Went out today to the garage to start my Comet up. Surprisingly didn't take that much to get it going. Decided to run the car through the gears. Every time I shifted to a different gear the car seemed to lunge, rather hard actually which makes me thankful my brakes work. I have had a few small tranny leaks but the transmission does show full on the dipstick. I am assuming this is not a good sign, but what could be causing it?
Before we get into translation losses.. maybe specifically describe what you mean by "lunging"? Need to first isolate the system involved. My first check would be vac lines to shift modulator on the side of the trans. Should also check for free and proper movement of the vac advance pot in the distributor as well. These can get sticky and cause erratic of heavy timing advance if the mechanism gets stuck in the advanced position. Another possibility is the line pressure may be excessively high due to sticky pressure valves in the trans valvebody. Get the trans good and warm and they may free up for you. Don't have much time but that should get you started.
I guess i could have described that better. When I sit with my foot on the brake and run the column shifter through the gears the car seems to jump. I know I can feel the transmission in my F150 move a bit going through the gears, but this feels like an actual lunge or jump.
All of the above could cause that situation. Either too much line pressure.. or too much timing advance. Most are pretty easy checks. Trace/inspect all vac lines or do a simple vac test to check for leaks. Vac modulator should be plumbed to direct manifold vacuum.. NOT ported source on the carb. Easy check for the vac advance pot is to put a hand pump vac tool on the distributors front port and see if pumping that up increases engine speed. If it does nothing or very little then it may be stuck at the full advanced position. Hope that helps!
It does seem to idle high. I honestly couldn't tell you if it's excessively high, but it does idle high. Didn't notice that at first .
Some cars, especially those in the mid-70s came with a dashpot, which was a device that slowed the throttle from closing too fast. With all the emissions stuff added to the engines at the time, the power level was down and snapping the throttle closed fast could stall it. Don't know if any of our cars came with these, but if it is stuck, it will keep the throttle cracked open a bit all the time.
I did adjust the idle screw on the carb and that did make it shift smoother. Thanks for the help guys.
