Broke down, yet again

[JohnGunn]

If i'm not mistaken, the PCV sucks air out and this hose pulls air in...right?

That's the way things should work, but if the amount of blowby is large enough to overwhelm the capacity of the PCV it will escape backwards through the normal input path. When that happens oil will build up in the air intake. For your carbed Festiva that means it will end up in the bottom of the part that holds the air filter.

Perhaps the previous owner stuffed a rag into that hose to prevent this oil buildup. It sounds as if you have a lot of blowby. If, after removing that stuffing, you see a lot of oil pooling in your air intake, that would tend to confirm my suspicion.

As to whether this could have caused the problems you have been having, I'm not sure. When members have reported oil pooling in their intake, there didn't seem to be any functional problem associated with it. They just didn't like having to clean it up. But blocking the air flow into the crankcase ventilation system is another matter. I can imagine the pressure built up could force more air through the PCV and thus reduce the normal vacuum level at all times the engine is running. It would depend on what effect that artificial level might have on the decisions of the ECU. I don't know enough to hazard a guess about what this might mean.

If your problems go away, then I would say the cause was probably related to that stuffing.

John Gunn
Coronado, CA

[Evil D]

John thanks so much for trying to help...i know it's a real head scratcher and i know i seem to be shooting down all the ideas people give me, i guess you'd have to see how night and day this car is to understand. One day it literally runs like a new car, the next when it acts up it's a nightmare.

I really think it's just a cold start up flooding issue. I've driven it 2-3 times now and each time it has been on a cold start, and each time i've warmed it up at least to the point that the temp needle starts moving up. By that point the idle is smooth and it drives normal without the cold carb bucking.

[Festiva Time]

WOW! It's a Fabric-type material? Looks like tightly packed dead leaves. If you had a clog PCV, too, it maybe causing your problem. Really weird. Keep us updated.

[Evil D]

WOW! It's a Fabric-type material? Looks like tightly packed dead leaves. If you had a clog PCV, too, it maybe causing your problem. Really weird. Keep us updated.

Yes...definitely fabric...i'll try to get better pics. You can actually see the cross weave pattern in it. It looks almost like linen only thicker like a shop towel.

I've been driving it...and it's running normal, and dare i say even better so far..that may well have been the problem all along.

[Evil D]

Here's the best pic i could get of this cloth crap that was in the tube. When i try to unravel it any more than this it falls apart. You can make out the weave pattern in this pic though...definitely some kind of cloth. I'd say the PO stuck something in there to catch oil and it eventually got in the tube tight enough to block air flow.




It definitely does seem to be fixed now. I've drove it every day since the last post with no issues whatsoever. I found this and also changed the PCV valve at the same time so it could've been either one or both of those that fixed the problem.

[Evil D]

LOL so much for being fixed...did the same thing last night coming home on lunch. At this point i'm suspecting water in the distributor cap because it was raining, and it's been really dry lately and i haven't had a single issue with it until last night in the rain.

[Evil D]

Well, no moisture in the cap but i did find oil along the bottom side of the cap on the inside. The points were all clean though.

I believe this to be something to do with the choke...that's the one thing i keep coming back to and the only constant thing. I went out and started it and it wouldn't even idle. So, i pulled off the breather and closed the choke, and it fired right up and idled, high as usual. Now..here's the funny part...the choke of course doesn't work, but when i open it by hand the idle drops like normal..but if i close it again the idle doesn't go back up like you would think it should. I can drive around with the choke closed and it idles normal. Whatever it is on these carbs that controls the fast idle for cold starts is jacked up, and if i get out in it on a cool day and start it and drive without letting it warm up first, this problem happens. I don't know if it's running rich and flooding out causing the bucking or what but every time it happens, i play with the choke and the problem goes away.

[Evil D]

So, i think i can wrap up this thread...this is definitely a choke related issue. I tested it out last night on lunch...got in it and just took off, no warm up time at all. It was pretty chilly out...i got 1/8 mile away and it started the bucking crap. I pulled over and shut off, opened the hood and closed the choke by hand. I got back in and turned it over without giving it any gas until it fired up on its own and idled. It went into high idle like it should do and i let it warm up. After that, it drove smooth as butter.

Tried it again this morning leaving work...closed the choke by hand and let it warm up, drove home and it ran awesome. I dug out an old manual choke cable..i'm gonna look into making the choke manual and i think that'll resolve this issue without having to dump money into a carb swap.

[b8kedbeans]

Check your vacuum advance canister on the distributor sir.

Mine was leaking under vacuum which throws the timing off after the car heats up. I also effectively causes a vacuum leak condition (obviously). I had a bear of a time finding a good one at the pick-n-pull which leads me to believe that there are many faulty units out on the road causing problems.

good luck.

[hawkdoc60]

If you get fed up with it and decide you have had enough, please call me before you set it on fire, and I will gladly take it off your hands. In the meantime, if you have another car, and want to, you can send me the carb and I can rebuild it for you with a turnaround time of about 5 days. I would only charge the cost of the rebuild kit. If interested, PM me and I will find out the cost of the kit.

[Evil D]

Well, i can say with absolute certainty that this was 100% choke related. As for that fabric crud thing..i have NO idea what that was all about but i'm sure it wasn't helping.

The reason i'm certain it was choke related is i've hooked up a manual choke cable, and i can now set the choke so it raises the idle on start up...and i tested it tonight coming home from work on lunch..it's 30 degrees out and i didn't even warm it up...just started it, adjusted the choke so it idled at the highest point i could get it, and took off. No bucking, no studdering, no flooding. There's a very noticeable loss in power at higher RPM but that's a given with the choke nearly closed.