# Car Sputters, then dies. HELP



## 1972_240 (Aug 27, 2004)

Okay, so I had to take off the intake manifold because the coolant line that ran through it broke at one of the ends. Long story short, I can't get the thing out, so I can't get a new fitting in. In order to circum-vent this problem I just ran a hose around the manifold, so that coolant never enters the manifold to begin with. No leaks or anything, but the manifold now has no coolant going into it. I go to start the car after putting everything back together. Takes a while, and when it finaly starts, the gas pedal hardly responds at all, even when floored, and if I take off the gas, the car sputters and dies. I've checked everything I can and everything checks out... my only guess is that I need to tune the carbs, but the guy that I normaly do it with won't be here for a few days, so any idea what it would be besides that?


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## asleepz (Feb 24, 2004)

try cranking making it run for about 20 seconds then pull a spark plug and see if it is wet or got oil on it or white or tan


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## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

1972_240 said:


> Okay, so I had to take off the intake manifold because the coolant line that ran through it broke at one of the ends. Long story short, I can't get the thing out, so I can't get a new fitting in. In order to circum-vent this problem I just ran a hose around the manifold, so that coolant never enters the manifold to begin with. No leaks or anything, but the manifold now has no coolant going into it. I go to start the car after putting everything back together. Takes a while, and when it finaly starts, the gas pedal hardly responds at all, even when floored, and if I take off the gas, the car sputters and dies. I've checked everything I can and everything checks out... my only guess is that I need to tune the carbs, but the guy that I normaly do it with won't be here for a few days, so any idea what it would be besides that?


 How many times have you tried this? Sounds like it's either flooded or starved....... I don't think anything you did to the manifold would cause this. A lot of people bypass the coolant around the mani or the TB , depending on the car , it's generally one of the first mods done.


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## 1972_240 (Aug 27, 2004)

My thoughts went to lack of fuel/too much fuel as well, but the plugs are dry... so we're looking at a lack of fuel... or a huge vacuum leak.


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## '85 fairlady (May 1, 2004)

check your timing and the the fuel filter and for vacuum leaks.


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## JAMESZ (Mar 12, 2004)

Check the carbs.


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## 1972_240 (Aug 27, 2004)

Alright, the carbs are there, and are shooting flames, but I can't keep the car running long enough to tune them... so... asides from visually checking and noticing that all looks like it should, I can't do much else.


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## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

1972_240 said:


> Alright, the carbs are there, and are shooting flames, but I can't keep the car running long enough to tune them... so... asides from visually checking and noticing that all looks like it should, I can't do much else.


 Perhaps your cam is out of phase. We can have all this second guessing going on all day long , unfortunately none of us is actually there to help you. 3-4 heads is better than 1 , but only if we could see with your eyes................


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## 0341TODD (Nov 15, 2003)

Was it running find before you did this? It really sounds like you have fouled plugs. I foul mine about every 3,000 miles and my car runs crappy. When I pull them they look fine, but it really is the problem.....so I change them and WAAAAALLAAAAAA- LIKE MAGIC........car starts now even when hot since I also fixed the aiv valve


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## 1972_240 (Aug 27, 2004)

The plugs/wires were replaced the day before we took off the manifold, so two days before everything went south.


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## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

This is gonna sound weird , but did you hook up the fuel lines correctly. I'm assuming they were disconnected to remove the manifold. 
And something you mentioned before is that the carbs were shooting flames.........do you mean it's backfiring? Sounds like either the cam is out of time , or the plugs/wires/distributor is.


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## hondakillerZX (Aug 16, 2004)

just a guess but could it be the fuel pump


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