I just recently bought this truck back from a guy i sold it to a few years ago. He put a new fuel pump on it and that's about it. I had put a points distributor and a fully mechanical carb with vacuum secondaries on it and it starts right up. after it get good and warmed up it starts stumbling and then dies. i do know it needs plugs but they arnt fowled enough to cause the issue. Any suggestions or advice is appreciated. TIA
85 ram 318 misses and dies
- Thread starter dingus45
- Start date
7mopar
Well-Known Member
If it starts back up after sitting awhile change the condenser in the distributor and check the coil.
72*birdman
Active Member
You could also start to rule things out. Check to see if it still has gas when it dies. I have had fuel lines collapse under vaccumm from the carb. then after it sits without running for a moment the line relaxes and opens again. Also along the same lines a plugged fuel filter will choke off the gas until it has a chance to sit and let the junk in it settle. Spark, fuel or air its one of the three so if you can check and rule them out 1 at a time you'll get there.
thanks guys there is a white power block type thing on the fire wall and it gets real hot. i had another one and plugged it in and it fired right up. i know that its getting gas because i uncapped the filler neck and let it run so its not suction collapsed lines. The choke does act funny when its not warm other than that it does what it needs to. spark is also good its got new cap rotor and wires. but like i said the plugs arnt the best but not the worst.
That white power block as you called it sounds like your ballast resistor . In your case it should have four prongs on it . Normally when that go's it either starts and then dies or just try's to start and act's like it wants to start but doesn't . Were your truck runs long enough to warm up I think your issue still might be something else . Have you pulled any of the plugs to see what they look like ? By doing that , that will help tell you what's going on .
bear. i pulled the plugs none of which show bad signs. i did notice that it has alot of blow by... i think the problem with the not running may be aided by low compression. and i dont have a tool to check what they are at. i might have messed up something when the petal got stuck under the mat when i punched it before it would die...
By blow by , do you mean a lot of smoke out the exhaust when it is running ? If so does it smell like oil or fuel and what color is it ? Also check your oil . Is it extremely thin and does it look like or smell like there might be fuel in it ? If it does smell like fuel then change it "now" . You could wash away your rings and really mess things up . If you end up needing a pressure gauge to check the compression then your local parts store might have a "loan a tool program" .
the smoke is coming out of the pcv and dipstick tube more throttle more smoke but no smoke is coming out of the tail pipe. I live like 45 min away from the closest good parts store so itll have to wait for the weekend but i will check if they have one when i go up there.
Sounds like it could be almost anything but I'm leaning towards a vacuum leak and or a possibly carb rebuild or possibly even a brake booster . One of the ways you can check out the booster or the vacuum valve for it is to start it and while running hit the brakes and see if they are hard or the engine shuts off .
hacksaw
Active Member
when the peddle uuhuumm got stuck under the mat you may have damaged a valve spring witch will mess with vacume. when you do the cly test do it with the engine warm. as a cold test will tell you nutin...
7mopar
Well-Known Member
Does your oil look normal or is it discolored? Could what you are seeing coming from the PCV and dipstick tube possibly be steam instead of smoke? Have you checked the coolant level?
ok i put the original parts that came out of the truck and she fires right up. i am just going to sell it and be done with it. it needs valve cover gaskets but other than that she runs good. thank yall for the help.