It is a 302 2150 2v carb in this 85 E150, 190,000 miles. Starts and runs great from the cold. However, when slowing or stopping at an intersection, for example it tends to not want to pick it up and go. Has been known to die but after going to neutral and restarting everything seems fine.

when this sympton occurs, a little pat or two on the pedal will help it to catch and go on.

Recent parts:
Accelerator pump/filter in carb
Plugs
Good set of wires
Cap/Rotor

Vacuum check and it looked positive

Cleaned air cleaner filter

Could this be the EGR? I took it off and cleaned it but I don't know if that works? A guy said to disconnect the EGR (plug vacuum line) and drive it to see if there is improvement. Did that and nope! I would guess and say it may have made it worse. Wonder what that means?

If I replace the EGR, is it likely the position sensor needs to be replaced? Or replace the EGR and see before going to the sensor?

Is it usually necessary to replace the thing under the carb when replacing the EGR? Looks like some sort of a block that the EGR connects into.

These kind of miles would also suggest carbon buildup wouldn't it? What should one do in this case, go to some kind of gas treatment (Chevron Tectron)? Next question on this is how many tanks and added cleaner would one expect to go through before experiencing some benefit in cleaning out carbon? Two or three tanks with an additive at each fillup?

 

You will need a vaccum pump to check the EGR valve to see if its opening up an closing all the way , the pintle may be sticking ,, The plate under the carb. has the passage ways built in it for the EGR valve . Yes it could be plugged , remove the carb an the EGR valve , you should be able to run a small gage piece of wire thru the ports like a coat hanger to un- plug it,, Or as your buddy said you can disconnect the vac hose ( unless you live in a state that does emissions testing ) If the valve is sticking open at idle it will cause the motor to run rough an die , Also a Leaking PCV valve will do this at idle, Most any vaccum leak can cause the problem as well. Also if the idle is set to low it will cause this , I like to run my idle a lil on the high side like 900 RPM , As for the carbon build up in the Enginge I would suggest you get a can of SEAFOAM an run it through the engine as directed ,( it will smoke till it burns it out dont get alarmed ) An then add a can to the fuel tank. I wouldnt waste my money on the other fuel tank treatments , There MORE of a prevented maintance thing ,, Really not for after the problem happens ,, After you run the Seafoam , Then yea like at every oil change a bottle of it added to the fuel tank to keep the build up from happening is a good thing ---- Old School, Stuff we would take a coke bottle 16 oz . of water , Take a small vaccum hose off the intake manifold, put it in the bottle Pinch the hose so it could only draw a lil of water , Run the motor at like 2000 RPM , An let it suck up the water real slow , then take it out an run it hard for a few miles ,, The water will blow off any carbon on top of the pistons an valves. Very rare you would have to replace the spark plugs if the engine was carboned up badly as it would foul out the plugs , But like I said this was RARE !!!

 

Excellent points Ramrod.

However, I have some home work. Gotta figure where to hook my old tachometer and where to make the adjustment? I know it isn't idling at 900. I could bump it up a little and see what that does.

The vacuum pump, don't have one and am wondering what the cost would be to get one.

The cleaner, I appreciate your point and will be on the look for the sea foam. Maybe the big stores will have that?

Back to the manual to figure how to hook the meter and how to adjust the idle. Seems there are a couple of different idles that can be adjusted. A curb idle and another one that I can't remember.

Thanks, BTW for what it may be worth to the discussion I don't believe I have experienced a rough idle. Merely, a lag, hesitation, or a collapse when resuming when at or near an intersection. A little pat on the throttle usually keeps it going and once the speed picks up, I am off to the races!

