[LABORRATES]

My car is a 1964 Dodge 330 with a 318 engine. The engine was rebuilt approx. 6 years ago. It has maybe 5000 mile on it since. The only thing that's not stock in the engine is the pistons. The ridge on top of the cylinders was so big I had to bore them 30 over. Other than that it is a stock rebuild. The first 4 1/2 years it ran great, with great power, idle, gas mileage, etc. The last couple of months it started to stall at traffic lights. Now it's to the point of stalling when I slow down for the light. It used to start right back up, but now it starts hard, long crank time w/foot on floor. It ldles awful and the stalling seems to get worse the more the engine warms up.

So, I've tried replacing the carb. (three times, rebuilt and each one had different problems) distributor w/new points & cond., fuel pump (check pressure first but still replaced it). I thought maybe the intake was leaking vacuum and replaced the gasket. When I pulled the intake off I noticed that the cam seemed to be a little dry but good pressure on the guage.

I am about to pull my hair out. Does anyone have any ideas??? At this point I am thinking about pulling the engine and going thru it!
Any help would be great!! Thanks

 

[dana44]

Next thing in line that hasn't been checked is the backpressure, being a plugged up exhaust, or a heat riser in the passenger exhaust manifold that is not opening when warmed up.

 

[68RT]

If power is good, I would not think it is a plugged exhaust. That is rare on a non-catalytic car. However, your symptoms seem like a flooded engine caused be small particles keeping the needle valve from fully closing. You may have some debris in your fuel tank and they are working there way up to the needle valve and while you are driving, you use up the leakage but when you come to an idle, if ooverfills the bowl and you flood the engine. That gives the exact symptoms you have. Do you have a good in-line filter installed? A quick fix that sometimes clears the problem temporarily, is to remove the fuel line, plug it, start the engine and let it run out of fuel. Then re-attach the fuel line and since the needle is all the way open, it may flush out that debris.

 

[LABORRATES]

Thanks for the ideas. It still seems to have good power above idle, so I don't think it's the exhaust. The gas tank is new, so are the lines and the filter. When I can get it to idle warm, it doesn't seem to be flooding. I don't see any fuel dumping down the carb. I did do a compression test yesterday and the two middle cyls. on the pass. side have 105 & 115 psi but the end ones have 135 & 140 psi. The left side is all pretty even between 135 & 140 for all four. Even if the compression is really low it still shouldn't stall like it is. It is very frustrating that I can't figure it out. Keep the ideas coming though. Thanks.

 

[KOG]

Sounds like possible flooding to me as well.

 

[68RT]

Low compression will affect starting but not normal running unless you end up with fouled spark plugs which does not seem to be your issue.

 

[dana44]

Compression builds as the engine rpm rises, so it may be an issue. You could try the oil sealing test. Get a small plastic tube, like a WD-40 nozzle, and get about five or six drops of oil at the top edge of the piston so it goes against the ring (go through the sparkplug hole, don't just squeeze oil in there, doesn't do the job), let it seal the rings on those two cylinders, then start her and see how she feels. This will raise the compression on the two cylinders temporarily, but won't do anything if it is the valves themselves. If it does make her run better, try a can of Engine Restore, which I have used on a couple old engines in the past to improve the compression/ring sealing.

 

[LABORRATES]

Thanks again for the ideas, I'll try the oil trick and see. I'll let you know!!!