After all that was done, I took the truck for a drive - about 15 miles. It started up and drove great. Then, as I got closer to home, it started to idle really poorly.
I got it in the garage, and shut it off. It was really hard to restart, and it's idling extremely rough. Then, I noticed gas dripping from the front and the back of the carb. It's never done this before.
My first thought is that the timing shifted, so I'll check that first, but if it comes out ok, I'm not sure where to look from there before rebuilding the carb. Could it be plug wires or coil? Wires are about three years old, coil is unknown as to age.
The carb was rebuilt three years ago, but my truck is only driven every other weekend or so, as it's usually up at our cabin, so it does sit quite a bit.
Sounds like the float is stuck. There is probably some trash in the needle and seat. Its overflowing with fuel casuing the leak and poor runability.
What's the best way to unstick the float. Now that you mention it, something similar happened on my motorcycle once, and draining the float bowl flushed it, and it was fine.
if you can get it to idle, try tapping on the top of the carb to break the trash loose under the needle. Dont hit too hard. I usually use the handle on a screwdriver. Another trick is to rev it up and hold your hand over the top of the carb. This causes a large vacuum unside the float bowl that will sometimes pull the trash out . be careful, especially if it is pukeing fuel everywhere.
I did replace the plug wires and the coil (which may have been original), and double checked the point gap, and checked the timing. Everything on that end seems in order.
I took it for a drive, and when I got home, it was no longer leaking gas, which is good. However, it's still idling terrible at stop signs, etc. I have to constantly mess with the manual choke and the gas pedal, yet at 40-50 mph, it's running just fine...
Running fine at 50 mph = higher enginer revs. Could be a vac leak, check the bolts
holding the carb to the intake. Also intake to the block, vac line to the distributor ( you did some work on it, timing etc., could have left off the vac line). Another way to check for vac leaks is to spray some carb cleaner along the same areas - carb flange, intake flange to block, it the RPM goes up, that is usually where the vac leak is.
The line from the PCV to the the block was really loose - I tightened that up as well.
I replaced the vacuum line from the distributor to the carb - that should be ok, and I did reconnect it after checking the timing.
It does have this weird aftermarket air cleaner on it (you can see it in my gallery). I replaced the filter on it.
Ok. An update. I adjusted the carb a bit, and now it's idling better than ever. I need to do the timing again now that it idles steady, as I had a tiny blip of a backfire, but I think it's okay.
disco -
hey an easy and accurate way to set the timing is to use a vacuum gauge,
connect it downstream from the carb, i.e., at the intake manifold and adjust until you get the highest reading. Then you can also use this to adjust the carb, set it so you get the highest reading. The movement of the needle is important - it should be steady. If it is moving, then that's another thread.
good to see that things are running well.
Well, I'm an idiot.
I figured out what may have been the root of the idling problem all along.
The rubber hose connecting the hard lines between the tank and the supply line to the pump was split.
I was crawling under there tonight to replace the speedo cable, and noticed a drip, which, when bent, became a stream, of gas and sure enough the line was broken, which was probably cutting my fuel supply or making it erratic. Thankfully it didn't lead to a fire or worse. This wouldn't explain the leaking carb (which was probably a stuck float), but it would explain the weird idling issues, and why they popped up all of a sudden.
I'll probably need to check the idle again, but I took her for a spin tonight, and she ran well. I also replaced the alternator, as a precautionary measure, seeing as it was caked with decades of farm mud and dust - I honestly don't know how it was still functioning.
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