Bucking / Bogging / Stuttering at speed

[Petros]

not likely the fuel pump, they either fail, or they keep working. I can not see a way they would work intermittently, it is a simple mechanical diaphragm with some one way check valves.

[irowiki]

Vienna posting.

Fuel in the sight glass is low on the carb. While getting the air filter off I comment on it looking wet. Damned thing had oil in it. The pcv valve broke also making us fish out bits from the valve cover.

[irowiki]

Oh and no. We're 6 hours from home. Stuck in phoenix currently with hotel prices being in the 200 dollar range cause of a dumb basket ball game...

[xirdneh]

xirdneh, where are these pins?

inside the dist cap
two graphite colored pins
upper and middle of cap
middle contacts the rotor
both pins should go in and out freely with finger touch
if spring under them is bad they will not maintain constant contact
when that happens the car will buck

its just one more thing to check even though it does not happen often
i only know about it because it happened to me on two tercels in a three month period

[irowiki]

Swapped distributor caps and rotors, nothing, swapped spare distributor,

While swapping spare distributor, took air filter housing off to check stuff on the carb. Lo and behold the PCV valve had disintegrated causing what I can only guess was a massive vacuum leak and causing oil to be sucked in through the breather hose. Found an Autozone that had one grommet and a few PCV valves in stock. Replaced those, and stuffed some carb cleaner in various places in the carb.

Wagon then went a good 30 miles through city stop and go and hasn't bobbled yet. Would the PCV valve do all this if it were missing, as it were?

[Petros]

Oh and no. We're 6 hours from home. Stuck in phoenix currently with hotel prices being in the 200 dollar range cause of a dumb basket ball game...

I would keep driving until clear of that place, you can search for hotels on most GPS nav systems. Our even shows the hotel phone numbers in the next town so we can call them and check prices. And reserve a room if price is good.

if it was swallowing a lot of oil it could cause some stumbling because it interpheres with combustion, a big vac leak would not be helpful either. good thing you got the PVC valve corrected, check your oil level, if it is using oil put some "Restore" in the oil (shake it well, put it in and get on the road so it circulates). that should help low compression and oil consumption.

[irowiki]

I'm not sure the compression is low, when the problem is not occurring this thing has the most power of any 3AC car I've ever driven! Oil consumption is near zero. PO has some nice mobile one synthetic in there.

We ended up going 45 miles out of our way to find a little motel to sleep in. Car did not bobble, and I stayed at 60-65 mph the whole way. Time will tell?

[Gottolovem]

Are you back on the road yet?
How is the car behaving?

[irowiki]

After I got off the phone with you we went 45 miles to a hotel and she didn't act up at all. About to go 45 miles back in so we'll see.

[Gottolovem]

Good luck

[irowiki]

I'm not sure if it is related but it started blipping/hiccuping two hours after driving up and down long hills.

Was a mostly downhill gradient, and every now and then it would act like the throttle was released quickly (or a sudden brake tap). Related to fuel issues, or maybe another vacuum leak?

[irowiki]

Well she died on the way home from work. Noticed she was hesitating out of the parking lot, then all of a sudden dead. Crank crank crank, nothing. Funny thing she worked fine that morning and the whole week before.

Lo and behold there's a lot of oil dripping out of the air filter intake. So I check the PCV valve and the brand new grommet is shredded again. I make a macguyver grommet out of electrical tape, car starts back up, makes it another half mile and dies again, cranks fine. Took the fuel line off the fuel pump, cranked, and gas only comes out in small blips.

At the time there was an incredible windstorm that I thought would rip the hood right off.

At this point I figure one of the following:

fuel filter plugged again
engine sucked in a lot of oil and the plugs are fouled
carb plugged
fuel pump dead
??

Got a ride from a coworker, went home, got my tools and a spare fuel pump, went by auto parts and got another fuel filter, pcv valve and grommet.

Went back up to the car with the wife (8 miles away from home in the middle of nowhere), replaced the fuel filter, pcv, grommet, swapped the plugs for good measure, stuck some carb cleaner in the carb + bowl.

Car fires up, runs for ten seconds on what carb cleaner was in the car and dies again. So I try cranking again and the brand new battery dies. At that point I threw my hands up and called roadside assistance and got the car towed home for free.

Going to swap the fuel pump and get the battery exchanged then see where I am. Possibly swap the carb.

[Gottolovem]

Put the other carb i mailed you on it i thi k there is gunk in the current one.

[Petros]

look for a leaky fuel line up stream of the pump, it will suck air in the line and make it seem like fuel pump is bad.

easy test, run fuel line from gas can into suction side of fuel pump. If it starts and runs, you have a leak up stream of the fuel pump.

Also, if lots of loose junk in the tank you could have it plugging the fuel inlet. remove the fuel sender and inspect the inside of the tank with a flash light for deposits.

[rer233]

+1 on the gas can idea. I've found that an old antifreeze jug makes a real nice "aux fuel tank." I route both the suction and return lines to the jug and park it just forward of the dizzy so i can close the hood and actually drive the car (that's how i got my '87 4wd to the shop after it sat for 9 years.)

Good luck!