bucking at mid speed

[jobo56]

I have a 1988 ford festiva L with 200 hundred miles on it, lately when i reach the speed of around 35 to 40 or so the car starts to buck and seems to starve for gas and you have to keep shifting down to keep it running, tonight it stalled for the first time, its a carberator, could it be the fuel pump or fuel filter or clogged carb?

[LoneManWolf]

I had the same problem with my 89 once upon a time. i wish i could tell you what to do to fix it... i had to take a vac line off something on it. near the passenger side of the engine bay it's like a diaphram type thing is all i can tell you. if i hooked it up it'd do exactly what you are talking about every time.

[georgeb]

These carbs are insanely complicated but it's usually something simple like a bad vac hose.

[RhodeStiva]

I have a 92 that does the same

[dragsterdave]

Does it only do it at those speeds and is your fuel tank full or at the bottom half of the tank? I only ask because on my 89 when I got to a half tank it would do the same thing. I found that the fuel pump is in a kinda bucket for lack of a better word, with the top cut off. There is a tube at the bottom of this bucket that can plug with dirt or crap from the tank over the years.The bucket is in the tank so when you go around a corner the fuel pump still has fuel around it. You might take a look at that and you can also see the fuel pump sock when you do that too. hope this helps

[Pu241]

Good point Dragsterdave, this is a common problem with our cars as they approach a minimum of 20yrs old.

[RhodeStiva]

Thanks for the info

[woodhog]

your problem could be related to more than just the carburetor. You said the car had 200 hundred miles (I suspect you meant 200,000 miles). A high mileage car can have a lot of cylinder wear causing low power situations requiring you to shift down to maintain speed. Does the car lose power on inclines? Check compression on each cylinder and see what the comparison is between cylinders. The carburetor on the 88-89 Festiva is a "feedback carburetor" it is very dependent on the other systems ( i.e. oxy sensor, EGR, Engine coolant temp sensor, vacuum solenoid, atmosphere pressure switch , and on and on.) Start by checking vacuum hoses for cracks , etc look for brittle dried out hoses and also are they connected properly, check that carb is securely bolted to manifold tighten nuts holding carb if necessary. Is carb and surrounding area dirty is inside of carb throat blackened or heavily stained from varnish. Is choke plate operating ? The problem you mention could be caused by the fuel pump. If you have or can borrow a fuel pressure guage the fuel pressure should be between 2-5 PSI at the fuel pump at idle. Good luck let us know what you find. Hope this helped toward a solution.

[WmWatt]

If the fuel pump is leaking you might notice gasoline oozing out around the pump, the brass coloured thing on top of the engine at the back near the left hand side. It has gasoline hoses going in and coming out of it.

When did you last change the fuel filtre? It's low on the firewall near the driver's side fender.

Try wiping everything in the engine bay clean. It's a good way to find loose, broken, and disconnected components.

The only time my car bucked was when I replaced the ignition control module in the distributor, so that was ignition timing, not fuel.

[jobo56]

THANKS to all for your advice on my problem; it appears right now it was the timing to advanced so I set it to the correct setting and it seems to be working good. Thanks again; joe