OldSchoolMuscle71

ok so my 86 Regal Limited has been sitting for a good year now. I noticed it had a slow start so the ground and power cables have been replaced and that problem is fixed. Now when i get her to crank i gotta stay on the gas for a good 5 minutes at high idle just to get it stable and let it idle. So after a good 20 minutes of idling i drive her down the driveway and she wants to cut off on me so i mash the gas and drive her up the street, and after about 4 seconds if idling at cruising speed she'll cut off again. Could be a lot of carbon deposits from dirty fuel in the tank but I've added a good 5 gallons of clean gas but no luck.. I'm trying to get this car to daily driver status again and need u guys' help. thanks in advance.

bdub217

Fuel pump going bad maybe, clogged fuel filter, check compression too.

OldSchoolMuscle71

i hope its a simple fuel filter. on this car is it external or inside the carb?

bdub217

im pretty sure its in the carb if not nevermind this info >>>>>>>..........about $4 i think i paid last time i did mine ....and you will need to be careful not to bend the metal fuel line when replacing the filter. Loosen the line from the nut first......then take the filter nut out along with the spring and there could be a gasket ......the filter should have and opening at one end and capped at the other.....make sure the open end is facing the line not the carb, tighten it up start it and check for leaks, be prepared to turn the car off fast or have someone help you with that part just in case.

OldSchoolMuscle71

nevermind that. the fuell filter was changed about months ago when we got it to pass smog. could it bad again from just sitting for 8 months?

coppercutlass

stale fuel will make a car run like crap try fresh gas if it's the same fuel from 8 months ago

OldSchoolMuscle71

everytime i press the gas hard it throws grey smoke from the pipes but it doesnt smell like oil or gas so im guessing its carbon depoits from dirty fuel. the thing is i added a few gallons of clean fuel and no luck. should i fill up a couple 5 gallon jugs with premium and a gas additive and see if it fixes the problem? mechanic suggested i fill it with premium and a gass additive and drive it for about 30 minutes on the highway. what do u guys think?

coppercutlass

try some seafoam and 93 octane. seafoam will clear up deposits and carbon etc.

OldSchoolMuscle71

another thing was when i did get it driving up the street. at WOT she hesitated a bit then kicked in. i guess all i can do run more clean gas in it and try out some seafoam. i hope my valves dont start ticking after using it...

coppercutlass

no they should not. it sounds like your carb is gunked up some where or something is sticking. Try to see if a buddy has a spare carb you can try out to rule it out .

OldSchoolMuscle71

on top of that i have ALL the smog **** attatched as well. if sumthing is gunked up in the carb i hope seafoam can clean it because i dont have the time to do a carb swap. my scedule wont let me. maybe the carb needs a good tune?

coppercutlass

possibly. Replace the fuel filter put fresh gas and put some seafoam in it. rule out everything around the carb. If not the crab is the culprit .

OldSchoolMuscle71

the fuel filter should be right in the front of the carb correct?

coppercutlass

yes. If it's a q jet

OldSchoolMuscle71

yeah its the original carb so its a 4bbl q-jet. ill just be careful and take note of all the vacuum lines ill have to move out the way to get the filter housing off and access the carb. it would make my day if this solves the problem.

coppercutlass

hope it does. Good luck.

OldSchoolMuscle71

dont mean to sway away form the topic here but, people keep suggesting that i upgrade the rear end to the stock 3.08 posi unit that came on a lot of older cars and a K&N filter. My goal is optimum gas mileage because all i basically do is highway driving..

coppercutlass

A 3.08 3.23 gear is still good to cruise with. Im running a 307 on my 72 now since my 350 craped out. Im running a holley 650 dp with a 3.73 gear it gets like 10 mpg or less but that carb is a hog on gas. I ran 3.42 gears on a short tire so roughly a 3.55 i was knocking down 15 mpg with an edelbrock carb.

OldSchoolMuscle71

im hoping to find one cheap on CL and throw her on and see what happens. i also have OD so hopefully they'll work well together..

coppercutlass

oh man you got o.d. you can run a 3.73 with no prob and keep the rpms down .

