On rainy or misty days, most noticable during first ten miles, at low RPMs the car tends to stall out. Slowing down or stopping for a red light for instance, the engine slows down so much that if I dont throw it in neutral and give it some gas it conks out. Any suggestions?? It is a stock '73 with 250 automatic.
Yeah, the car has points. I'll check the distributer, and fuel pump, but pardon my naivety, what is a diaphragm?? Thanks for the advise.
Are you talking about when it is about 40 degrees or colder? I used to have a problem with my '74 Comet with carburetor icing. I also had a problem where the choke would not open quick enough...this was solved by replacing the steel tube that ran from the exhaust manifold to the choke housing. This was on a 200 - 6. I also had a problem where I had a bad coil and the car didn't want to run when it was wet out...but most of the time it didn't want to start either...
cracked distrib cap, cracked/leaking coil. old plug wires. something where moisture is allowing the spark to go elsewhere until the eng heat removes the moisture.
Earl, you ain't right man. DJ, lots of good advice here. First thing I would do is get rid of the points. Convert to Duraspark II or put in a Pertronix.
Thanks everybody, even Earl. I'll go fiddle around with the car when I get home. Probably won't be time for the wife though.
Pull the distributor cap in the AM(or after a few hours of not running the engine)...if there is condensation,replace the dis. cap....the hold down springs may be weak.You can also make a better seal of the dis.cap with some RTV.More than likely it is a worn dist. shaft letting hot internal motor gases seep past the breaker point cam bushing....Get another distributor.....You can always ask your wife what a diaphragm is Seriously,let us know what you find.....
One way to check for bad plug wires, raise the hood and start the engine when it's dark and check for arcing on the plug wires and distributor. I had a problem with that before, ran pretty badly when humid or raining, ran ok when dry.
do not quote me on this .....but I read in a magazine a long time ago about drilling a hole in the bottom of the cap to allow the moisture to escape but I remember there being some specific location or something....maybe somebody else has heard of this
dont do that please. if the moisture is water getting in, you can re seal around the wire hole and wipe out the cap with a cloth, then put sealant on the cap where it seats on the dizzy. if it gets moist inside again, get a new cap and check again. putting a hole in the cap just lets more water and moisture in.
I agree with what you are saying. I think their theory (if I remember correctly) was that the hole will "allow" the moisture to escape once the car is running. Like I said; "do not quote me on this" Cause I would not put a hole in my cap I will try to hunt down that magazine this weekend to read it again
