Carb Question??

[ED70K5]

Finally fired up the K5 today and it took a bit to get her started. I have this "popping" sound coming from the engine at idle. It kinda sounds like a backfire sound. To top it all off the exhaust is giving off some white smoke. What could this be??? Its a 350 4 bolt main with a quadrajet carb. Also the truck was barely creeping in forward and reverse as if like the parking brake was on. I really had to mash the throttle petal to get her to move. I'm getting frustrated with her, guys! Can you help me out!

Blazin' in TEXAS!

 

[Klef72K5]

is it firing in the correct order? Check you spark plug wires.

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[Burt4x4]

Doesn't sound like it's making any power, double check the timing, may not have enough fuel in your air to fuel mix on the carb. Make sure your coil is getting a good 11-12V. Is your motor grounded to the body? possiable vacume leak?? Tuff to say....
Good luck

72K5

Led Zeppelin

Rock ON!

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[kiley]

I had a popping sound that took a while to figure out. It was the hot air riser thingamajigger on the air cleaner. I just diconnected the vaccum connection and plugged it up.

 

[naranja72]

it could be a leaking head gasket, if there's white smoke.
if you have dual exhaust, does the smoke only come from one side? you could pull your plugs and crank the engine over and see if any water comes out. good luck

marc

 

[ZZ4x4]

Ed70k5, can you give some history. Is this an engine of unknown past? Have you ever had it running well? Did this issue start recently? All of a sudden? Does sound like a head gasket if you are getting a lot of white smoke from the exhaust. Any smoke from the carb? Have you checked the timing? Please send more info so we can get you fixed up! JT

 

[ED70K5]

The engine never ran really well. The past is unknown, cause I just recently bought it about a year ago from the orginal owner. He told me that he scraped the original engine for a 4 bolt main 350 out of a corvette. The carb does seem to be releasing some white smoke as well as the passenger side exhaust.

Blazin' in TEXAS!

 

[ZZ4x4]

OK, now about the smoke, obviously points to a cylinder bank on one side of the engine. Next thing is to narrow it down. Is the smoke really gray and smokey or is it really white, thick steam. Usually a head gasket water leak will make some thick steam vs burning oil which is wispy. I blew a head gasket years back and there was a thick cloud that you could not see through and it seemed to just sit there. Of course there are probably different degrees of water leaks where you might only get a small amount into the cylinder. When this happened to me, the sound of the engine changed and sounded very muffled, but there was no popping as you mentioned. The popping and the smoke from the carb usually indicate either a timing issue, or a sticking valve/ bad cam lobe, etc.. You probably should pull the plugs on the one side and look at them. Does one come out wet? Is it water/ antifreeze, or oil, or is the plug burned? Then do a compression check on each cylinder to check valve seating.
Have you checked spark plug wiring? Firing order 18436572 with cyls 1,3,5,7 on drivers side. And did you check the timing yet? Needs to be 10-12 degrees BTDC for the vette motor. JT