may not be your problem, but I'd check it anyway to make sure. It sounds like once the carb warms up from the engine heat it does fine....
Fuel filter... Accelerator pump rupture... Fuel pump... Trash in the tank pickup... Faulty venting... Ice/water in system... Vapor lock has the same symptoms, but unless your fuel line moves around and got on the exhaust, you shouldn't have that issue in the winter. Lots of good suggestions in this thread. Check 'em out before throwing money at it willie-nilly. Good luck Dave Edit: Doesn't have to be the coldest day to freeze water in the fuel. I went to the same station all the time, but one winter I strayed to a strange station and filled up. It wasn't terribly cold, but apparently the station I went to had water in the fuel. The car exhibited vaporlock. I found the rubber line to the fuel pump was frozen. I very carefully heated the line and the fuel flowed. Water remover/fuel de-icer helped a little until I burned enough fuel to get some quality fuel in the tank. After that, I promised never to use that station again. However, I had a brain fart and brought a diesel there much later. It too had 'water in fuel' issues and idiot lights going on until I flushed it out. I contacted the manager and he insisted that they used moisture testing tools every day and never had moisture indicated in their tanks. He also said that this was required by state law. I think he was just doing the CYA, because these were the only times I had water in my fuel.
Wish I knew how this story turned out. My Maverick did nearly the same thing today. Stalled whenever I took her over 30 mph, then started to hesitate and stall whenever I gave her gas quickly. Crawled to my local garage at under 10mph. Fuel filter had been replaced and seals checked a few weeks ago as part of restoration. So I guess that leaves the fuel pump, or crap in the gas uptake from the tank. I sprayed gumout in the choke flap on idle, but no help. PS- She idles fine, only stalls when I giver her gas. About 10 yrs ago, my 76 Mav had a fuel pump fail, and I have a funny feeling that's what's happening here. Will keep ya posted. -Charlie
You can measure the fuel pump output with a gauge while driving. if the pressure drops then you can be fairly certain that the pump is bad. A clogged filter sock on the pickup in the tank can cause these symptoms and the easy fix for that is to blow compressed air into the tank through the rubber line that comes out of the frame and goes to the fuel pump. Do it with the gas cap off and listen for the big "POP" of the sock being blown off. If you do blow the sock off be sure to add a filter between the tank and pump. The debris that clogged the filter is still in your tank and could ruin your pump unless you filter it out. A coil that is failing with heat can make the same symptoms but will fail once it gets warm and is not usually speed or rpm sensitive. You can check it by checking to see if there is any spark when the engine begins to lose power. It's easy if you have a tach - if the tach registers "0" rpms as you begin to lose power then check the voltage at the coil. If it is good and there is no spark then the coil is bad.
Just got of the phone with my local mechanic ...seems there's been alot of gunk getting dragged up from the gas tank and fouling the fuel filter. The gas lines are also rotted and now I'm told the carb linkage has problems. The gas tank replacement I was hoping to put off till summer, but it was on my list. (There's no sensor, so the gas gauge aways reads empty.) Looks like I'll be getting that replaced sooner rather than later. Good news is that the mechanic has already located one. Will get an estimate for all this on Monday. I'm in up to my armpits at this point, so will see it thru. -Charlie
