The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Truck sputters and dies when trying to give it gas

I had a similar problem on my '50 with a 216. The accelerator pump diaphram was bad, and when I decided to replace the Bakelite carbuerator spacer, it fell apart, leading me to surmise that it was at least half of my problem. New accelerator pump and spacer, problem solved!

I am running out of words for this thread.
Your wiring appears to be a hot wet mess to me.
When I inherit someone else's project with that kind of wiring inconsistencies, I rip the wires out and start fresh.

I am totally out of line jumping on to someone else's thread, for the sake of sharing an exact same problem...My bad & I apologize... I am going to start a new thread in the Electronics section, with reference to an HEI conversion.....

I have no problem with you jumping on this thread, especially since you seem to be having the same problems as me. I've been reading the reply's to your posts and seeing if they concern me. good luck with your problem and when you get it running good maybe you can let me know what worked.

I just posted this YOUTUBE on a previous thread....and I did mention trying a Chinese carb just to eliminate the possibility of anything else contributing to the 'off idle problem' with sputtering, choking & stalling....I did take all the electronic steps such as timing, firing order, vacuum, & advance which all checked out to be positive....There's an overwhelming responses as to suggestions and I give them all credit and not dismissed any....I have learned that this carb issue is one of the most addressed topics, and it spreads to many various years & cubic inches of engines... Now I'm sure we can all agree a pre smog Chevy 6 cylinder is probably the most basic engine, so getting it to run correctly should not be a complicated mystery. My conclusion and beg to be proved wrong is that carburetors have wear patterns like everything else..most so subtle that cannot be seen. and corrections for wear are not included in rebuilding kits....Granted, bad gas, dirt, leaky floats, warped bodies, plugged passages, and then some, are all obvious issues that can be addressed, but once all these issues are addressed and the result is the same then what? Speaking for myself, I have had my carburetor off my engine several times and apart.... so much, I no longer need any reference to take it apart & put it together.... Its done in a clean environment, no distractions, no interruptions. The internal springs, and tiny balls are where there suppose to be, the accelerator pump is working fine, no play in any bushings. After everything is said & done, I cannot drive my truck out of my driveway..... By the way, I bought the truck with the seller disclosing a carburetor issue and running poorly....I found this youtube interesting... the engine compartment looked a little rough around the edges, and that carb base gasket blew me away....Dispite all the crudeness, I was impressed with his action of checking the richness with the vac gauge and his knowledge. It wasn't like he slapped on the carburetor and walked away...Got a real kick of the tire valve stem on the lid of the master cylinder !!. Yeah that Chinese carb is a piece of crap, and when that goes bad, you just throw it away like all the other Chinese junk... The last thing I want to do is raise my hood & see that, but I just have to get passed that, like everything else & move forward.... Besides you will still have your Rochester if you want it to continue to torture you.....

I had the same issue with my 1954. Would start easy and idle all day. Soon as I give it gas it would hesitate and cough and sputter. I pulled the plugs and found cylinder 1 and 2 were covered in oil.

Did you replace the points recently . The reason I ask is I had a similar problem and a older mechanic said start with the points so I looked again and I realized I had just replaced the points .The points were from Napa and they came in a box with two pieces .Now I am only a back yard mechanic and when I put the points on I thought the extra piece was for another application so the points went in and the extra piece stayed in the box .The truck started right up idled nice and off I went up the road sputter backfire when I pushed on the gas could not figure it out . Ended up feathering the gas to get truck into town a hour away . Was difficult .Turned out the extra piece in the points box was the spring and when I pushed the gas the points would bounce around without the spring and cause the popping and backfiring .If this doesn’t help then I hope you can laugh at my experience .Back yard specialist kevinski

Oops I just read you have no points oh well have a laugh.

Food for thought...if you slightly pull out the choke and try to repeat the hiccup....does it? Or does a slightly open choke solve the problem? If it does, then you have a fuel related problem...its running too lean in that area. Either a vaccum leak, exhaust leak, plugged carb, or fuel delivery problem. If choke makes no change, it's most likely ignition.

OK, finally got it running pretty good. My vacuum advance was no good, so there was that vacuum leak. put on a different v/a from a donor engine and it works good, but the engine still ran lousy. I've had a couple of professionally rebuilt Rochester carbs from Carbsonly in California to go on a Fenton intake I ordered from Patricks. Patricks went under but I still had these carbs so I used one and the truck really came to life...for a minute. I had the truck running up and down the lane I live on just to check things out and one of my brakes stuck. Always something...lol...Thanks to everybody for all the advice and help.

Good job working and accessing one thing at a time and not giving up!

Chris