electrical and ignition 1976 2002; Stalling

[mhseahag]

Hello out there, I own a 1976 2002. I want to say up front, that I have absolutely no understanding of cars and their working parts. I acquired my car about 5 years ago, and ever since I have owned it, it has stalled out here and there, but recently it has gotten worse. It stalls in different ways, for example, when I am giving it a lot gas to accelarate quickly, when going up hills, and sometimes during the time of shifting up to a higher gear. Sometimes, it will start right back up after stalling, and other times, it will not. I have taken it in two times to local shops, and they never get to the heart of the problem. They state each time that "it didn't do it for them". I had one man who was an acquaintance supposedly fix the problem by installing an electric fuel pump, but still the problem occurs. Please, anybody out there, can you please give me some advice on this issue? I have a feeling it is my carburetor.....

 

Thanks so much!

Michelle

[jmr_1602]

Maybe the mesh screen on your fuel sender is clogged or dirty.

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[TobyB]

Yeah, fuel supply would be where I'd look, too-

junk in the tank, junk in the carb screen.

Or, randomly, a flakey ignition switch- when your keys swing, it wiggles enough to

break the connection.  I have a car that does this...

 

JimK will kill me for this, but you could try a fuel filter right after the

tank, before the inlet to the electric pump, and then clean the carb.

If it helps, that really points to fuel not getting to the carb because of crud in the fuel tank...

 

I diagnosed a problem like this by driving up a hill until it stalled dead. 

Pulled the top off the carb, and it was bone dry.  Turned out there was

an air leak in the fuel line itself, and the fuel pump at the engine

was pulling air.

 

hth

 

t

 

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by TobyB

[Mike Self]

Michelle, you stated in your original post that the stalling occurs at "random times."  Does it always stall in the same way?  By that I mean  does the engine simply shut off cleanly, as if you turned the ignition key off, or does it stutter, stumble and lurch, then finally die?

 

If it's consistently the former, that (at least on a carbureted car like ours) points to an ignition problem.  If the spark plugs don't fire, then  the engine doesn't run.  If the latter, it points to a fuel problem--not enough fuel is getting to the engine to allow it to run properly.  That can be any number of problems, stretching from the fuel tank to the carburetor--as has been pointed out.  

 

Advise as to how your car stalls, and if you've ever been able to predict the circumstances under which it will stall, and we may be able to offer additional advice.  Also, does your car have its original Solex carburetor or has that been replaced with an aftermarket Weber carb?  Those original Solexes cause all sorts of problems, some of which can cause the stalling you described.

 

cheers

mike