Shaking Baby Syndrom

[fastiva1988]

1988 Ford Festiva L series 4spd manual. 3.1 4cylinder
Ok, First off. The car is extremely hard to start. I have to fiddle with the accl pedal to get her to fire up. When it does fire up there is a STRONG odor of gasoline. I am thinking it may be either fuel filter or the check valve.

Now for the second problem. When the car runs for a minute (no problems at all purrs like a kitten) and then it will studder almost to a stall but NEVER has stalled all the way. Sounds like ALOT of backpressure. It does this very frequently but when i actually get it going and driving no more problem. The crazy thing is i can shake the car and make this occur and stall the car out. Fuel Pump?

Third Problem. When i first start the car up i have to fight the car to begin moving. (ive been driving a straight shift for years i know its not normal.) but once i get it rolling for the first time i can stop and go with no problem.

I would greatly appreciate some replies. Thanks

[WmWatt]

Not much info there to go on. What general condition is the engine in?

I'd start with a good cleaning, spray carb and wipe ignition parts.
(It could be the automatic choke which spraying with carb cleaner or WD-40 could free up.)
Then I'd try some inexpensive diagnositcs with a volt meter, vacuum guage, and maybe compression guage.

[Pu241]

I'm thinking vacuum leak which could explain all three issues.
But agree with WmWatt, a good cleaning and hose check could uncover the cause of this.

Please put your location in your profile as someone could well be close by you and could give you a hand.

Go to User CP(at the top of this page), then on your left is the Control Panel directly under that is Setting & Options then again directly under that is Edit Signature.This is where you want to add your cars, unless you like to type them in with each post!

While your under Setting & Options you might want to go into Edit Profile and scoll to bottom of that page and add your location and other details about yourself if you are so inclined.

[rbrown]

1. Sounds like the engine is flooding.

2. Sounds like the float in the carb is running low on fuel.

3. Not sure.

If the carb is leaking into manifold it will flood and cause a hard start. Can you put the pedal to the floor and it starts more easily?
But if it is leaking outside of carb you have to pump it to start. And it would then take a bit for the pump to catch up and fill the carb so it would run mo smoothly.

My gut says the carb has a sticking valve for the float.

[PbFlinger]

Hello,
As far as having to "fight" to get it moving at first, my '88 does the same thing to varying degrees. On mine it's the rear brakes sticking. This is even after a complete rear brake rebuild including wheel cylinders. After a couple of stops they free up & act normal.

As far as the perception of backpressure goes, has the car sat for any period of time? The reason I ask is that my neighbor had a Triumph Spitfire that sat in his garage for a few months over the winter. It would do just that; run ok for a minute then bog/run rough/die. (Ran OK before he stored it.) After LOTS of hair pulling, valve adjusting, carb rebuilding, etc. we discovered that some industrious mice had COMPLETELY filled the exhaust with dog food pellets. We must have dumped 15 pounds out of it. Funny thing is, it would drive around ok, just way down on power & wouldn't idle at all.

[fastiva1988]

I appreciate all the help guys. I just did an oil change today and i knew my valve cover gasket was leaking but its now dripping oil onto the belts and throwin oil on the hood. so guess what im doing tmmrw. as far as the shaking baby syndrom goes i still have the same problem when i sit in the car and shake around the car studders. im gunna check the float tmmrw since i have to get around it

[fastiva1988]

oh as far as the car being hard to start i hit it once (to crank it) voluntarily let of and do it again starts like a dream