Wag starts, then dies... also has a dead zone when revving

[jtrain]

Hoping for some help or suggestions on how to address a few issues I’m having with my wag when starting it for the first time each day. Three separate issues, not sure if they’re related or not ...

1. I pump the gas a couple of times and it starts right up, runs for 15 seconds and then dies. Pump it 2 more times and it starts right up and keeps running.
2. If I put it in gear before letting it warm up for a minute or two it will die out.
3. While it’s warming up, if I rev the engine there is a flat spot. It doesn’t rev like you would expect, instead the RPMs go up, then it sounds like it is going to die, then continues revving. The ‘dead spot’ seems to be in the same place each time. I don’t have a tachometer so I can’t share the exact RPM but it happens at a pretty low RPM.

Once it is warmed up and I’ve driven it for a few minutes all of these issues disappear. Cruises around town just fine and down the highway at 65mph no problem. If I stop for gas, it starts right back up (usually w/ just one light pump, sometime I have to hold down the gas and keep cranking). Issues only seem to exist if the engine is cold. I bought this wag off an auction lot so can’t say much about the history except that it’s got 165,000 on the odometer and the PO put in a Jasper engine and trans at some point. J

Anyone have thoughts or suggestions on what could be going on or where I should start? Any additional information I can provide?

Thanks

[Mack_T]

I would take a look at the carb myself. It sounds like the choke may be out of adjustment; of course, it could be vacuum leaks as well. Check the vacuum lines, they can always cause trouble first. Then I'd take a look at the choke. I'm no carb expert, especially non-weber carbs, but it sounds like a lean spot to me.

Good luck,
Clay

[shimniok]

I would take a look at the carb myself. It sounds like the choke may be out of adjustment; of course, it could be vacuum leaks as well. Check the vacuum lines, they can always cause trouble first. Then I'd take a look at the choke. I'm no carb expert, especially non-weber carbs, but it sounds like a lean spot to me.

Yup, me too. Lean issue. Mine has behaved similarly re #1 and #2 during initial start when it is set too lean. Right now it is calibrated about as lean as it can go and still be driveable and it takes me about 3 or 4 pump-n-starts before it'll stay running and I have to let it run a minute then rev up a little before putting it in gear, then punch the gas a couple of times. It is a huge hassle but living with it for now. Hate to touch the carb since it did so well passing emissions. :D

Michael

[jtrain]

Thanks for the replies and sorry for the delay in getting back to this post.

Regarding the first point about digging into the carb, I’ve rebuilt it twice since I’ve had it. First time I didn’t realize I had the wrong kit (live and learn) - everything seemed to fit but I some of the gaskets were slightly different along with the float. Bought a different kit the second time and rebuilt it again. I’m a complete novice when it comes to carbs so I may have jacked something up when rebuilding it but the symptoms have stayed relatively the same between the two rebuilds. Unfortunately I don’t have a prior reference point so I can’t tell if my second rebuild helped at all. I also had my mechanic look at the carb and he tore it down and said the second rebuild looked correct. But he did comment that he played with the choke quite a bit and just couldn’t seem to get it adjusted just right.

So, with that being said… how do I figure out if my ‘difficult starting’ problem is related to air, fuel, or spark? Eventually all of them are present because it does start. I richened up the air/fuel mixture a bit and now instead of starting and then stalling, it just takes longer to start. Is there a magical way to tell which of the three elements is causing my problem?

I’ll ignore the other two conditions for now unless someone thinks their related. Hoping to pick up a vacuum gauge in the near future and will test for leaks then. For now everything looks like it is present and I don't hear any hissing.

I’d be more excited about taking the wag out for a spin if I was confident it was going to start when I decided to head home. Honestly, it has never left me stranded but there’s always that doubt when you turn the starter and it doesn’t fire right up.

[jtrain]

One more thing, I've replaced the Fuel Pickup, plugs, wires, rotor, cap, and the power valve (several times) since I bought the truck, so these should all be in good working order. I also replaced the Fuel Pump because I thought my starting problem might be the result of fuel dripping out of the carb bowl due to a bad diaphram. As you can see, no dice on the Fuel Pump fix.

[bushwood44]

Check for vac. leak between carb and intake with WD-40.

[jtrain]

I cleaned up throttle linkage and the arm for the accelerator pump with some WD40, took care of the 'flat spot' when revving. While playing with that I ended up squirting quite a bit of gas into the throat. When I started it up for the first time it started right up, so I think my hard starting is caused by lack of fuel. I noticed fluid building up on the fuel inlet nut on the carb when the Wag was running, so I cleaned it up and tightened it down as well. I’ll keep an eye out for any additional leaks and post back if the problem continues.

Now on to a new problem, the Wag recently started running hot. The days have been 90+ degrees and when I’m tooling around town the needle hovers around the tick mark between 220 and the bottom of the red zone. After some reading it sounds like the fan clutch is bad but I’m not sure how to test it. When testing on a hot motor, should the fan turn ¼ turn and gradually stop or should it be ‘locked’ with about a ¼ turn of play? Posted the same question in the post below and am hoping someone can help point me in the right direction.

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=88715 (http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=88715)