hi guys! My names zach i live in San Diego and i'm 19. Two weeks ago i bought my first project car which was a 1971 cutlass s. i recently broke my leg so i havent been able to drive but i have been doing all the body work that it needs. im a novice when it comes to cars so im learning as i go. im going to be able to drive on the 7th so im want to get it to good working condition. so heres my first question for you guys. when i start the car i use the manual choke and until the car fully warms up it idols rough. to the point its going to die then the revs jump up. but once its warmed up it doesnt occur until i put in in gear. once its in drive or reverse it starts happening again so each time the revs go up the car kinda jumps. any help would be great.

 

Welcome to the site Zach, sorry about the leg. It's nice to see some new blood in this hobby. Just a note, we all have been at the same place you are in the process of getting acclimated to the finer points of car ownership, maintenance, and improvement. You picked up a car that seems very solid and it looks like someone had already invested quite a bit of time and effort in it.

As far as the issues you are having a few questions, what engine and trans is in it, and are they basically stock or modified? Next, have gone through the basic tune up procedures and verified if everything is ok and set right? Does the engine run hotter than expected? Does the exhaust smell really rich?

A mechanical choke when set up correctly will perform flawlessly but still requires a bit of effort on the driver to engage and disengage at the proper times.

 

its good to know i can get help despite my age and everything so thank you. i have the stock 350 with the 3 speed trany. everything is stock and it has 120k miles but the owner took the a/c out but i have it. he drove it from kansas around 10 years ago and its been sitting since but he started everynow and then. i drove it home and the firewall got a bit warm but the temp gauge wasnt working so im not positive on the temp. the manifold has a leak and it does smell pretty rich. i havent done a basic tune up yet

 

+1 to all the above, with the additional question of what type of carb you have.

Do you have copies of the Chassis Service Manual and the Fisher Body Manual?
If not, you should get paper copies of both, and can download digital copies of the CSM for your year and the FBM for 1970 (which is about the same for your purposes) from WildAboutCars.

You should look over the CSM in your spare time to learn more about your car, and should review the factory procedure and specifications for tuning it up.

Once you get it tuned up right, these problems should go away.

- Eric

 

Well Zach, you are the future of this hobby. We realize this and are willing to help you along the way. You'll also find out that the car hobby is like family, we help each other.

With that said, the first thing you need to do is get all your gauges working. On your temp indicator, if you remove and ground (touch the wire to the block) the wire to the temp sensor the gauge should go to max. If it does then it is your sensor, just go to the parts store and pick one up. The sensor is located to the left side (drivers) of the thermostat housing.

 

Ok. I think I have the csm in the glove box and I'll read it over. Ok I'll give the temp meter a good go over. Also the needle on my fuel gauge is way past full and I took it apart toJ see if it was stuck but it kept going back to the same position. I run it a couple times a day and it seems like its going down. Any thoughts on that?

 

The CSM won't fit in the glove box, though the Owner's Manual will. It's good to read, too, but not what you need.

As for your fuel gauge, you've got a broken connection somewhere.
Read this and then follow the links in my post to more detailed information.

As you learn about cars (and maybe about internet forums as well, though I suspect you're familiar with those), you'll see that using the forum Search function can be very helpful in finding this sort of information.

Good luck!

- Eric

 

Welcome to CO Zach! Hope you're feeling better soon.

 

welcome zac. you will find many knowledgeable people here
nice car

 

Welcome to the site! Yes you've got a nice car to start with. Just a side note, the outside door mirrors are from a 1970 which are hard to find and worth maybe three times what the 1971-72 mirrors go for. If your going to paint the car you might evaluate replacing them with the correct year and using the extra money to do other things to your car. Or just keep them on as they look nice and only Olds nuts will know the difference

John

 

ok thanks for the advice 2blu. well i just did the basic tune up but im still having the same problem could it be the EGR causing the problem? also i adjusted the points to factory spec does that mean i still have to adjust the dwell? on a side note first points i ever changed and it went off without a hitch. MDchanic could i find the rupture without taking everything apart? should i test the leads first?

 

The fuel gauge could be the wrong sender. Mine goes to about the h in hot way past full when I fill up. It stays there until I would guess about a half a tank then it goes to e and when it hits e it's really empty!!!

If it's your original intake or correct aftermarket there should be no EGR

 

ok. so then should i just do a carb rebuild then ? could it be a vacuum leak?

 

Welcome to the site Zach!! Looks like a real nice 1st Olds you got there, best of luck with it!

You said: "The manifold has a leak"? Which manifold? If it's your intake and you have a vacuum leak, that could be causing your engine surging. Check vacuum lines and ports for leaks/cracked hoses.

 

A 1971 car shouldn't have EGR, as far as I know, unless California is different.

If you adjusted the point gap of a set of new points to factory spec, they should be fine, but it's more accurate and easier to just use a dwell meter and set the dwell to 30°.

To find the presumed damage to the fuel sender wire, you need to proceed logically.
Start by disconnecting the sender wire on the back of the gauge and shorting ti to ground to see if the gauge goes to "E".
If so, that will prove that your gauge is good, and your connection is bad.
Once you know that, you can find the wire where it plugs into the harness by the fuel filler, generally inside the trunk, and ground that - if it goes to "E" you know that the wire from there to the gauge is good.
Next, you need to drop the fuel tank, and test from that point, at which you may well see that the ground wire from the sender is broken.

I agree that you should make sure that there are no vacuum leaks - aerosol engine starting ether or propane from a (non-lit) propane torch are good for testing. You can blow them at all of the possible areas of vacuum leakage and see whether the RPMs go up. Before you do this, it is reasonable for you to disconnect all of the vacuum lines on the engine, including PCV and brake booster, and plug the ports, as there is a good chance that the problem is due to a leaking hose or vacuum accessory.

You should probably do a carb rebuild no matter what - they always need to be rebuilt, and the last guy to do it was always an idiot.
The Chassis Service Manual has good information about carb. rebuilding.

- Eric

 

I agree on the all the above except I'd wait on the carb rebuild. Since you adjusted the points, I'm going to add that your timing is off as a point adjustment (dwell) will change your timing setting. Note adjusting timing will not effect dwell. Also some of your problem may well be the carburetor not being adjusted correctly also.

First I would check the dwell with a meter, and then I'd set my timing. After that I'd check for the vacuum leaks as Eric described above and then once you get that squared away adjust the carb.

 

ok guys so i spent the time and rebuilt the carb because might as well then i fitted it but the problem was still there. so i plugged all the holes and found the problem vacuum line. its the large hose that runs into the valve cover. is this hose important? will it do anything if i just plug it?

 

That's your crankcase breather.

You need that.

There are two hoses.
One pulls air into the intake from one valve cover, through the PCV valve, which should be located in the rubber between the hose and the valve cover.
The other pulls fresh air into the opposite valve cover from the air cleaner.

If the problem is as you describe, you need a new PCV valve (and a new hose, if it's gotten hard or is clogged).
The PCV should be about two bucks at your local parts store.

- Eric