jd25q

Hi all,

I'm helping my son fix up his first car. It's an 84 oldsmobile 98 regency brougham. Great condition overall, only 48k miles! Not your typical kids first car but he loves it.

As I said, it's been sitting 8 years so I drained the fuel tank, put in good fuel and it will start and run. As soon as you put it under any load (accelerating from a stop) it starts to stall and will eventually die.

Looking for ideas on a good order of operation. I know the car was fine before it was left sitting.

Thanks for the help,

Octania

Sucking air thru a rusted fuel line or rotted rubber fuel line comes to mind

Assuming the fuel pump itself is OK
have you checked for smell of fuel in the oil? A leaky FP can leave gasoline in the engine oil.

Remove FP to carb line, put your own line from FP to a jug. Run the car on the fuel in the carb for a minute and see what comes out of the FP- any air, how much, how fast...

joe_padavano

Well, twenty year old rubber hoses and seals go bad. Inspect EVERY SINGLE INCH of the miles of vacuum lines under the hood and replace anything that looks questionable. Be sure they are routed correctly. I can guarantee that the carb also needs to be rebuilt. The CCC system MUST be adjusted exactly as described in the Chassis Service Manual, so get one and read that section thoroughly before attempting to adjust it. Very few mechanics have the skills or patience to adjust these systems properly. As Chris points out above, also check all the rubber parts in the fuel system, especially the lines from the tank to the tubes on the frame rails. A crack there lets the fuel pump suck air. Good luck.

jd25q

You were exactly right. Got underneath and found that the fuel pump is leaking. You are right about all the vacuum lines, I've never seen so many on an engine before. Thanks for the advice,