Black smoke, no power :(

[Nubaru]

I have a 1979 Dl wagon i have been working on for a couple months. Through help from USMB members both informational and help with parts, it's running and street legal.

 

Well untill last night..

 

Short history, Got the car as a rusted heap roting under a tree for near 2 years. I have posted in the historic formus, but i'm close to 1980 and have a fatcase ea71, and a hitachi 2b carb off a 84 ea81. and there is alot more traffic here i think.

 

I have removed or sealed off all of the emissions systems, Kept the erg valve and pipe but welded the valve inside it shut so it is sealed. Air suction and anti afterburner are removed.. The crimped and rtv'd air suction stubs may leak a tiny bit.. but other than that my vac leaks are sealed..

 

I have a new 2" exhaust from the y pipe back also. No cat to clog..

 

So here is what happend...

 

I got all of this complete last night and the car ran like never before! Really great.. had much more power and i was really excited!... I knew my timing was a little off, but it's had the vac leaks.. and this was just a test run with all the holes pluged.. i hit 5k rpm's a couple times..

 

So, i get to my turn around and backing up it bogs out.. bogs out all the way back.. I get home and try to mess with the timing and idle mixture.. no good..

 

It bogs in neutral trying to gain rpm's.. has almost no power.. pops and wil not idle below 2k rpms now.. and when it does idle at 2k.. it slowly dies.. and no ammount of throttle will help it.. i have black smoke from the back also..

 

I thought blown HG? but no milkshake in either oil or coolant.. it's hard to tell if i lose coolant cause i have a little leak in the top of the radiator that's on the list to get fixed.. and head gaskets dont usually make a car run horrible do they?

 

It seems to me like it is runing very rich.. but why would it go from running the best ever.. to the worst since i have had it running..

 

i'll get some pics up later today of my exact setup.

 

Such a dissapointment, 2 months of work, $300 car and $500 parts and it falls apart right when it ran best...

 

Any advice is much appreciated..

[vagen]

Lack of power and black smoke tell me you are flooding. Pop the air cleaner off and look down the carb if you see standing fuel then your culprit is probably a stuck float valve. If these stick open you get exactly the symptoms you describe.

[skishop69]

+1

[Nubaru]

So yea you guys are right, it was top on my list of what was happening, But as to why and what to do? end all beat all, i'm going to buy a weber.. but it's 6 months away if i can at all wait..

 

After Clutch, painting, fiberglass bondoing some holes, rewireing 1/2 the car, oil pan gasket, exhaust manifold gasket, y-pipe back exhaust, geting and installing the current carb (worth every penny of 20 bucks thanks 84gl, but i see why you ditched it for efi lol), geting the tires fixed, new air cleaner, rehoseing the pcv system (it's still not the right size), unbroken tail light lenses (thanks shawnw!), brake calipers, tie rod ends, vac leaks, egr removal ...

 

i'm wearing thin in the rump roast pocket region and honestly time.. there's still this heater core issue and it's geting cold.. but that's another issue and thread..

 

So here it goes.. info on if there could be a quick, non rebuild answer to my trouble.. Honestly i'm an amature mechanic and i would have to pay for a rebuild, and i dont even know if my dist advance is hooked up right, i go for bare minimum under the hood, but want to make sure the carbs critical vacs are hooked up.. may be the issue..

 

(1) current dist advance hookup, dont know if this is right, i have moved it around, but hard to tell a difference in 3 of the ports. I think it's purpose is to triger the power valve, but i know it's important and goes on there somewhere.

 

(2) caped, i think these 2 were for an ecu system, vac switches hooked to sensors..

 

(3) Idle mixture adjustment.. clockwise rich, ccw lean, correct? Start 2.5 turns out?

 

 

float window at idle

 

 

(1) dist advance acts the same on these 2, no idea what they are for if not power valve.

 

(2) my car has no fuel return, the carb does, so i crimped and caped it. Could my fuel pump be overloading the float because of this? fuel pump is stock on stock circuit.

 

(3) Switch vent solenoid valve, was caped when i got it.. has a wire that isnt hooked to anything.. i'm thinking it's useless.. but.. let me know lol

 

i changed both fuel filters today, 2nd time this week. And this crap keeps coming out.. I used seafoam pretty thick in the last full tank, and it's on fresh gas now..back to the float and valve sticking, if any of this got into the carb..

 

 

 

The timing is impossible to set like this.. i'm just puting off geting a light till i know the carb isnt screwed..

 

It is crackling in the exhaust now also and it is alot louder than before.. i removed the AAV (anti-afterburner valve) but it's emissions crap and counters condensation of gas in the manifold.. In GD's post about hitachi's and emissions he says useless.. so i'm buyin.. and i will blame the exhaust combustion on the flooding for whatever reason..

 

Other thoguhts.. 1800 carb, 1600 engine? jeting work properly?

 

The whole thing is.. after i got the emissions striped and all of the vac leaks sealed off.. this thing ran like a dream.. it had power, it's exhaust was low bass growl just like i wanted from it.. felt like a new car.. but then something happend in that damn hitachi.. now i have it barely running again and i guess i just took 45 min on this writeup for comfirmation to buy a webber...

 

done with the wall of text.. if i have options to get this thing runing correctly with out spending $300 i am all for it.. but if i dont want to spend any more on this one.

[vagen]

cheap non rebuild answer

 

unscrew the top and carefully lift it off. have a helper turn the key to run. Work the float up and down. if there is debris holding the valve open then it will be evident and a simple process of popping off the float and needle and reinstalling it will clear most debris.

[Nubaru]

buying the weber tomorrow.. simplicity being my goal.. i just need to get it..

 

I tried that V, it helped, but still runs aweful.. dunno why, but it's still rich and that hitachi's fault.. weber it is

 

thanks for the help