Hey guys,
New to this forum but I've owned my 1973 Dodge Charger for about a year now. When we test drove it, we had no problems with it, but as soon as we got it home, it only ran well in park. It idles fine and is ok when it rolls in neutral or rolls under its own power in drive, but as soon as you press the gas in drive, it chokes and dies. It doesnt do this in park, it revs pretty well, only when its in drive. We've cleaned and rebuilt the carburetor, replaced various hoses, ran vacuum tests, used a tachometer to check idle speeds, checked the distributor wires, etc. Sorry if any of this sounds naive, but I'm fairly new to cars, and especially older ones. I really want to get this one running so I can drive it to the shop and get the top redone and take care of a couple of rust issues. My father is able to trick it, shift it into neutral and get the engine revved so when he drops it into drive it already has some RPMs and wont stall and die. Obviously this works but I dont want to drive it this way forever. I greatly appreciate anyone who can help me or even point me in the right direction.

 

Welcome
it sounds like your accelerator pump is not working?
or your power valve.
what kind of carb is it?
can you post pictures?
are all the part's of the carb there? linkages ect
don't keep neutral dropping it to get her rolling your going to break something expensive!
What is the timing set at?
how many miles on the motor specifically the timing chain?

 

it is a 2 bbl holley carb, we havent checked the accelerator pump, and I cant recall if we've checked the power valve. I'm not sure about what the timing is set at, but based on the other parts in the car, I can guess that the chain has 150k miles on it as does the car. I'm fairly certain the carb is complete. Unfortunately I have it covered for the winter, but I was trying to get some troubleshooting ideas for when warmer weather comes around. Thanks!

 

Sounds like low vacuum. Put a vacuum guage on it in park and report back the readings. You can also set your timing with it. At warm idle adjust your distributor for the best vacuum reading and lock it in place.

 

plux -

Agree with eric, timing and vacuum have to be checked as a first pass.

Archer

 

Ah yes, I did forget to mention we've checked the vacuum advance on the distributor and used a vacuum gauge on the car at idle, and I believe they all checked out to the specs in the shop manual.

 

plux -

A vacuum leak will give a high idle without load (N or P) and then drop under load. There may be insufficient advance on the timing at idle to sustain firing under load.

Might sound barbaric, but with the car running in N, spray the engine with water and listen for changes in RPM. You can use carb cleaner, but a little water being sucked in somewhere is usually enough to reveal a problem.

A worn timing change can make timing readings harder to decipher.

Archer

 

I know we haven't checked the timing chain, and we suspected there may be a cylinder that's off, so once it warms up a bit, I'll check all these things out. Thanks for all the tips guys!

 

Also, be sure the vac advance is connected to ported vacuum, not manifold. This causes the symptoms you are experiencing.

 

2 barrel holley carb sounds like a 360 engine with all the pollution stuff on it still. The carb is quite simply junk like ALL holley carbs. Replace with a carter 1 1/2 bbd carb.

Chances are it also has a plugged crossover passage in the intake. To check start engine and immediatly feel the center part of intake to head there is a raised section that has a choke on one side and other the other is an egr valve or plate. If its warm its open if its cold and stays that way after 2 mins of engine running from cold its plugged.

Vacuum leaks from intake gaskets are rare, very rare, so I have no idea why people are on that one. A loose carb maybe or a burnt carb to manifold gasket are more common. Another problem is the 3/8 hose going from the back of carb to the brake booster being old, dry and falling apart needing replacing. If the hose feels hard as rock it needs replacing. Replace with 3/8 fuel line hose and NOT 3/8 vacuum hose.

Vacuum leaks are easy to diagnose. Put air cleaner on car, close hood with engine at idle speed 700 rpms. If you hear a high pitched whine or whistle, you may have sit in the car with windows closed and all accessories off, you got a leak.

Spraying water on a running engine will cause it to run rough or stall even without leaks cause of the crossfire between sparkplug wires( its an interesting light show at night)

Carb clean, solvent in a bottle does help to locate leaks but has a tendancy to remove paint at the same time. Propane torch(unlit) running over gasket areas works fairly well with no damage. Personnaly I just look closely around gasket areas. If I think there is a leak I look for clean spots. If the engine is dirty but that area around the gasket is super clean it's leaking.

My adivice start with the easiest. Install a Carter 1 1/2 BBD carb in place. They are used on anything from a 318 - 400 engines. More commonly used on the 361-383 2 barrel engines though. Get kit for the carb install adjust for your engine size( its usually on this large sheet year does not matter as much as most of the adjustments for that engine size are the same.) install on car start engine if it runs and drives your done.

Differences between a holley and carter carb are the choke rod is different, the location of the fuel inlet is different you can bend the fuel line into an S pattern to make it fit without cutting open the line. The linkage mounts the same. The air cleaner base may or may not fit depending. Most of the time it swaps easily other times not so much.


IF you want to rebuild the holley I can almost guarentee its a waste of time. Two things are generally shot. One the charcoal float needs to be replaced with a copper one. Two the power valve, which is not available, is probably shot. Clean it as best you can and hope for the best.

 

Hi I was wondering if anyone could help me with this. I have a 1967 charger 383 four barrel. Yesterday I took her for a 60 mile cruise without any problems, came home and three hours later went to the store a mile away, left the store started the car and after about 100 feet it just died on me, all power went out like the battery was disconnected.
I checked the connections etc.. After about 10 minutes all the power just came back, the car started and I got her safely in my garage.
Anyone have an idea what would possibly cause this?
Thanks in advance

 

C -

Confirm you're getting both fuel and spark WHEN the car won't run.

Vapor lock - check fuel line
"Bad" needle and seat - remove/clean or replace.
Incorrect float level (not likely) - check and correct.
Stuck choke - fix.

Really need more info.

Archer

 

Sounds to me like the wiring going past the fire wall has an issue. Odd for it to loose all the power as it did. Leads me to believe that you would be looking for a bad connection.... Check at the firewall and fuse block and also the Amp Gauge wires. Just am FYI, you might want to start your own tread so ot to add confusion....