[Bigred455]

I have a few questions for you'all tonight. First of all I finally got my car running, yipee!!!!
I finally figured out that after cleaning the fuel lines, and carb, i found that the shooter in the carb wasnt tight enough. That caused the carb to richen up severly, so I cracked the choke open about 3/16's of an inch. The car started right up, It idles superbly, with a nice lope to it.

So I checked everything and decided to take it around the block. It ran fine until i put it in gear, it would load up and die. Finally I basically power-bracked it into to drive and got it rolling. About a 1/4 mile down the road, is a stop sign. I stopped, and it died. Cranked it back up slipped it into gear, died. did this a few more times, till i got the RPM's high enough to get moving, it drove nicely again, got it up to about 25 never shifted into second (a hose not hooked up?) it tried to backfire a few times but kept running. Pulled into the driveway let it idle. killed it started it back-up, again and again.

My question is what can i do to keep it from dieing and backfiring?

[Bigred455]

I have a few questions for you'all tonight. First of all I finally got my car running, yipee!!!!
I finally figured out that after cleaning the fuel lines, and carb, i found that the shooter in the carb wasnt tight enough. That caused the carb to richen up severly, so I cracked the choke open about 3/16's of an inch. The car started right up, It idles superbly, with a nice lope to it.

So I checked everything and decided to take it around the block. It ran fine until i put it in gear, it would load up and die. Finally I basically power-bracked it into to drive and got it rolling. About a 1/4 mile down the road, is a stop sign. I stopped, and it died. Cranked it back up slipped it into gear, died. did this a few more times, till i got the RPM's high enough to get moving, it drove nicely again, got it up to about 25 never shifted into second (a hose not hooked up?) it tried to backfire a few times but kept running. Pulled into the driveway let it idle. killed it started it back-up, again and again.

My question is what can i do to keep it from dieing and backfiring?

[Bigred455]

Also it smokes white smoke HEAVILY from the passenger tail pipe, I don't know if this is caused or causes one of the other symptoms, just another observation from the engine

[Lemans1]

This is all too familiar. 1st the engine not shifting into 2nd---if its a 400 you probably dont have the vacuum hooked up to it or not enough vacuum. The smoke from the tailpipe--if it is that heavy and white that is normally water and a bad thing. Some smoking from a new engine is pretty normal for the first couple of hours of running. But if it persists you could have a big problem that could also be your running problem. If that dissipates and proves not to be your problem it could be a combo of timing and carb problems. What type of carb are you running? What is you basic engine setup--engine size, intake, cam, and so on? Where is your timing at now?

[This message has been edited by Lemans1 (edited 05-02-2001).]

[Bigred455]

First, It is NOT a new engine but an old engine that hadnt been run in AWHILE. The carb isa 750 holley Vac. secondaries, street dominator, 4x heads, cam is unknown and I have about 10 degrees initial timing.

[All4Fun]

If you have HEAVY white smoke from the passenger side tailpipe and the car has dual exhaust. You probably have a serious coolant leak into the right bank of the engine. Remove the drain plug on the oil pan and check for contamination and do not run it any longer until you verify what has happened. You can get hydrostatic lock and cause worse damage if the leak is serious enough. Not to mention coolant is extremely corrosive to engine bearings. If you find green in the oil or milky look if it is water. I would pull that head and check.
John

[Chiefpontiac]

The combination of white smoke and the transmission not shifting leads me to wonder if the vacumn modulator diaphram has cracked. This will cause the engine to suck trans fluid into the carb or intake and then be burned. Try starting the car and taking a whiff of the exhaust. There is a distinctive smell to trans fluid burning as opposed to coolant. It will smell "sweeter" than antifreeze.....

[Bigred455]

Chief, It has NO antifreeze in the car, just straight water, but I run a rust inhibitor in it. The hard line that came from the tranny isnt hooked to the carb, does it need to be maniflod, or ported vacuum? Iam going to put a new power valve in it, and then see what happens.

[77TA]

Check the oil for water the white smoke may be steam ! put your hand in the smoke if it gets wet your burning water !

[Lemans1]

I agree with these guys that finding out if you are burning water needs to come first. Try a compression test on the bank that is smoking and compare it with the other side. I have seen headgaskets leak water into the cylinders without leaving any sign of it in the oil.

[Bigred455]

Ok, got to wqork on the car today. First after hearing All4fun talk about coolant leak, it made me sick so I did a compression check about 130 in every cylinder highest being 135, and lowest being 120, and that was cold. Then I changed my power valve out, it was 5.5, I put a 3.5 in it. Then changed the oil, It was dark green!!! with water and oil. Then I started it up, ran good, best ever, let it idle for awhile, still good. So I decided to take it around the block, backed it up, ran quit smooth, then put it into drive backfired and died, took 3 times to get moving. But after that it ran like achamp and throtle response was better too.

Anyone know why it dies in drive?