erratic, and unpredictable idle.

[unknown]

Okay, I am not so much asking for help on this, as just passing this along for the sake of conversation. I have an '89 carbed Festy, that dies at stop signs. Not every time. It is pretty random. 4 out of 5 times or so, it will sit there and run. It won't idle perfect, but acceptable. At normal highway speeds, it runs good, with surprising power. It is just so random. But, it will start right back up, perfectly. Like, two rotations of the motor and it is back on. The only time it did not, I was heading down a long hill on the interstate. Hit the off ramp, which took me uphill. Came to a stop, and died. But this time, it didn't want to crank. And, it acted like the battery was weak. The only time I have had it on the interstate, and the only time it didn't want to crank back immediately.

So, here is what has been done so far. New plug wires and plugs. Old plugs read good. No signs of oil fouling, overheating, etc. Pulled carb apart and cleaned. Rerouted some vacuum lines. Now, although I need to make sure I have them right, there are no leaks that I can find. And I am on my second can of Seafoam in the tank.

Now, today, I will add a see through fuel filter, and add some rubber hose. to the line. To me, it looks like the one currently on the gas line, is borderline kinked. I am also going to have the coil checks at McAuto's. I have a multimeter, but I don't yet have my Haynes manual to instruct me on how to test it myself. I also intend to have the ignition module tested while I am there.

Hopefully this will help. I also plan on dropping the tank to clean it out, but this will be later. And I guess I should consider going in and cleaning all connections under the hood. But, there really isn't a lot of corrosion visible.

Well, based on my limited knowledge, and help from the searches I have done on this forum, this will be my plan of action. I will keep you informed on what benefits, if any this plan has on my Festy.

[jbuck1975]

I too have this problem. Sometimes it dies at stop signs or slowing down. Sometimes it don't.

EVO deck'd out with Bruce Lee

[Movin]

Make sure the idle fuel shut off is working.
make sure you can see fuel in the window,
at the correct level.

whif a little aerosol carb cleaner over the
top of the carb with the filter unhooked and
the engine idling, if it is lean it will speed up
and smooth out until you spray to much. Kind
of a little easy test to point us in the right direction
so that you don't get buried with a long list of
things to check that are just guesses.

[jbuck1975]

Where's the fuel window you speak off? And how to check the idle fuel shut off.

EVO deck'd out with Bruce Lee

[unknown]

Well, it was an interesting day under the Festy. Here is what I discovered. But first some background. When I first got the car, you had to stand on the gas pedal. Lubed the pedal, and linkage. Then I noticed someone had taken the return spring on the throttle linkage, and stretched it to the mount on the valve cover that holds the throttle cable. The throttle cable was loose. Well, as I was messing with the carb, I realized that there is an incredible amount of play in the shafts that go through the bottom of the carb. And since the cable was loose, and the spring was stretched and set back to original location, it was causing idle to go up and down. Interesting.

But before all this, I went to take the coil off and have it checked. Before I even turned a bolt, I realized that one of the negative wires looked like it was on, but was not. I decided to take it off anyway, and have it tested. It was bad, and it is replaced.

Anyways, back to the carb. There are to vacuum diaphragms, on the drivers side, located behind the electric choke. I don't know the specific names (haven't got my manual yet) but I tested both by sucking on a hose attached to them. The lower one is shot from what I can tell. I don't imagine this is helpful to my cause. And I still need to take a serious look at all the vacuum line routing.

Oh, and yes, I can see fuel in the window. That, by the way, is a pretty cool idea.

Well, put the coil on. Tightened the throttle cable. Put on a valve cover gasket. I was letting it run for a bit. It was better, but I didn't get to drive it to see if it was still going to die. That is because, it overheated. I noticed water/antifreeze running out from a patch I didn't notice when I bought this thing. It looks like somebody JB Weld'd it. JOY!!!
Time to hunt down a radiator. Lets just hope the block or the head isn't "engineered" the same way.

Oh well. I have always bought old cars with the idea that, if it don't smoke (or smoke a lot) and don't knock, they can be serviced. This one has some issues. But hey, it's 20 some years old. It will be a live and learn experience, one way or the other.

[windy1]

dies at lights

a bad neutral safty switch,can do this. more than likely,its the carb. why dont u,spring for a rebuilt carb,from auto zone,or rock auto. replace fuel pump,too. these carbs ,are tiny,with tiny jets,that clog up. carb cleaner wont unclog real tiny tubes/jrts. dont get a used carb. get a rebuilt one.
worn distributer parts can stall u,as well. cap/rotor/ shaft wobble. check ignition coil,too.mdoyleufo@gmail.com

[Damkid]

^^i wouldn't listen to this guy

[unknown]

Well, the good news is, I have a dependable ride (my truck). So I don't have to stress over it. Patience, and more money is all it takes. lol.

[bravekozak]

Don't waste one second or one penny with a feedback carb. Replace it with a Weber or Escort carb immediately. You will not regret it.

[unknown]

I have read that recommendation on several threads during my search. I will ask this question, only because of my lack of experience with all this.

Okay, the whole reason I bought an old Festiva is because they have a reputation for being a very dependable car (when properly maintained of course). Is the feedback carb not a dependable design? And since (if I understand correctly) I would need to fabricate an adapter plate for the Weber, and (again, if I understand correctly) it cost about the same, why go with the Weber?

I did read that the Escort carbs can be had pretty cheap. But, wouldn't I still need to some time of adapter plate for mounting it to the intake manifold?

I have seen this recommendation enough to realize there is something to it that makes sense. I just would like to know more about the why of it all.

[Damkid]

I've never messed around with a carb'd festiva but what I've read, once they start acting up, they are almost impossible to get running right again

[Safety Guy]

Unknown wrote:

"Now, today, I will add a see through fuel filter, and add some rubber hose. to the line. To me, it looks like the one currently on the gas line, is borderline kinked."

A while back someone else was having some random running issues and he found a section of his fuel line was also kinked somewhere down below. Temp changes or vibrations caused this, IIRC. Something to consider, though I can't recall too much about it.

Welcome!

Karl

[georgeb]

If the throttle shafts are loose the carb is toast. It will suck air. I've seen cheap used carbs on ebay but their condition is unknown. If you get an emissions manual it has carb info in it.

[Movin]

If your throttle shaft is loose not only the air flow in but the fuel mix as well will be all
over the place, not tuneable. The throttle plate cannot be moving to different spots
on the off idle ports. This is all fixable with some machinery skills and tools. The idle
fuel solenoid is screwed into the main body and has wires going to it. But..? consider
below.

Out here a weber carb has jets and parts available to easily tune one to the motor
its installed on. Stock carbs on the festy or the ford do not have these parts
available. They only have the normal stuff that comes in kits, plus floats and some
rubber parts, no idle jets, jet holders, air correction and main jets, accelerator pump
jets..all of which are available for the weber. Most new weber kits even come with
a washable air filter.

[geezerstiva]

My experience with the carbs is they work good until they don't anymore lol. Then good luck tryin to get them right. But in their defense, on my 88, it had 250k+ on it before it started acting up. Before that, it was just as good as fuel injection. Then the idle got stuck fast. Then it would idle fast then try to die and idle fast again. But I still drove it another 100k miles like that lol.