FJ40 Holley chev 350 stalling?! Argh!

[FJfarty]

I'm having this problem with stalling. It's been pretty random. It happens almost always at night, and left me in the middle of the street last night.

What happens is it will be running good, then spudder like it's running out of gas. I can feel it coming on just as I'm pushing the gas pedal down.

I replaced the fuel filter last night and put a new battery in as well.

So hoping I was in the clear, I took off (at night) a few minuites ago to run down to get a new air filter and it happened again almost right on the railroad tracks. Frustrating!

I took off the air filter thinking it might be clogged and tried to crank it. After several minutes and it finally started. But I could feel it was going to do it again through the pedal so I high tailed it home before it quit again.

The wierd part is, it only happens at night. Once during the day it happened, but 95% at night.

Usually I'll pull over and stop and it will just fire right back up like nothing happened and won't happen again. But last night it wouldn't start, and again tonight.

Additional details: I've replace the spark plugs, wires, and HEI distributer cap and rotor.

Everything else seems to be working properly.

I wonder if the dew in the air could be effecting something? Or the fuel pump maybe? It seems so random.. I'm stumped.

Carb is a Holley 8050B And Chevy 350.

Any ideas?

I'm gonna go run to the parts store before it closes in my other car.


Thanks!

 

[70CRZR]

I was having problems with my old quadrajet similiar to yours. I forgot that the fuel inlet on the carb had a small screen filter in there, not sure if you have one on your Holley.

 

[Rockets2000]

Get a carb rebuild kit and a six pack. You might have a bad accelerator pump.

 

[crashn]

Is the fuel pump electric! What is the chance that when you have the lights on that the fuel pump is not getting enough power to spin it fast enough to keep up. If the carb needs rebuilt check the fuel level and floats. Check the power valve also. Make sure you aren't getting too much fuel and it is flooding. Good luck.

 

[FJfarty]

Is the fuel pump electric! What is the chance that when you have the lights on that the fuel pump is not getting enough power to spin it fast enough to keep up. If the carb needs rebuilt check the fuel level and floats. Check the power valve also. Make sure you aren't getting too much fuel and it is flooding. Good luck.

Yes the fuel pump is electric. I just went out to fire it up again and it started for about a minute then quit. Then no start. Not even a fire. I took the air cleaner off when I did this so it's not the air filter. I also watched the gas squirt into the carb so I don't think it's a fuel issue.

I am by myself or else I would have pulled the plug and checked to see if it was getting spark, but I can't turn the key and look at the same time. It's wierd. I just replaced the cap, rotor, plugs and wires. The previous owner said it "vapor locked" from time to time, but the engine is not even warm and I don't think that is it.

Could it be a bad distributer? What else could it be??

 

[Lake Rat]

I had an S-10 w/ V-6 that did this to me some years ago, check the wires going to the HEI module, make sure there is a good connection there clean it if you need to, if that doesn't help it, have the module itself checked. I can't remember (too damn old now), but my problem was in that area, may have even been a short in the distributior/module...man I wish I could remember....

 

[waycrazy]

I ran into a very similar problem with a FJ40 I installed a TBI350. It drove me absolutely nuts. The Fuel filter was always clean .What it turned out being was rust in the tank. It would plug up in the pick up. And of course it was very intermittent and as soon as the suction would stop the plug would fall away. And there would be fuel again.
But I do find it strange that it only happens at night. So I am wondering if your losing voltage to the coil . Thinking maybe your alt. is weak and with your lights on and any other electric dodads that is running, your charging system cant keep up.I would say that would be a rare occurrence though..

 

[1978freebornred]

It seems to me it happens at night which your headlights are on at night so check the voltage at your coil with the head lights on and of ... then also perform a electronic points test by pulling the cap of the dizzy off put a creditcard or something in the ignition control module it should drop to around 4 volts then go back up to around 12 when you take the card out... could be a malfunctioning coil... is your coil designed to have a power filter? or ignition control box? if all your ignition stuff checks out with the test i sadi to do... it could also be an under powered alternator or voltage drop caused by running accessories check the acceessories you run at night time.

 

[FJfarty]

Thanks for the input. I'm not running anything but headlights. No extras. I don't have a multimeter and it's a headache right now to try to learn how to use one or else I'd test all that stuff. Maybe if all else doesn't pan out, I'll have to. I went ahead and changed out the coil that sits on top of the HEI distributer and there was no change. Still won't even fire.

It is squirting gas into the carb, but not fireing at all. And I tried it during the day this time so I think maybe the night thing might not have so much to do with it. I'm thinking now that it might be a problem with the ignition module located further under the distributer. It's my understanding that this and the magnets can wear out so I'm gonna give that a try tomorrow. I might as well replace it so it's one less thing to worry about if I'm out in the boonies.

 

[My4x4FJ40]

Check your voltage at B+ wire at dist cap, it should be at least 12v and not 7 1/2 from a ballast resistor. Check with key on engine off, then with your lights on check the voltage again, they should be close to the same readings.

thanks
lee

 

[65swb45]

Sounds like your losing voltage in or at the distributor. A corroded wire will build up resistance as it warms up. And if it's only internally corroded [where you can't see it] it can be extremely difficult to track.

You can try hot wiring the coil to eliminate the ignition switch wiring to narrow things down.

Best

Mark A.

 

[ranger]

The electronic module in the HEI is going south. When you replace it make sure you put dialectric grease on the bottom of the module.

 

[FJfarty]

I took the ingnition module out and took it down to autozone. They tested it and said it tested good, but let me know that there is yet another coil under that in which I would have to take the distributer out and hammer out a pin ect to change. I elected to just spend $100 and get a new distributer that way all the parts, magnets ect are new. I put it in and everything seems to work fine now. Starts up and doesn't die. So it looks like it was either the ignition module or the coil underneath it.

 

[FJfarty]

Thanks for the help! Trying to finish my sentence and this cursor is freezing up!

 

[scrappdaddy]

I had the exact same issue. Only at night. Worse than that, only at night on my way home from work. Even worse than that. Only at night, on my way home from work, in the same spot on the freeway. NO KIDDING! One day it went out in that spot and another closer to home. Long story short... It was the fuel pump. I have a 350 chevy, electric fuel pump. just like you. I fixed it and it has been humming ever since.