Hey everyone I just picked up my first old car about a week ago. It's a 1970 ford maverick with c-4 trans and for 302 in it. I had some problems with it a couple hrs of driving it. It would sputter when pressing on the accelerator from a stop. Problem got worse to where I had to put it in neutral and keep the engine reved up at stop lights for it not to shut off. Took it to a shop they said carb needed rebuild or replace so I went out and bought a new carb. Holley 2 barrel. I also installed it and attempted to tune the carb per the instructions from Holley as follows , idle when in drive is 750 rpm and in park it is 850-900 rpm, vacuum was about 25psi. Took it for a test drive and the car ran a lot smoother than when I first bought it. After about an hr driving it the sputtering was back. Started off small no biggie. After time went on has it gotten a lot worse. Now it sputters when accelerating from stop and also engine shuts down when brakeing sometimes when turning. Also noticed from a stop if you put accelerator all the way to floor it sputters and doesn't go anywhere you have to pump it then it gets up and goes. I also installed a stereo and one small amp and sub and as the car engine stalls I've notice that the subs make a popping noise. The lights also turn of when car stalls and the turns back on. After cars stalls I have no problem starting it back up on first try. Well that is all the info I can give you, hope someone might know where I should start troubleshooting cause I really enjoy this car and wanna get it back on the road without the stalling. So if anyone might know any info I would greatly appreciate it..... Ps this is my first old car so don't know much about it.....never had a carb engine so don't know anything except for what I learn through online.....
Sounds like you got two or more things going on at the same time...fuel related and electrical problem and a lot of could be's and maybe's. Trash in the fuel tank will cause some of these problems or could be a fuel pump going bad. Could be a bad vacuum leak around the intake gasket. As far as your electrical problems, might be a bad ground or a switch grounding out. I'm sure this thread is gonna get long before your problem is fixed.
sounds like points are bad to me, might want to do a full tune up plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and new points. and see where you are then.
Thanks for advice I know there is no electrical problems with the amp and stereo I will take it to have a tune up
I remember asking that questing Someone else can answer that better than me tho. Just brings me back to when I first got my car...
You can just get off points pretty cheap and not have to worry about what they are... http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=73939&highlight=electric+ignition
Okay I narrowed down the problem to stalling while turning....doesn't stall when the wheel is straight. But soon as I turn the wheel it sputters and stalls. Any ideas?
The first part of this sentence ? Wanna bet ? The second part is the second best thing you can do here, but I'd highly recommend replacing the points with any of the drop in electronic modules out on the market. Oh, and the Amp thing ? It's entirely possible the voltage drain from it is too much to let the ignition function properly.
How big is the amp? Does the car stall when you have the radio off? Your sound system might be pulling more than the alternator can put out. Could be the carburetor float level too high and it spills over when turning
i took the amp out and wires and still the same problem. While the car is idling and i turn the steering wheel just a little bit it dies unless i let go of the wheel then it turns back on. It has no power steering so when i describe turning the wheel it is not enough to even move the wheels at all. Lets say if my hands where at 9 o'clock and three o'clock i cant even make it to 3:05 or 9:05 without it cutting off.
Now it's beginning to sound like a wire under the dash grounding out. Do you have to be driving to make this happen or will it die sitting still?
