V8 stalling diagnosis?

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[quote author=toddslater link=board=1;threadid=9796;start=msg86573#msg86573 date=1073533187]
While not meaning to sound too critical...but the mechanic is either a complete idiot or just needs some extra cash to pay for them xmas bills and decided to see if he could bend Deep South over and provide the "service" w/o the lube.


[/quote]

To defend the wrench a little. DSC said he was a friend with another job. People are constantly asking me to look at their s***. I don't have the time to give them 100% when I'm getting paid to work on other stuff and not to work on theirs. I will ask a bunch of questions, especially to someone who has some mechanical knowledge to try and eliminate systems without having to spend the time testing them. By doing this, I can save both of us time and money. It's possible he's trying to get to it when he can, and can't spend much time on it when he does.
With the spark thing, I'll bet he did a power balance test rather than an actual test for spark. He spent 5 minutes pulling plug wires off the cap, rather than 30 minutes with a remote starter and a spark tester. The thing was running so crappy 5 out of 8 cylinders appeared to have no power. Could be fouled plugs as much as bad wires or cap. If you're running an eldebrock, I'm betting you have a fuel delivery problem. Very possibly float level. Could be a cap as well, but doesn't sound like it. Could also be a coil breaking up, but that should get worse under load as well.
i used to work for a fleet place. Most of the wrenches were not big on carbs or spark. Deisels don't have any.
 
I still say carb. If it was electrical it probably wouldn't even out underload but maybe get worse? I don't see how it could run on 3 cyls very well if it would run at all but to even out after you raise the rpms still suggests fuel and not electrical.
 
The mechanic in question is just that, a full time auto shop with 6- employees (mechanics) working under him. It's very likely that he's done none of this work himself and is relying on one of his guys to do the troubleshooting. I didn't aske for any freebies or otherwise, I'm a paying customer like all his other clients. IF he wanted to bail out and couldn't fix it I would much rather him say so instead of keeping the truck or just throwing parts at it till things improved.

While it did smooth out at higher RPM's it was still gutless and obviously not right, I discounted the carb just like he did because it's nearly new... Time to rethink things ;)
 
Last thing then I'll shut up....at least for a little while. Carb new...yes....truck old....yes.....shiite, crud, schmootz, and any other UFO's coming through old truck into new carb....priceless.
 
I did clean out the tank like a good little Cruiserhead when the carb. was replaced but I didn't boil or reline the tank. The more I think about it the more I agree that my exit from work with my foot in the firewall sucked some junk into the carb. :D
 
Which then burned up your spark plug wires. I got it, now!

:cheers:
 
In reading your last post about pedal to the metal driving just before this started, I think that this may be something to check if all the things are checking out ok....not saying that is the fix, but a prime suspect. First after the engine has been running for a couple of minites, shut it off and take a light and look into the secondaries and see if they are wet. They should be dry. Then Take a clean dry cloth and stuff it into the secondary in a manner as to try to stop all air flow through them and not deep enough into the carb to lodge in the butterflies. If there is any change in the way the engine runs, then the secondary butterflies are not shutting the air flow. A small leak here presents big problems with low to mid rpms with fuel mixture ratio. If they are leaking, it could cause a lean or very rich mixture...depends. A 600 cfm is on the large size for a 283, so if it has dumped a lot of raw fuel into the intake, the intake plenum floor may be flooded with fuel. Just remove carb and dry with clean cloth...do not blow air into intake and do not spin the engine over...allow to dry. Adjusting the butterflies to seal should be done a good mechanic and I do mean a good one....safety issue here......hope this helps :cheers:
 
UPDATE...


Friday, 3 p.m. and I called to check in, no work has been done since the last call on Monday. Apparently his fleet accounts are priority and he hasn't even re-assembled my junk yet so I can't even get it back ::)

fawking wonderful - thanks for the motivation, I'm getting some more tools this weekend. >:(
 
Tuesday UPDATE:

broken valve spring is his diagnosis, no mention of the previous "spark on 3" ::)
 
Well, now, there's a howdy-do.
 
[quote author=IDave link=board=1;threadid=9796;start=msg90398#msg90398 date=1074110368]
Well, now, there's a howdy-do.
[/quote]

Surprised???

he said I had a dead miss on #4 (broken spring) and 2 rocker arm bolts were stripped. He said none of this was a big deal unless they could not get the bolts out.


What do you guys think???
 
with a broken spring, wouldn't you hear it banging around inside?
 
I never heard anything ???

full length headers and Thrush mufflers :D
 
I'm thinking it's time to be very careful about what this guy tells you. A broken spring would flatten out ONE cylinder, not five. In addition, a broken spring would NOT clean out at higher RPM's. Also, unless those heads have been modified they should not be bolts on the rockers but pressed in studs. Perhaps he means the threads on the studs are stripped ... but you're still only getting half the story.

Rice
 
I'm on board with Rice. It smells a little bit like low tide. While I have not broken a valve spring...I have successfully broken rocker studs (yep even them spensive ARP high strength stuff), extracted pressed in studs (some even pinned) and stripped a few as well. End result of that is you loose that particular cylinder...lotta smoke, the V8 will disguise the rough running a bit at higher revs...but certainly doesn't cleanout/correct itself fully.

All of the above is easy enough to check...pay the man a visit, the valve cover should be off...if not take it off and look. When the above happens to my stuff, the rocker arm is usually found laying down on top of the head next to the valve. Similarly, a broken spring should be easily visible.

Not sure about the older SBC...SBF of that vintage are all pressed in studs except the hipo 289 is threaded and fatter.
 
The guy's story keeps morphing. That alone would have the old red flags waving in my mind.
 
I had a ebrock that picked up some dirt acted the same as yours. I switched from that crappy glass fuell filter to a stock style. And for $10 installed the e-brock offroad needle kit. After a few tanks of gass I never had that problem again.

Junk was getting into the carb and the needles were "sticking" I also adjusted the floats. When the problem was there I had it worse then you. I'd have to pull to the side of the road and pop the top off the carb wiggle and then go.

I would pull the top and look into the float area if you see junk siphen (sp?) it out. I could tell when it was ready to stall, the motor would drag then stall. If I was driving I could catch it. Don't give up it's an easy fix.

Change your plugs prolly fouled out, also retime.

norville
 
well I got my 40 back and it is running considerably better but still feels underpowered. The total bill was $37.00 in parts and $200.00 in labor, here's what I found out...

All the rocker arm nuts were replaced (2 of the bolts were stripped) and two of the pushrods were worn where the rocker arm contacts them to the point they had to be replaced (looked like the rockers were "cutting" into them ???) This combined with the broken valve spring causing a dead miss on #4.

His recommendation: put in a Vortec 350 (96-01) >:( this 283 has around 20k miles on the rebuild and I'm not about to trash it!
 
I talked to the man that built my 283 and he said that it was a hydraulic cam and lifters and stock 327 powerpack heads, I wonder if this is a mis-match and those heads weren't meant to be paired with the hydraulic setup ???


Opinions ???
 
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