Drove my newly acquired 70 Skylark to work today and although it took for ever for it to warm up, it drove fine. The heater didn't start blowing warm air until I arrived at work, 15 minutes from home. Came home for lunch and it kept studdering and bogging at over 1/4 pedal travel, but made it home. Headed back to work and it was still studdering and died on me. I restarted a couple of times but it died when I shifted into drive, and a puff of smoke came from under the hood the last time. I popped the hood to see if there was any observable damage, but there was none. Got back in and she started right up, no problem and drove like a champ o No: On my way home from work it was doing the studdering thing again then died on me a block from my house ou: I tried for a good five minutes to restart with no luck, a guy helped me push it to the nearest driveway and I waited a minute and it started right up uzzled: . Again, it drove perfectly with no studdering even with full throttle on my drive home. What's going on here? The best I can figure is that for some reason, the car takes too long to warm up and then when driving while it is still "cold" the choke is interfering. But I always let it run for 5+ minutes before driving. I have driven 2 other skylarks with 2 barrel 350s and they are ready to drive after only 1-2 minutes on cold days with perfect driving manners. I haven't been through the engine compartment yet other than checking fluids, maybe it is without a thermostat, or the choke mechanism is messed up. What do you guys think?? -Chris frustrated Buick owner
Not Getting Fuel?? It sounds to me like a clogged fuel filter or possibly a worn out fuel pump. o No:
Side of road sounds like you should sell it to me!:grin: all kidding aside sounds like a carb,furl problem what is the history of the car?
Side of road sounds like you should sell it to me!:grin: all kidding aside sounds like a carb,furl problem what is the history of the car?
Well, the guy I bought it from was the second owner and drove it several times a week. He said he just had the carb rebuilt last year. Believe me, he took really good care of this car as did the original owner. Does this explain why it takes so long for the car to warm up and for the heater to start blowing warm air? Or why it drives perfectly upon restart after dying on me? How long does it take everyone elses cars to warm up sufficient to drive with no hesitation, or driveability problems? -Chris
studdering? All the above are great suggestions. Another suggestion would be electrical. I had the same thing happen with on one car and found the wire on the coil loose. As the wire bounced on the connection on the coil, the car would studder and or quit. When it quit, it usually started right up. I had a van that would run about 10 minutes and just dead quit. Start up again after 10-20 minutes and run again for 5-10 minutes and quite. Finally found one wire in the ignition wires across the intake that had lost its insulation for 1 inch. Apparently the heat would build and so would resistance. Reach a certain point and it would quit. The old V=IR from electrical class. Voltage = current times resistance. For repair, I cut the wire and spiced it removing the bad section of wire. Ran great after that. In both cases I spent A LOT OF TIME/MONEY working on the fuel system when it really was electrical. Concerning the long warm up period. Check and see if there is a thermostat in the thermostat housing. A slow warm up is a good sign of no thermostat or a thermostat that is stuck open. I suggest you to keep an open mind as to what the problem could be and it may save a bunch of time and money.
For sure check the thermostat for the slow warm up problem but I think the stumbling and stalling isn't really related. What is the weather like where you are? If it is cool and damp you might be getting some carburetor icing. Is the heat tube in place from the exhaust manifold to the air cleaner? TAC door in the snout of the air cleaner working properly? The carb could be icing up and then after the car sits for a minute engine heat could melt the ice and the car will start. Easy things to check anyway.
You could try taking off the gas cap and see if that affects the stalling. Could help narrow it down. I had a similar problem years ago, but it only happened when driving long distances at freeway speeds (for 45 minutes or so). It turned out that the fuel return/vent line to the gas tank was plugged. As gas was sucked out, and with no air to replace it (at least not fast enough), enough vacuum was created in the tank that the fuel pump couldn't overcome it, and the car would eventually stall. After sitting a bit pressure would equalize and the car would run again. Took me a while to figure it out.
Chris i have a 71 skylark 350 2bb. It is ready to drive immediately after starting when cold. I had problems similar to yours when i first got the car though. Someone really botched up the carb rebuild. The choke coil arm, choke pulls offs, float and every other adjusment was messed up. You can buy a rebuild kit for $15. Follow the directions with the kit and check everything, the 2 bbl is easy to do. also set timming for max vacuum then back off 2 deg at a time until there is no pinning. shoul run great. Larry
I have a brand new (NOS) factory service replacement carb for your car (70 automatic) still in the factory box. Ping me if you are interested. I'm getting tired of keeping it around. I can send you pictures and tell you why I have it. Regarding your troubleshooting exercise ALWAYS eliminate the least expensive, least troublesome possible cause and work toward the most and most in successive order. The troubleshooting guide in the service manual is always a good guide. Good luck Chris.
Thanks for all replies!! I am going to explore this problem some more tomorrow, I'm sure it is something simple, but finding it will be the hard part Wish me luck:TU: -Chris
