Hey all, I thought I had this problem licked, but it popped up again. I adjusted my idle speed and mixture this weekend to compensate for stalling when shifting into drive (still slightly there, but I drive like Sammy Hagar, 1 foot on the brake, 1 on the gas :grin: ) When I stopped at the first red light on my way to work this morning, it stalled again and there was white smoke coming out of the carb. Tried restarting, but no luck. Any help is appreciated as I want to get 'er moving sometime today to avoid parking tickets! (Luckily, I found a street parking space close enough for a push.) Eric
Just white smoke comming out the carb?? If it only happened while in the process of "Stalling" then its probably just Fuel/Air mix getting blown back through (Backfire without the fire). My car did that after I got it put back together Till I got it tuned right. If its got white smoke while running... then thats a whole other mess thats beyond meo No: Good luck.
the white somke happens when most cars are shut off from heat vaporizing th un-moving fuel in the intake runners. if your advance weights in th distributor are sticking (out) when you come to a stop, the motor could die, igniting the gas in the intake runners. then the weights might go back "in"when you crank on the motor or when it died in the first place. take your dist. cap off and see if the weights move freely and make sure that their bushings and springs are in good shape. keep us posted!!
ok, will check it out, and probably replace my points and condenser. Haven't done that since I got this project a year ago.... About the idling, my idle speed screw is practically in all the way, so I have a high idle in Park, but when I shift into Drive, if I don't give it a little gas while sitting still, it will die. Also, my idle mix screws are about 3 1/2 turns out. Any ideas?
BTW, I was able to move it into a parking garage on my lunch break yesterday, but not before getting a $25 ticket :af:
Non-driving Skylark. Get it tuned up. Just getting the timing/fuel calibration should take care of this. You can do it yourself if you have a dwell meter, timing light, and vacuum gage. I would also suggest a factory service manual for '69 Buick, these were the books the dealers got to tell them how to fix cars. There are still tons of them available as well as reproductions, check e-bay. Get the GM service manual, not Haynes or Chiltons which are useless. If you don't have the tools or skills to do it yourself, find a local garage and get it tuned - you'll probably pay for it in gas savings in a short time. And no more parking tickets for stalled cars...
checkup A guy at a local garage was nice enough to take a look under the hood, help make a few adjustments so it ran better, but also said that my distributor needs to be revamped/replaced. The plate that the points are resting on are loose. Can I simply swap in another distributor and set the dwell/timing or is it more complicated? o No: Thanks, Eric
checkup A guy at a local garage was nice enough to take a look under the hood, help make a few adjustments so it ran better, but also said that my distributor needs to be revamped/replaced. The plate that the points are resting on are loose. Can I simply swap in another distributor and set the dwell/timing or is it more complicated? o No: Thanks, Eric
sounds like a good fix ....swapin in another..... but make sure it is in good shape so you dont have to mess with it again for about 20 years ....:laugh:
Distributor I put a rebuilt in my '68, was REALLY cheap, like $40 range from NAPA, Carquest, or one of those. Later I reworked the advance system. Make sure you use a distributor for a 350 if you go to the junkyard for one - 455's have a different gear even though the rest of the distributor is the same.
How hard is it to swap out the distributor? After I pout the new one in, do I then just adjust the dwell & timing or is there something else? I've learning the whole tune up thing as I go. I've switched out the points before, done carb adjustments, etc. but don't want to mess this up...
white smoke? is that thing running hot? whats the oil look like? sounds like head gaskets could be weak or rings are tired and just a ton of blowby. maybe check the timing chain too.to hard to guess without seeing the smoke coming out,if you put some fresh plugs it might start and you can see whats going on inside the engine by what the plugs look like and what cyl the come out of :laugh:
Smoke problem is gone now that I changed the valve cover gaskets and heater hoses. I think it was coolant leaking. Also, its idling better now too. Although the mechanic that helped me do a quick lunch break tune up said I needed a new distributor because the plate the points are on moves around a little bit.
