Just got back from our first drive in my new 73 2.0, temps stayed good, power was smooth til the last few KM when the engine shuddered a bit. Ideas on why this happened and what it might be??


Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Can you give us some more info? Did it shudder under acceleration? Or how about when you were decellerating? At what speeds, throttle, cornering or in the straights?

Also, can you better describe the shudder?

We await your response...

The engine was around 3200 RPM on a flat piece of highway, in 5th gear, doing about 65 MPH so I would say the engine was under light to moderate load, the sensation was similiar to running out of gas. I wasn't far from home, maybe 3 KM took my exit and using 1st, 2nd, 3rd to accelerate all seemed ok, no backfiring and got home ok, idle is at 1400. Could this be bad gas, the car had been sitting for 3 years.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Could be... have you done anything else to the car... like new plugs, plug wires, point etc?

I would give her a tune up and see where you stand.

Giving it a tune up would put you in a better position to determine the cause. It might also possibly eliminate the cause. If the car's been sitting for three years any number of things w/ the ignition system could be bad.

As for the gas.... well, yeah, it's possible that's the cause. But if it was running fine in lower gears I doubt it's the problem. What you should have done tho is drained the tank, pulled it out and checked the inside of it to make sure you don't have any rust build up in there. If there is then be prepared to start replacing fuel filters quite often.

But if you're not going to do this, at least add some fuel system cleaner and top off the tank w/ fresh gas- that should help somewhat.

Change fuel filter. Check fuel pressure

???? Will it get past 3500 if you keep standing on the gas?

The fact that this ocurred around 3200 RPM makes me think it may be related to a mis-aligned Throttle Valve Switch. Can you drive it again and see if each time you accelerate through 3000-3300RPM the shudder is recreated?

Eric Read

Drove it again this morning, no missing, no shudder, accelerated easily to 85-90 MPH then I backed off so I wouldn't get a ticket. I agree with the draining of the tank but it was on reserve and had been a trouble free semi daily driver so I filled her up with fresh gas last night and went for a drive, I was like a kid at Christmas couldn't wait any longer to drive it, I have been waiting a long time! I had the rev's up over 5000, and it went there easily. Going back to the garage today to see if we can get rid of the ugly hanging down way too far Midas Muffler. While on the hoist I will try to get 4th gear to engage by following the directions given to me in the other post. Thanks for your help much appreciated. Are the front end components the same on a 73 2.0 as a 74 1.8?


Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

If the idle is still high, check vacuum hoses.

Going up on the hoist in a few hours, will take pics of ugly exhaust (still can't post pics) before I take it off. Will check vacumn hoses before leaving garage, idle still at 1400, thanks for the tip on that.



Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

I had a shuddering in the back end of my car when traveling above 50 mph. Figured out that I had put the CV's back in without the grease gaskets.

Well experienced mechanic said I should just clean the points first, take it for a drive and see what difference it made, he also said plugs today last a long time these days and your wires look good so do it step by step as you will then get an idea what each step accomplishes. Replacing everything at once would probably solve the problem but is expensive and many times not necessary, shops do it for the revenue and also it enables the shops to warranty the work easier. I can already hear people chiming in on this one! Not too far off topic I noticed Jake is no longer recommending the Mallory distributor (due to substandard quality control) which in the past remedied a lot of what I am experiencing. Would a simple upgrade to the Petronix make all this go away??

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada