Like its running outta gas

[xirdneh]

Two of the Tercels I sold to friends are doing the same thing.
They act like they are running out of gas.
One pulls over and after a short wait, takes off and everything's fine for about 20-30 miles.
The other car acts the same but sometimes will go 80-100 miles before doing it.

[Tercel__jon]

Try loosening the gas cap and see if that helps. Maybe a tank vent is clogged. That, and replace the fuel filters on em. If those dont work, there might be junk in the tank blocking the pickup line.

[takza]

Since the fuel pump on the engine pulls gas from the tank...a leak in the line back to the tank could draw air in? Cap and filter first...then fuel pump and line????

[Tercel__jon]

Thats possible Takza. But what I was thinking is the vent is plugged or the cap is bad. Think about it, when you pump fuel from the tank, you need air to fill the void where the fuel was. If the air cant get in, the suction will overcome the pump. The tank has a vent that goes to the charcoal canister, theres a possibility it could be clogged. Simplest test for that is to loosen the gas cap.

I think if there was a hole in the fuel line, to where it was sucking air, it wouldnt get more than a mile down the road because there wouldnt be enough fuel entering the carb.

[takza]

If the OEM carb...could also be the vac tubing is routed wrong.

Cap and filter would be the 1st to check...then the other stuff? I've seen a Corolla stop because the filter clogged...and it didn't look like it either.

[xirdneh]

replaced fuel filter on first one
brown stuff came out of it
drove 90 miles so far without incident

[Tercel__jon]

Good to hear!

Hope to hear same results from the other one as well.

[dlb]

xirdneh, i was thinking about this thread and wonder what the final conclusion for both cars was. fuel filters, rusty gas tanks? just curious.

[xirdneh]

xirdneh, i was thinking about this thread and wonder what the final conclusion for both cars was. fuel filters, rusty gas tanks? just curious.

the car i replaced the fuel filter on is doing fine

the car i'm driving still acts up about once every two weeks
always when engine is cold and on the way to being warmed up
the engine just stops and starts in fits causing a jerking feeling
if i keep the rpms up by shifting to a lower gear it will keep going until it stops doing it (about the time the engine is hot)
if i let it die it wll not start unless i roll it down a hill and compression start or let it sit for an hour or so
i figure it is flooded
not sure what is causing this but i plan to switch the carb out if it gets too annoying
i'm still averaging 32 mpg during all around driving with that carb so i hate to change it

i have also considered carb icing as the problem but that usually does not cause flooding

[xirdneh]

Found the problem.
after several difficult to start sessions and car flat out dying and not re-starting
i had thoughts it was the carb flooding but there was no excess gas odor
so
i took the distributor off planning to switch it out
but it turned out to be the distributor cap
the graphite plunger that rests against the rotor was not staying out
i guess there is a spring behind it and the spring is bad

[dlb]

nice work!

[Petros]

I once had a fairly new cap burn through in several places around the sides, which is odd since the factory cap will last up to 10 years. It was still running and starting okay, a bit rough, but I melted the cap when the wire bundle caught on fire so I replaced the whole distributor and cap (that was when I noticed the holes burned through from the inside). Commie made parts are just not worth it.