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K5 Idles fine. Shuts down after 30 ft

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rvest1

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I have an '85 K5 with a 350 (out of a '79 C10, I believe), Quadra Jet Carb (same C10), 4.10 rear axle 12 bolt. I traded a car for this truck and so far I have taken 5" of body lift off and fixed some body issues. I took the 38.5" and 44" tires off and put some 36" tires on to make it legal height (28" bumper and 24" frame height). The guy also told me that it has a better Cam and he replaced the Distributor Cap (which looks new).

I have never been able to properly drive this truck. The guy I got it from drove it to my apartment with me in it and it seemed mostly fine. When I try to drive it around my building it shuts down after 30 or so feet. It will idle forever and rev great. When I slip it into drive it definately idles slightly lower. It has plenty of power but it just shuts down when trying to actually go more than 10 or 20 feet. Once I let off the gas it dies, then it is a pain to start (I have to hold it to the floor and crank) then when I do get it started again it it extremely hesitant and doesn't want to stay running and definately doesn't want to go anywhere. I have to hold it to the floor and put it in reverse to get back to my parking spot. I just want to get it running so I can plate it and drive it.

Thank you for any help you can provide.
 
If you actually rode in it before you bought it and it seem pretty much ok, then its a problem that just started. could be your coil. if its not putting off the spark it should you will have issues with the fuel not igniting. thats something to check. I would also make your your distributor is advancing.

I once put a holley 600 and a torker 1 manifold on a stock motor. it ran fine on one drive then after that it would idle good but then bogg down when I drove it and flood the engine. I thought it was the carb and manifold. come to find out, my coil went bad right after the install.
 
That makes sense because it has completely fouled the plugs a couple times. Should I buy a coil from Autozone or should I go to the dealership. I usually just go to Autozone for my parts?
 
Does anyone think that this could have something to do with the distributor or dist. advance? The guy I got it from said it had a new distributor cap/rotor and freshly rebuilt carb. I am going to replace the coil today and see where that gets me.

Thanks for your help I really appreciate it. I have only done detailed work on Wrangler"s and Fiero's before so I have never dealt with carbs or anything to do with a 350 engine.
 
When it shuts down, have you pulled the air cleaner cover to see if the choke is opening? It can run at idle just fine, then flood out when you try to drive it if the choke is sticking. Not ruling out the coil, but it sounds more like an issue with the carb to me. Even at idle the choke should open once the truck warms up, if it has an electric choke, it is possible the wire got knocked off recently.
 
rvest1 said:
Does anyone think that this could have something to do with the distributor or dist. advance? The guy I got it from said it had a new distributor cap/rotor and freshly rebuilt carb. I am going to replace the coil today and see where that gets me. if you look what I wrote, i mentioned to check to see if the distrib is advancing

Thanks for your help I really appreciate it. I have only done detailed work on Wrangler"s and Fiero's before so I have never dealt with carbs or anything to do with a 350 engine.
Click to expand...

I mentioned that above
 
It has an electric choke. The choke seems to open to quickly, But I get past that by holding the gas to make it rev slightly higher and warm up quicker. It does open but not all the way. If I manually open it all the way after warm up it wants to quit. If I just leave it partly open (where the electric choke keeps it) it idles fine. The breaks stop it fine, but they easily go most of the way to the floor (maybe something to do with my issue?)

How to I check to verify the dist. advance is working properly?

Thanks,
Rich
 
so it quits running when you open the choke manually all the way after its warmed up? when it dies do you stay on the gas and not let off? or does it die as soon as you let off the gas? or when you let off and then get back on it? i had the same problem with my truck when i would let off the gas and get back on it. its kinda still there to. ended up being a combonation of 2 things. the choke wasnt opening all the way and i live in flagstaff,az so when its around 40* or colder it dies cuz it has to big thermostat on there. so it wasnt letin it warm up all the way. i never fixd the thermostat but zip tied the choke open and it made a big differance. but my truck doesnt get over 140* unless im on the freeway. and i got a big cam and aftermarket iron heads.
 
if it runs and revs fine i would think the distributor is working fine. check the distributor wires make sure none are buring on a header or if the 3 wires that plug into dist. cap if the wires are staying in the plastic harness and getting a good connection. the way to check your vaccum advance is just unplug it from carb and suck on the hose. if you feel resistance its good. if it passes air like sucking on hose not hooked to anything its bad.
 
It dies when I let off. It sputters for a fraction of a sec and dies. I replaced the coil and now it will not start at all. I am going to take it back to Autozone and get another new one and see where that gets me. It wouldn't start the night before I replaced the coil though so I do not know. Last time this happened I replaced all the plugs and it started right up. Why would that happen? It starts and warms up fine and then out of no-where it just will not start and I have to replace the plugs.
 
I'd throw a new fuel pump on there also. They are like 15 bucks. Mine idled and reved good, but when you put load on the engine it would die.
 
rvest1 said:
It dies when I let off. It sputters for a fraction of a sec and dies. I replaced the coil and now it will not start at all. I am going to take it back to Autozone and get another new one and see where that gets me. It wouldn't start the night before I replaced the coil though so I do not know. Last time this happened I replaced all the plugs and it started right up. Why would that happen? It starts and warms up fine and then out of no-where it just will not start and I have to replace the plugs.
Click to expand...

If your plugs are already fouled out, then you will need to replace. Also, as it idles watch your temp guage. once your vehicle wamrs up. make sure the butterfly on your carb is all the way open or just about all the way. that butterfly needs to be as close to open as possible once warm for your vehicle to run right. if not it wont run right when you drive and could cause your flooding and dying which will also foul out your plugs
 
Barc said:
I'd throw a new fuel pump on there also. They are like 15 bucks. Mine idled and reved good, but when you put load on the engine it would die.
Click to expand...

If it's an 85' then yes, it's carbed but, the fuel pump is still in the tank.
And they cost a lot more than $15.00
And the distributor is a 7-wire.... no vac advance.
At least that's how my 85' was
 
Nobody suggested checking the gas filter yet??..sounds plugged up to me,or maybe he has water in the fuel??..

A bad pick up coil in the distributor can kill the spark if it has vacuum advance,when it moves the breaker plate,yet run perfect at idle..so can the module,if part of it fails it will idle great but wont let the dewll advance,and it'll die as soon as you put any load on the engine,the spark will snuff out..coil dying can do the same too as suggested already..
 
Fouled Plugs

So do I have to replace the fouled plugs with new ones or can I just take them out and let them sit and put them back in? I can not afford to keep buying new plugs every other week. I have several old sets of plugs that it previously fouled out just sitting around. I have a set of R44TS and I put R45TS in it because I thought that it might need hotter plugs. Please let me know what to do. A friend of mine told me to just let it sit a couple of days and it should start, but no, it will not even slightly fire.
 
If you have a grinder with a wire wheel you can clean the ends up and re-use them. You will still want to replace them once you find the problem and correct it. You can also just use a wire brush to scrub them clean, the reset the gap.
 
buefchris said:
If it's an 85' then yes, it's carbed but, the fuel pump is still in the tank.
And they cost a lot more than $15.00
And the distributor is a 7-wire.... no vac advance.
At least that's how my 85' was
Click to expand...

87 is when fuel injection and then the pumps were in the tank.
 
anybody think the timing is too far adavanced? i know that if you set it too far it will idle and rev good but under a load it will sputter and cause detonation. i dunno but just throwin it out there
 
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