Carb Problems

[barno68]

I have been troubleshooting an issue for the past few days and think I have it narrowed down, but wanted to get a few other opinions.

A couple of days ago the car started surging really bad, then lost all power, followed by not running at all. I changed the cap, rotor, plugs and wires and it started right up. Ran it around the block and and it was running well, but then lost power again. Limped it home and tried it again in the morning and it ran fine, so I checked for vacuum leaks; didn't find any.

Another test drive had the rpms slowly increasing to the point that when I got it home they were at 4000rpm. The bowl was wet with gas, but the choke was disengaged and the fast idle cam was not engaged. The float level was high, but visable.

I pulled the carb and rebuilt it last night. It looked fine except the float adjustment was a 1/4" off. Just got back from a drive and it did the same thing, ending with a idle of 3500. Ran great though ;-) Bowl is wet and float level is not visiable. After the adjustments, if anything it should be low in the sightglass.

I am thinking that this may be a bad float that is slowly sinking and overflowing into the bowl. Any opinions? Thanks.

[Glease]

hmm, my first thought was the choke, but you ruled that out... sounds like a float.

I wish I knew a little more about carbed engines.

Someone else here will steer you in the right direction

[WmWatt]

Runs fine after sitting overnight but act ups after running a while?

[barno68]

Runs fine after sitting overnight but act ups after running a while?

Yes, that was before rebuilding the carb. I have not taken it for a long drive yet due to the increasing idle, but it was long enough to reach normal operating temp and the choke was not engaged. The float bowl is full now, but was not when I first started it (ran fine then, normal idle). Over the next few minutes the idle began creaping up from 1500 to 3500. I am guessing that I could go out and start it now and it would rev right up to 4k and stay there.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a cheap fix for this as I have yet to find anyone who can get a new float.

[barno68]

Seems the problem was partially the float level as the rebuild instructions were not correct. I reset the level which helped and it ran great in the driveway. Test drive had the rpms jump up again to 3000. Took another look and saw that the idle advance was the culprit. I pulled the vacuum line and plugged it and all is well now.

I will hold off jumping up and down and shouting for joy until it makes it to work and back tomorrow!

[WmWatt]

The ignition control module inside the distributor can cause wierd problems when it's curcuits start to go. Might be worth taking it out and getting it tested for free (at some parts sotres). I wrote something about mine at www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm (click on "Cars").

[barno68]

The ignition control module inside the distributor can cause wierd problems when it's curcuits start to go. Might be worth taking it out and getting it tested for free (at some parts sotres). I wrote something about mine at www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm (click on "Cars").

Last week I called around on this and none of the parts stores here test ignition components. They refered me to auto repair shops. In any case, I took a look at replacements, and like a lot of Festiva parts, there does not seem to be a vendor. They come in rebuilt distributors, but they are spendy. I did see that Rockauto.com has one that is being discontinued for $100, but did not order it as the car is running great now that I adjusted the float and disconnected the idle diaphram.