i believe the adjective i used after the valve clearance adjustment last weekend was "purr-y." well, that is over. as the tank was very low, i filled 'er up with chevron 92 octane, and threw in a bottle of stp carb cleaner additive for good measure. what i got for my efforts is rough running, hesitance, the occasionaly misfire when cold, and a general feeling of all not right with the world.

could it be the gas? could it be me? could it be the pre-flood rains we've been having? it isn't my imagination, so it must have a real cause. i have searched archives for spark plug info, wire info, etc. the gas question occured to me late. any ideas? correlation, or causation?

Oh its just a vacuum leak..
Sorry Bro I couldn't resist..
You might be lucky and have a bad tank of gas or bad bottle of STP..

My experience is it is not the gas. You mentioned that you ran the previous tank low. You may have picked up some debris from the bottom of the tank and it is now fouling the carbs.

I experience similar symptoms (today and other days too) and this is what I do. I pull the idle jets and blow compressed air through the jets and through the idle jet cavities in the carb body. When I'm done the car purrs and runs absolutely great. It takes off without spitting and sputtering and starts much better.

It seems that the good running lasts a few days and then I have to do it again. It takes just a few minutes to pull the jets and clear them. I just had my fuel tank cleaned and sealed and hope that this will extend my pleasure. It's a mystery to me how so much debris gets by the fuel filter but the debris is visible and it only takes a small amount of dirt to steal your engine's joy and power.

I hope this helps.

Seaside6

yupp, with Mr. Seaside6 ...

you probably picked up some crap from the bottom of your tank.
BTDT ...

clean the jets and replace the fuel filter too, while you're at it.

Andy

well, that is comforting; at least a bit. i will try the clean out the carb deal. the fuel filter is new; perhaps i didn't get a good one. any recommendations? i am tempted to syphon out the gas and run some new through there, but at the prices of gas these days, i practically doubled the cars value with the last fillup.

thanks for the good advice. and Levi, it can't be a vacuum leak; the shop vac was somewhere else at the time ! (yep, painfully bad attempt at humor. sorry) btw, have you come out of your tornado cellar yet? one touched down yesterday, south of olympia (tenino) this is crazy, dorothy. grab toto and run!

do you have a plastic mallet?

if so, ever so slightly tap the carb that is fouling. it will help to clear what is clogged.
Worked great for me.

Just don't beat the crap out of it and break something.

it will be easy to figure out which carb is presenting problem, as there is only one! <_<

shane has a progressine card and prob a facet pump. the cb weber book states the prog as having 2 idle jets. it shows the primary is located behind the accelerator pump assembly, YIKES! the exploded diagram doesn't show where the other one is located. you can use the fuel pump to drain the tank. you can borrow my book if you would like. i think Small Car Performance has them in stock also. fyi, make sure the filter is upstream of the facet. i bet the stp cleaned the carb bowl and the junk clogged the jet. does the car run well when you are accelerating and just a crappy idle?

kevin

The above mentioned mallet trick was intended for an idf weber. I'm not sure what it'll do for a progressive single carb.

I get foul gas from time to time, try the new Rolaids, it works pretty good.

I have that same book Kev, it is a good one! I also have the air if needed. That fuel pump aint the best either... I have a rotory one if you want to try swapping that out as well...

thanks for the offer, dino; i may take you up on it at some time. Kevin, thanks for the scoop. the filter is upstream of the facet pump. once it warms up, it manages ok. just getting there is the problem. and it is not as smooth as it was after the valve clearance adjustment, and before the fillup. i did some reading on points, timing, and such, but quickly realized that i will have to ply dino with some bourbon and recruit his help for that operation.

btw, will it hurt to run it until i get it sorted out? i am not hurting anything, am i?