OldSchoolMuscle71

i might even need the 3.73 because my overall wheel diameter will be 29-30 inches..

coppercutlass

3.90's then might work well. 28 in tall tire is base for the gear. 2 inches up means a ratio down. so a 3.73 gear with a 30 in. tire is roughly a 3.64 etc. etc. dont know the exact math but that is what i have always been told. i run 4.10's on my k5 blazer with a 700r4 and 35's and it cruises nice an easy and still gets good mpg's .

OldSchoolMuscle71

even for cruising i need the 3.90? i figured the 3.73 will still come down to more than 3.55 so the torque will b there when needed. I was also thinking 3.42's which will still be more than 3.08's....i dunno just doing my research..

coppercutlass

With the o.d. It will make that gear nice in o.d. But 3.73 will be good don't get me wrong.

bdub217

Get seafoam. Start your car and pull of the big black hose (about 1/2" diameter) from the main brake booster and put your thumb over the hose so the engine stays running, then tilt the seafoam bottle and let the hose suck up the seafoam SLOWLY until it's halfway gone. You should see a ton of white smoke come out the tail pipe which is GOOD because it's all the carbon and deposits being cleaned out of the motor. You can also pour the other half of the can in the gas tank. Make sure your idle screw is properly set and also make sure the secondaries aren't opening too soon.

coppercutlass

I would just do it to the gas tank since he is not trying to clear out the valves.

bdub217

Wouldn't hurt it to have a full deep clean though, eh?

Rickman48

Is the cat still on the car?
Careful of clogging it!

OldSchoolMuscle71

Im trying to clean out as much as possible so ill give some attention to the valves. and YES my cat is still on and its a brand new cat so im not too worried about it. Are u supposed to use a whole bottle for the crank, vacuum line, and gas tank? or only half a bottle in the vacuum and half bottle in the crank while putting a whole bottle in the tank?

coppercutlass

The bottle has instructions. I have only used seafoam in the tank.

OldSchoolMuscle71

ok. gunna try it out today. gunna add 10 gallons plus a bottle in the tank and see what happens..

OldSchoolMuscle71

so i added 5 more gallons of gas and seafoam and i guess it helped a bit. I poured half bottle into the gas tank, 1/4 bottle into the crankcase, and 1/4 bottle thru the vacuum line and it held an idle for a while. I drove it up and down the street and it didnt stall for once finally. I came back bout 3 hours later and tried to get it to idle again and it was stil hard for it to idle but after holding the gas for a couple minutes on high idle it evened out. I also did the idling with the hood up and i noticed when i revved it up i would see smoke coming from around the air cleaner/carb area. i think my air/fuel might need to be tuned or i need a new carb. **** is a headache.

coppercutlass

sounds like your needle and seat could be the issue.

OldSchoolMuscle71

so at this point would it be best to rebuild the carb? before i let it sit, i drove this car 70 miles a day at least for 7 months straight and it NEVER let me down besides running out of gas. It just pisses me off that she just cant wake back up. she only has 82k. maybe i should just muster up the ***** and WOT on the freeway with no registration and see what happens lol

coppercutlass

Sometimes that works. Rule out your fuel pump and filter first.

bdub217

I'm leaning towards a carb setting issue. Did you check your vacuum lines for dry rot or cracks? Most vacuum problems make the car run like poop at idle and fine at higher rpms.

coppercutlass

If it ran fine before it should run fine now. A fast way to check for vacuum line leaking sprak carb choke cleaner around the lines and base of carb. If rpms raise then it has a vacuum leak. Something might be gunked up.

bdub217

I hear you dude! I understand the settings shouldn't have changed from sitting...but anything is possible. Anyway I hope it's only just gummed up or bad FP. I hate costly repairs. =(

OldSchoolMuscle71

well the car turns on and holds idle so im assuming the fuel pump is working. im gunna have someone turn the key in the on position and try to hear the pump engage in the tank. Car is still blowing out a lot of smoke from the tail pipes. Could this mean one of the head gaskets is blown? after 20 minutes of idle it wont overheat so i hope it isnt the head gaskets. i guess time will tell..im gunna go play with it some more today and see what i come up with...

captjim

I have seen many instances where this was not true. Animals (squirrels, rats) LOVE to chew on stuff. Vacuum lines decay, sitting is BAD for cars.

What exactly does the word "sprak" mean? Perhaps you should use a dictionary or spell check.