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78 chevette issue...

shaun89

shaun89

1/2 ton status
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
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center of CT..ish
i know...its a 78 chevette, but it was my first car and we're trying to get it back on the road for my sister/my gas friendly car. the problem is anywhere above idle, it sounds like it has a 2-step ignition (a really low rev limiter) and if i try and drive it, it will just stall. it ran fine when parked, i took off the carb and cleaned it all out,that didnt help.could it be bad gas? i was thinking timing but it ran fine before and we didnt touch it.it was parked for about a year maybe a little longer....im kinda stumped:confused:
 
Gas starts going bad after 6 months or so. You need to remove all old gas, have the tank removed and boiled out then add fresh gas and start. Not having the tank boiled out will only make any fresh gas bad when the old gas leaches out of the pores of the steel and mixes with the fresh gas. I can't stress this enough. Some of my customers don't believe me and try to drain the tank and just pour fresh fuel in and it doesn't work.
 
really? damn,never thought i would have to boil it out...thanks for the tip,i guess ill start there....
 
IME the bad gas thing is mostly myth. I've dealt with several vehicles that had gas that was years old and they ran fine (maybe a little better with new gas, nothing significant).

I would try newer gas first, its not worth dropping and cleaning the tank IMO. After that I would try replacing the fuel filter (especially if it has a Q-jet and the laughably tiny fuel filter it uses).


4X4HIGH has a lot more experience with this stuff than me but that's my .02
 
bradshawtech said:
Uh oh the fight is on.
Click to expand...

No fight here. I'm simply stating the fact. If someone doesn't believe me and ruins their engine all i can say is "I TOLD YOU SO". I have delt with old cars and bad gas for many years now. I specialize in old classic and antique car engine rebuilding at work and have been through this scenerio many times with my customers. Take my word for what it is, either you believe someone who is trying to help them or you don't. :confused:
 
I agree with you on the diagnosis and the recommended repair. I see from all your replies to tech questions that you clearly know what you are doing. I respect your experience and your offers to help all the brotherhood.
 
While I agree with 4x4high's sugestion as the most likely problem and solution. I would also sugest it may be water in the feul. Is your area humid alot? How long has it been sitting? I like to keep things as cheap as possible so I sugest some additives to try first.

"stable" it wont fix bad gas but it will help the engine run on bad gas.

"heat" converts the water to a *more* flamible alcohol

And finally a oct. booster.

this all depends on how much gas is still in the tank. If it only has 1/4 tank or less of old gas I would try the heat first. if its 3/4 or more try all 3.

If it dont run better after 10 minutes or so, do as 4x4high sugested.

Also somthing to consiter is spark plugs. If a older car is parked for a long time the spark plugs can corode. I just like to think that used spark plugs after sitting for a while need to be replaced.

Again Im simply trying to sugest a cheaper solution. I know the car may have sentimental value ect. ect. But in the end its a 78 chevette. If its not in great shape its not worth dumping much money into it. If your determined to keep it and fix it, might as well modify it while your at it. Like say a newer v6 or a v8, if its in good enough shape that is.
 
ya, im not going to dump a lot of money into this car,if i had to i would just junk it. it has 58k on it...thats the only reason i want it to get going, it has a lot of life left...i want to put a v8 in it,that would be awesome. but thats just way too much work and kinda pointless to me right now. ill check the fuel filter, and drain all the bad gas/maybe water out of the huge 12gal tank;) and see how it runs with some good gas in it.
 
Sounds like maybe the advance weights are stuck and not advancing the timing.
 
i was thinking it might be something with the timing....but i forgot to mention, if i hold it wide open, im guessing at about 5500 rpm it will run haha, so the timing is advancing...i think
 
This might not seem like apples to apples but hey, it's a Chevette. I had a snowblower that had not been run in awhile. It had old gas in the carb and tank and ran like that. I did a quick cleaning of the carb and it at least started but ran rough at best. Took the carb out again and cleaned it more thoroughly and rebuilt it. It would start and run better but still not right. Took it apart again and the main problem was that one of the jets was plugged. After finally getting that cleaned out, it ran great. I think the motor had about the same horsepower IIRC :D
 
CUCV2 said:
This might not seem like apples to apples but hey, it's a Chevette. I had a snowblower that had not been run in awhile. It had old gas in the carb and tank and ran like that. I did a quick cleaning of the carb and it at least started but ran rough at best. Took the carb out again and cleaned it more thoroughly and rebuilt it. It would start and run better but still not right. Took it apart again and the main problem was that one of the jets was plugged. After finally getting that cleaned out, it ran great. I think the motor had about the same horsepower IIRC :D
Click to expand...

ya, when i took off the carb, i didnt completely take it apart, i was afraid of not being able to find any gaskets for it. but i think ur snow blower might have a little more hp then my vette:D
 
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