my 84 has a 300 6 in it with a one barrel carb. on a cold morning when i go to start it i pump the gas twice to set the choke or what ever. it will fire up and idle high like the choke is set for a sec or two the it idles right down and wants to stall. when it dose stall it takes for ever to get it going again sometimes i kil the battery before it fires back up. i need help please

 

Sounds like you need a good tune-up. Spark, cap/rotor and filter changes.
Your carb may need a little adjustment also.

 

As a 23 year owner of a 300 six, I will guarantee a filter change will do nothing for you except empty your wallet. A tuneup never hurts, but if it runs real nice when warmed up, it will do nothing for this problem... a cold start roughness....been there, done that!
It's carb/choke related. Two of the three scews on the carb can be ruled out for this particlar problem....the idle speed screw and the fast idle speed screw. The third screw may be the culprit....the IDLE fuel mixture screw which faces the right front corner of the truck...kind of hidden. Whatever you do don't change any two adjustments at the same time....if it's wrong you won't know which was wrong. I would make minor adjustments to that screw... a day at a time. Someone wrote the other day it should be 3 1/4 turns counterclockwise from lightly seated. I've never counted, I just go by ear. You might want to start there, or I think I would test to see where it is now. Engine off, turn it in until lightly seated (to count turns), then back it back out to where you started. Now, let's say for example it is 2 turns, I think I would head towards the 3 1/4, maybe go with 2 1/2. Each day try another adjustment, as long as your battery holds up. Now if the truck is running real good when warmed up you may not want to mess with this screw. In that case the other possibility is the choke adjustment. Is the wire coming from the alternator hooked up? Is the tube coming from the manifold area hooked up? Both of those supply heat to the choke which makes the choke valve slowly open. When stone cold and you press the gas pedal that valve should be totally closed. When you crank it, it should open slightly....a little air is needed. The engine starts and runs fast and the valve will start to open slowly as the engine warms. I find my valve opening when the engine really isn't ready for it, so the fast idle condition gets rough, but as it warms it smooths out, that's when I kick the choke off, cause it's ready to go. Adjusting the choke valve by turning the black choke housing on the backside (loosen 3 screws) will probably solve that, but in my case, I've gotten to like the rough fast idle.....it tells me when I'm ready to leave. Besides, I'm in south Texas, so this whole process doesn't last longer than 30 seconds. Good luck.

 

I have the same problem with my '82 300 inline-six. I found that if the truck dies after the idle runs down and the engine sputters out, that the choke plate needs to be manually opened. Remove the top cover to the air filter and use a screw driver, pliers or something to hold the choke plate partially opened then start the truck and remove the tool. This is not the best fix but it will keep you from running down your battery.

So far I haven't determined exactly why the engine won't idle. It is probably partially the adjustment of the carburetor and maybe a vacuum leak. The truck loses power when accelerating and the gas mileage sucks. And about half the time when I shut down the engine diesels.

If I find and fix the problem I will let you, the kid, know. Good luck.

 

I had this problem with mine too, ('81 300, 1bbl carb) it was a horribly long winter driving it like that. I had to keep my foot on the gas at stop lights or it would die. Try pushing the clutch, brake, AND gas at the same time at every stop of traffic!! It took forever to start up except for the FIRST start, and then it would idle at around 200 RPMs, if at all, would buck and bog when I tried to accelerate. This was only when it was really cold outside and the engine was cold.

Turned out I had a vacuum leak. Especially with those old brittle plastic lines, it's hard to tell where it is. I replace my entire vacuum line system front to back, top to bottom and my problem was solved. This winter I'm tuning the fast idle screw, idle screw, and idle mixture screw as described above, and have put in a new electric choke. All have helped to make things a little better, but NOTHING compared to what that vacuum leak did when it was sucking in 20 degree, frost bitten air where it didn't belong.

Try looking for a vacuum leak, or better yet, if you have those old lines, get some vacuum Tees and about 25' of vacuum line and replace everything. It's so worth it.

 

i have an 83 i6 but my idle runs till u kick it down then it dies it was because the entire carb was lose take a quick look easy fix