Engine Carbed 5.0 swapped run like chit.

Smurfstang88

Active Member
Nov 11, 2019
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Virginia
Ok so, to start off simple i have a 88lx 4cyl swapped to a 5.0 witha carb (edlebrock avs2). ive had the car for about 2 years ish and when i got it the only thing done was the motor was in the car and running great. It continued to run great this whole time until now, while ive been busy working on it as the rest of the car was basically an empty shell when i bought it, but for the past oh 4-6 months its been sitting with the occasional start up every 2-4 weeks and its always been starting and running good and id let it get warm and maybe drive it up the road and back. But yesterday i started it and got a bug up my butt to wash it and finish the car breaks etc, and i started it had no problems pulled it over to the hose and gave it a good wash. I then started it back up idk 2 hours later and went to pull it to my shop to start working on it and it stalled. It started right back up pulled it over to my shop and bam stalled again, proceeded to start it over n over and it just runs like crap all of the sudden, i messed with my adjustment screws and leaned it out and it finally started running again without stalling but it sounds like CRAP. I mean it sounds like its missing, it sounds not too unlike a tractor LOL. Sounds maybe like it has a severe header leak once its warm? So i went to start it again today, and it started right up and ran great and sounded normal so i was like ok ill take it down the rode and maybe clear it out, so i did, try, and as soon as i got on the gas under load it coughs and falls on its face over and over.. i barely got the dang thing home a 1/4 mile away.. it continues now to idle terribly like a tractor and dies over and over. I cant tell if its misfiring or what i just dont even know where to start to be honest. Bad gas maybe but 6 months isnt that long i dont think especially because it ran fine a week ago, and runs fine until warm. And also i dont have a fuel gauge working soni should probably add gas, as well as i have a inline holly fuel pump. But the inline filter stays having gas in it so i dont think its near empty yet.. help appreciated.
 
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Also, it has a msd ignition box, and brand new msd distributor new ford racing wires, autolite plugs, i pulled a few and they are golden in color. The motor only has a few thousand miles on it.. sits at about 160f° while idle, 35-45oil pres.
 
Take off the distributor cap, spray the inside with WD40, wipe it dry ( it does not have to be spotless) reinstall it and give that a try...
 
Ok, can i ask why, whats the science behind this?
Old school... When it comes to carbs you must have a distributor.. When we washed engine compartments Back in "The Day", moisture gets inside the distributor, causing arcing of the spark path... Just a guess on my part but when you said "after you washed it' this came to mind...
WD ( in WD40) means Water Displacement.....
If you take off your distributor cap and see moisture in there, and it does not take much moisture to cause this, I am gonna say you found it....
Hope this helps as in todays world of computers and fuel injection, I am not worth a :poo: anymore....LOL
 
Ok, can i ask why, whats the science behind this?
Old school... When it comes to carbs you must have a distributor.. When we washed engine compartments Back in "The Day", moisture gets inside the distributor, causing arcing of the spark path... Just a guess on my part but when you said "after you washed it' this came to mind...
WD ( in WD40) means Water Displacement.....
If you take off your distributor cap and see moisture in there, and it does not take much moisture to cause this, I am gonna say you found it....
Hope this helps as in todays world of computers and fuel injection, I am not worth a :poo: anymore....LOL
Ah I understand, well i dont wash my engine bay with water just because of this, but yes the first thing i checked yesterday was the cap, and theres nothing wrong looking inside to me. It even has a cover over the top of the distributor for just this reason.. its dry and very clean looking
 
Ah I understand, well i dont wash my engine bay with water just because of this, but yes the first thing i checked yesterday was the cap, and theres nothing wrong looking inside to me. It even has a cover over the top of the distributor for just this reason.. its dry and very clean looking
Also want to add that i unplugged 2 wires from driverside of the motor, and there was spark and i got shocked to prove it! Hah, but also, it didnt even seem to change the way it was running hmm
 
Drain the fuel from the carb into a glass jar or similar, check for cloudiness, ethanol fuels suck.
I will do this when i get time tomorrow, but i can say i have a glass inline filter in which i can see the gas and it looks perfectly normal, also it smells normal (not that it having water present in the fuel would even be visible in such a small amount of fuel) so far my assumption is that as its been sitting with CRAP ethanol fuel, maybe water has collected to the bottom of the tank? And maybe its low enough to be sucking the fuel off the bottom now.. anyways I’ll try what you said, and i might just go ahead and syphon the tank out and try fresh 93 non-ethanol and see what i get..
 
Pull a plug and see what it looks like.
I'm guessing you may have some carbon fouling on the plugs, carbed cars I've owned in the past hated to be started
and shut down without driving them around up to operating temp.
 
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Pull a plug and see what it looks like.
I'm guessing you may have some carbon fouling on the plugs, carbed cars I've owned in the past hated to be started
and shut down without driving them around up to operating temp.
This is a plug from the driverside closest to firewall.. Ill pull a few more to see if they all look the same. But how does this plug look to yall?
 

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This is another plug i pulled and the gas i drained from carb a couple times..
 

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Plugs don't look too bad but there seems to be quite a bit of tan / ash deposit.
I would get a new set , gap and install then see where your're at.
Thanks, I’ll be picking up a new set tomorrow. The plugs are autolite 25’s, should i get the same ones as the car was running great prior to all this, or sould i get some other plug?
 
Also do you believe it to be likely that plugs in this condition could possibly cause the car to run this poorly? I mean it wont even stay running when operating temp and this is just so sudden too, as said a couple weeks ago there was no problem.. I’ll replace them either way but i just want to find the culprit of the issue and i have my doubts about it being the plugs in this instance..
 
Plugs are usually determined by what heads you have , if they are stock E7s then I believe that's the right plug.
Could plugs in poor condition cause a car to run poorly...yes, are they the sole cause of your issues ...probably not
but they could be a contributing factor .
 
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