I decided to try the seafoam again last night , figuring it’s easier to do that then pull the carb . I followed all directions same as last time . Didn’t have any freeze plugs pop out this time tho after the hot soak I drove it around pretty aggressively keeping the rpms up a lot . It was the most fun I’ve ever had in my truck and that’s saying a lot since I always have fun in my truck it was running great the whole time last night . Today about two hours ago I took it out again. It idled smooth and drove fine down my driveway to the road below . In 2nd it was fine at all rpm ranges , in 3rd in jumped around and bogged down for a second and same in 4th . That was only for mabey 30sec . Then it ran just as great as last night Does anyone have an explanation that might explain why it runs good after seafoam like it got all cleaned out and then next day still run rough for less than a minute and then smooth out ? If old fuel gellied up in the carb like beast said it might of, could it clear out after the rpms are up ? And then clog back up after it cools down ?

 

I was also wondering if there’s a chance my truck might not like high octane ? I usually go cheap and run the 87octane in it . Right now it’s 91octane mixed with a can of the gas tank seafoam

 

Sorry I keep posting lol , but I’ve decided to pull the carb tomorrow. Unless someone has another idea I should try first ??? Otherwise is there anything I should watch out for ? Or be extremely careful with removing/installing ? Anything I’ll need to buy beforehand ?Its a 1406 Edelbrock carb. I recently bought a can of carb cleaner for my snowblower, the stuff you let parts sit in for a while . So I’ll probably let my parts soak in that and then rinse them off with spray can carb cleaner . The carb is practically new so I can probably reuse the gaskets right ? Thanks .

 

Fuel: High test is not needed unless you're runnin high compression, etc. 87 is fine for stockers.

You'll need new gaskets if you pull it all off....just download the instruction manual and give it a whirl. The top of the carb should come off w/out having to yank the whole thing....peek in side....look for any boogers and such in there. Then yank it.

Pictures will help you.....and observe where/how the electric choke is hooked.

Another thing you could check is the vacuum advance - the can, if it holds vacuum and the breaker plate for ease of movement. While you're there, check that the wires to it aren't brittle and still make a good connection.

 

Haha saw this a little late . I pulled carb this morning. Tore it all down soaked parts. puddled carb cleaner in the carb itself and let us sit for a while then washed all parts with carb cleaner and blew everything out . The bottom of the fuel bowls had a couple little spots that were slimy but over all seemed fairly clean . Hard to say what the passages past the jets were like . I got it back and it idled good , backfires were gone took it out and tried to drive it but roads a skating rinks today so I couldnt floor it at all to see if it would still buck around . Was driving great at low rpms and speeds . On my way back to the house ups pulled out in front of me and I ended up over the edge of the road luckily I didn’t slide the whole down (about 15ft) my back tires cought the snow berm on the edge of the rd . Ups guy hops out and takes a look then tells me there’s nothing he can do and takes off luckily a guy stops and is able to pull me out Anyhow I’ll be taking it to work tomorrow hopefully roads in town aren’t slick so I see how it does .

 

Oh... breaker plate??? I’ll check vacuum advance tomorrow.

 

Thought I’d post an update : Since my last post my truck hasn’t been running any better and yesterday it was the worst yet . Heading down my driveway it was backfiring right underneath my seat and puffing out black smoke with each pop . Once I got down to level ground and had to give it gas it wouldn’t do anything but pop and smoke. Lots of hestitation and stumbling and no power at all. I ended up coming back to my house right away seeing as how I wasn’t going to get far . Today I checked vaccum advance can again and it holds vaccum and moves my breaker plate .I checked my mechanical advance and watching my mark with my timing light while I revved it up I noticed my mark was bouncing back and forth between about 2in with or without the engine revved. I retarded my timing a little and it did wonders . No more pops under my seat , no more black smoke . Just a few little backfires out the exhaust and it still stumbled a little here and there and got a bit hotter than normal . So I’ll still have to mess with timing a little more but at least it feels like I’m on the right track . What could of made my timing change ? I never touched it .

 

Sounds like trouble with the distributor. You're right, the timing won't change on its own. The mechanical advance mechanism can get sticky or erratic.

 

Thanks for the reply Tedster . Is the mechanical advance something I can spray with wd40 and let it soak or do I need to change it out ? Also is there a possibility that my timing chain could be bad and could of jumped a tooth ?

 

I'm wondering if the roll pin on the distributor gear went south.....

Does the rotor move around a lot when you try and twist it?

 

No more than 1/4in at most.

 

Well it's kind of a package deal. If the distributor is getting long in the tooth, all loosey-goosey or erratic to that point - the rest of the engine is likely well loved too - right? ... Low cylinder compression, blowby, stretched timing chain, weak valve springs, excessive bearing clearance, etc etc. Just guessing since we can't be there and see what's what. But it is important that the distributor both advances and retards engine timing smoothly.

 

Your guess is actualy as good as mine lol . I’m not sure about compression or any of that never have had a compression test or a mechanic go over everything. I’d rather just fix things as they break . When I have a problem i just come on here at let you guys do all the work jk When everything is running smooth it runs strong, but last few weeks there hasn’t been a lot of that

 

Well sure, but what I'm getting at is if the distributor is all wacked out, let's say it is just for the sake of argument, then that motor is likely going to need some work. Without being able to check out the engine, that's just what it sounds like.

 

Ok yeah that makes sense . Can you clue me in on the signs to look for in my distributor to tell what shape it’s in ? Check for rust and make sure the weights can move ?