no power in drive

[79BRUISER]

got a quest ion for yall, got a 79 k5 350/350 stock everything else, quadrajet 4bbl, new plugs, recent plug wires and cap and rotor, 90 psi compression on each cyl., runns good in park but have no power in drive till i hit about 3000 rpm. any ideas whats going on here? Torque converter?

Any help is appreciated,
Thanks, Bruiser

 

[sweetk30]

could be other things but my first thing is (90) psi kind of low for good motor. yes thay are even but thats low. others will pop in and help.

 

[79BRUISER]

I thought so too, going to replace all the vaccum lines and check timing, and install a vaccum gage tomorrow, maybe that will help

 

[imiceman44]

could be other things but my first thing is (90) psi kind of low for good motor. yes thay are even but thats low. others will pop in and help.

That won't help with the compression numbers, you might want to run some additives in your gas to clean the heads and valves, they might seal better and improve your numbers a bit.
As for the tranny, try checking the fluid level, if it's low it will do this, also if the filter is clogged which is more likely and that means new filter and fluids to refresh the tranny.
Good luck.

 

[1985_K5_Silverado]

I thought so too, going to replace all the vaccum lines and check timing, and install a vaccum gage tomorrow, maybe that will help

Hooking up that vacuum gauge is a very good idea. I'd do that to see what the nedle does, even before I started replacing any those vacuum lines.

 

[79BRUISER]

ajusted the timing this morning, not sure what its , there is no tab for reference, moved the distributer till it ran smooth, drove down the road, adjusted some more, drove, adjusted, etc. runs lots better now, gonna get new vaccum line in the am, and vaccum gage, does anyone happen to have a pic of the reference tab. i think its supposed to be on the passenger side, thats where the mark lights up with the timing light, wouldnt be able to see the tab anywhere else, powersteering resivior is in the way on the driver side, heres a wierd situation for ya, checked the plug wires on the distrib/ plugs and they didnt match the book, checked foums on this site and found the same info in the book, put the plug wires on the dist according to the book and got lotts of backfire and ran like crap. good think i marked everything first, put it back the way it was and it was fine. dont get it , i even double checked the order and it matched the book
any idea?
By the way I run seafoam gas treatment in it every other tank, use that stuff in everything that uses gas.
Thanks for the info,

 

[imiceman44]

ajusted the timing this morning, not sure what its , there is no tab for reference, moved the distributer till it ran smooth, drove down the road, adjusted some more, drove, adjusted, etc. runs lots better now, gonna get new vaccum line in the am, and vaccum gage, does anyone happen to have a pic of the reference tab. i think its supposed to be on the passenger side, thats where the mark lights up with the timing light, wouldnt be able to see the tab anywhere else, powersteering resivior is in the way on the driver side, heres a wierd situation for ya, checked the plug wires on the distrib/ plugs and they didnt match the book, checked foums on this site and found the same info in the book, put the plug wires on the dist according to the book and got lotts of backfire and ran like crap. good think i marked everything first, put it back the way it was and it was fine. dont get it , i even double checked the order and it matched the book
any idea?
By the way I run seafoam gas treatment in it every other tank, use that stuff in everything that uses gas.
Thanks for the info,

The tab is in a very tight spot almost unreachable and it is ON THE DRIVER SIDE
It's right next to the power steering pump.
As for the wires, sometimes someone pulls out the dist and puts it back in a different location, I think if you go back and install it properly you might gain some numbers in your compression testing.
I had that in an olds I had and it ran fine but then I fixed it right and it ran like a champ.

 

[79BRUISER]

you think the distributer is 180 out, didnt know it would run like that, i guess if someone took the time to figure out how to make it run. seems like alot of work to figure out where to put plug wires by trial and error. I'll check in the am.
would that explain the timing mark being on the passenger side?
thanks, bruiser

 

[imiceman44]

you think the distributer is 180 out, didnt know it would run like that, i guess if someone took the time to figure out how to make it run. seems like alot of work to figure out where to put plug wires by trial and error. I'll check in the am.
would that explain the timing mark being on the passenger side?
thanks, bruiser

yep