Flabbergasted

[TominMO]

Weber.

[drddan]

$250 I dont have right now.
If I manage to get one, wanna help me put it on, Tom? :p

[Pu241]

Weber.

Not yet!
Need to find out why this one isn't running after all the effort that has been put into it.
I'm certain FB71 will have some useful advise.

Did you get everything hooked back up.
Nothing like accidentally leaving the primary to the dist. cap off, or something like that?

[drddan]

Made a diagram as I pulled stuff off, everything went back like it was. No "extra screws" left over, so to speak. Didnt have to take off all that much.
Maybe something inside carb? I will go check electrical connections, just to be sure I didnt knock something off.

[JohnGunn]

I wouldn't assume the problem is fuel-related just 'cause the filter was cruddy - that might just be a coincidence. Most on-again / off-again problems like this are electrical. Check the fusible links, plug wires, etc., etc.

Not yet!
Need to find out why this one isn't running after all the effort that has been put into it.

I think Dave G and Pu241 have good points. In reading what you initially did to determine whether the source of the problem was fuel or ignition related, I think your decision to concentrate on the fuel system was not sufficiently proven. I would have rather suspected the ignitor in the distributor.

That kind of intermittent failure suggests to me an electronic component teetering on the edge of failure. Though I've never had a non-EFI Festiva, I've read several times on this site of intermittent problems on early Festivas being solved by replacing the distributor. I know the distributor can get very hot in normal running and that when the engine was converted to EFI they moved the ignitor out of the distributor to a much cooler location away from the engine near the coil.

It appeares that your original problem presented itself usually after the engine had started and run well from its cold condition and only began after the engine had time to heat up, suggesting to me a heat triggered failure of an electronic part, a very common problem, at least as concerns computers.

Eventually this sort of problem progresses until the part fails completely and the car no longer starts. This may be the reason your car will not start, in spite of the fact that the engine is being fed gasoline. You would think it might be flooded, but in the old days you could hold the pedal to the floor while cranking and expel the excess gas out of the cylinders and at least hear some firing.

Here is what I would do.

1. Disconnect and plug the hose bringing gas into the fuel pump.
2. Have a friend turn the engine over while you spray starting fluid into the throat of the carburetor.
3. If the engine fires, then your problem is, as you believe, exclusively with the carburetor.
4. If the engine does not fire, then your basic assumption was wrong; the ignition was originally the problem and your misdirected efforts have added problems with your carburetor to that.

Another way to test the ignition would be to test for spark between the coil secondary wire and some bare metal on the engine. Or use your induction timing light to see if it is triggered as the engine is turned over.

I'm reminded of a time when I made this kind of mistake by placing my unquestioning trust in a set of Bosch Fusion IR plugs. But that's another story. Reference to it is scattered through several of my past postings like dead bodies across a battle field.

I hope you will let us know how this all turns out.

John Gunn
Coronado, CA

[drddan]

Thank you John. I will be working on it soon and will report any findings. Its been in the triple digits here, waiting for it to cool off a bit. Thanks a million! You really seem to know a lot about cars and have given some of the best advice around to peeps here on the forum. Very concise and informative. Thanks from me and all the peeps here.
You are an inspriration and we are lucky to have you as a member!
Thanks to Pu241, FB71, DaveG, and all who provided input also!
You all are the kind of peeps that make this such a great forum!

[microflea]

Be prepared to replace the strainer in your tank.If it's not bad,blowing high pressure air though it will probably destroy it.Good luck!!

[Evil D]

Any news on this? Mine is doing exactly as you describe, starts and idles but won't drive, bucks like crazy when it does, but mine isn't intermittent...it did this after driving to work, on the way home, and hasn't changed at all. I pulled the fuel filter and clean gas poured out and it doesn't look dirty from what i can see (it's the factory style that you can kinda see through). I'm getting a good squirt of fuel from my accelerator pump when i blip the throttle. I'm 100% clueless as to what to do from this point on. It seems to be getting gas, it just dies and/or bucks your brains out if you try to drive it.

I'm tempted to buy an O2 sensor because someone in another thread with the same symptoms said that fixed his problem, but i don't like throwing parts at a problem like this and i have no way of pulling/reading codes.

[zoe60]

Sounds alot like ignition modules to me. I'm the guy that fixed his car with an o2 sensor. I replaced every ignition part and rebuilt the carb on mine but it would always buck, especially going into 2nd. Ran OK otherwise though. That was when I replaced the O2 sensor and it has run great ever since. Yours don't run at all or intermitently. Mine did that when I first got it and it was the ignitor. You can have them tested at many auto parts stores. They are expensive, cheapest I've seen was on Ebay. I put an aftermarket ignition system and an MSD coil on mine. No troubles in the past 20k miles! Good luck!!