Again thanks,
Doyle

 

One thing I just happen to think of, on your Dist. Do you know if you have a Vaccum Advance ?? if so , the diaphram may be bad an adding to your hestation,,, If you dont have a vac. pump , you might try getting a long piece of vac. hose an try sucking on it , you should be able to get the egr valve to move ( really not kidding I've done it myself ) , If it does move - as soon as it stops travel , quickly pinch off the vac. hose an see if the egr holds or if it leaks off really quick ..If it leaks off quickly its defective .,,, On your Tach , dont know what style you have , but you should be able to hook one lead to the neg. side of the coil , I have used paper clips, to make a temp. connection -- make sure eng. is off first .,, , Also your power valve in the carb. might be defective , A rebuild kit for your carb. should only be like $15.00 - $30.00 dollars, An it could be as simple as your mixtures screws are just leaned out too far... Check your timing first ,,( follow the directions on your tune up sticker , some say plug vac adv hose , etc ) Adjust the carb idle down to like 500-600 RPM , hook up your Vaccum gauge, An count the number of turns it takes to run your mixture screws all the way in, Till they lighty seat -- you dont want to crank them down hard ,, Back the screws out like 2-3 turns an then tweak them-- turn one in or out till you get the highest Vac. reading possible, An then do the same to the other screw. After that , Turn up your base Idle , An check your Timing Advance , with the eng. running , take it up to like 2000 RPM , looking at the Damper your Timing should advance, As you rev up the motor. If not then your Centrifical Advance may be frozen in the Dist . get you some carb cleaner an take the lil plastic spray ext. an clean out every passage way you find, watch which hole it comes out of , an then back spray it the other way ,, An another Ole trick , is unhook the coil wire, use a BIG heavy rag, cover the top of the carb. Hold it there , An have some one spin the motor over several times, If theres a passage way in the carb thats only a lil bit plugged most times that will open it up . BUT Please Make Sure That the Rag Is Large Enough That It WONT GET SUCKED IN THE MOTOR BAD BAD BAD !!!!!

[sm=yikesomg.gif]

 

This is rare but its a possiblity....

Sometimes the Electric Choke spring or whatever wears out and will slam close on initial accleration......ive seen it happen on 2 or 3 older F series trucks.....it will make it flood out for a sec then take off. Just something to check out.

later,
Dustin

 

More good tips Ramrod:

1. The answer about Vacuum advance, no mine isn't equiped with that. If I understand it works off spark port and EGR vacuum ports. Wish I understood what I just said better.

2. Good tip on substituting the hose for a vacuum pump.

3. Tac connection to negative terminal, I got that!

4. Power valve......well, guess that could be. Something else to figure out how to install.

5. Yep on doing the timing, I am rusty on doing the timing thing. Needs checks though and the idle setting as you said should be check. The old mare may not be breathing deep enough which could cause the "slow to pick it up and occasional dying. To do the timing, I gotta look at that and determine what wrench it will take to loosen the distributor??

6.Carb. cleaner, yep you are on target there too. Especially with 190K, things can get gummed up.

7. The rag trick and be sure to use a big rag. Well, ........LOL.......started to say I would use a pair of my girl friends drawers but she is sitting too close for that at the time. LOL. Well, mine are big enough anyway. s

and Rusty, thanks for the tip on the choke spring. I can see where if one of those got out of order it could really mess up the fuel delivery. The way they use rivets to enclose the spring, kinda makes it hard to inspect. Maybe I can loosen it and turn it a bit to see if there seems to be anything inordinate. That's a good tip Rusty.

Ramrod, with all this help, I gota work on confidence and figure how to hook the tac, the timing light, and how to loosen to adjust the distributor. Oh! Also, how to adjust the idle needs to be fresher. I got some reading to do. BTW, I don't do mechanics for a living. I do it because I can't afford to hire it done. It is good to learn though. Thanks to all your help.

Doyle,
P.S. Had this old van for 14 years, probably should exchange it for a later but then I wouldn't learn anything new. Already know how to write checks to make car payments. Wink.

 

Turn the Choke Adjustment control untill the plate sticks open. It'll be a bitch to start when its cold but once its warm you can tell if it was screwed up or not.

Power Valves arnt hard to replace.....but you gotta pull the carb to do it.....which is hard on a Van. If your under the hood on the right side of the carb should be a small little bowl looking thing held on with 4 screws, unscrew it and pull it off, if theres gas in the bottom of the bowl that power valve is bad.

Is that Carburator of the Varible Venturi Type? If it is the first thing you need to do is junk it and get a normal 2150 2bbl, that will fix 99% of yoru problem right there.

later,
Dustin