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My '74 360, C4, 2wd truck stalls when I put the transmission in gear (not neutral). I have seen other similar problems while searching this forum, but the culprit seems widespread. My truck runs pretty well when not in gear, so my questions is this. What happens that is different when the truck is put in gear? Are there additional vacuum paths and such that would cause a really bad idle? Idle speed and timing are allright. Just looking for some knowledge to help troubleshoot......thanks,
How about your curb idle, if it is not set right, it will idle in park, but when you put a load on it, it is not idling high enough to keep it going. I would also look, and listen to make sure you don't have a vacuum leak somewhere. It can be crazy stuff like a line almost off, or split etc. Make sure when you are warmed up to temp and in gear your idle is where it should be. I would also throw a vacuum guage on it at this time too to see what kind of vacuum you are pulling.
Sometimes it takes another day with a fresh set of ideas, or eyes on it to go over everything. Good luck and let us know how you make out.
Thanks everybody!! I thought the same thing and bumped up the curb idle some...didn't matter at all. The neutral idle is good. I just don't understand what changes when the truck is in gear to cause such a big difference.
Second, if you are idling at LEAST 700 RPM (did you try as high as 1000?) and put it in gear and it stalls the engine you have internal transmission trouble or a broken torque convertor.
This is of course assuming you have all vacuum lines in check, carb is tuned correctly and choke is opening or fast idle is working.
What if you foot brake it and raise the rpm with the throttle?
Second, if you are idling at LEAST 700 RPM (did you try as high as 1000?) and put it in gear and it stalls the engine you have internal transmission trouble or a broken torque convertor.
This is of course assuming you have all vacuum lines in check, carb is tuned correctly and choke is opening or fast idle is working.
What if you foot brake it and raise the rpm with the throttle?
Josh
Very good point Josh, if everything checks out with the engine, I would look to the tramsmission for issues. One other question, did it just start doing this, or was it gradual? Also, was the truck hauling heavy loads, or used as a baha buggy in recent history? Why kind of miles is on this drive line by the way?
PS: Please don't take this as an insult, but what is the fluid level in the transmission like? What does it smell like, and when was the fluid changed last?? But move on this this stuff after you are certain the motor is functioning properly.
The truck has a freshly rebuilt transmission, probably less than 100 miles on it (courtesy of my father in-law before he gave me the truck) so it doesn't seem like it should be a torque converter. I have to continually add transmission fluid because the cooler lines are leaking, but at the moment the truck stays in the garage because it's not yet road worthy. The vehicle has a lot of problems so I'm working through them as best I can (just went through the carburetor). I'm pretty confident the vacuum lines on top of the motor are good although I haven't followed the one to the transmission. I also recently noticed that there is brake fluid dripping from the bottom of the master cylinder and the bottom of the casting is wet......could the brake booster have something to do with it?