Hey everyone, my dad took his car to work the other day and when he came back he told us it was backfiring. We didn't believe him until we took it for a cruise today. On the way home i was accelerating steadily and sure enough, it hesitated but i let off before it could backfire. I was thinking the fuel pump is going bad or the carburetor needs adjustment. Any ideas?

 

More than likely just a tune up. If that doesn't work than it might need a pick up coil in the dist. or carb. rebuild.

 

First make sure it's a "backfire" through the carb and not a "muffler explosion" out the exhaust. It makes a big difference in where you start to look. Go ahead and make it "backfire" for yourself to be sure. Rich

 

Make sure the distributor hasn't slipped, sounds like timing.

moved to new forum....

 

Oldsguy makes a good point start with checking your timing first.

 

That old nylon coated timing chain may of jumped ship also!

 

Check for vacuum leaks, too, such as broken hoses.

 

Dang, sounds like we got a lot of little jobs to do today. Alright i'll be sure to check these off our list and i'll update when i'm finished. when my dad drove it to work he was going freeway speed and it backfired in the exhaust but when i drove it the other day it sounded like it was in the carb.

 

Keep it simple. A cracked or carbon-tracked distributor cap or a bad condenser (points ignition) are the simplest places to look, especially if the problem started suddenly. If those check out, then you dig deeper.