Hi I'm Sam from Texas. I found this site and joined hoping to get some help with our 1972 Comet now and possibly in the future if I need it. We got a good running 1972 Comet for cheap and had it about a year now. Overall its in good shape inside and out. We plan to do more to it later on but for now its nice and a good car for my son. Here's the problem...when winter hit we started having some trouble with it starting and later on with it dying when backing up and slowing down like at stop signs.(Sorry if my terms aren't correct. I'm a girl and really have no clue about cars) We have spent about $400 on it and can't seem to fix the problem!! We have had the carburetor fixed and it starts good now.They put on new points, spark plug, and did some work on the distributor and put in a new ignition coil...The timing had to be ajusted after the work was done, which I guess is common? I have no idea! Anyway the car will run fine for the rest of the day but then will start dying again. Has anyone had trouble with this? We are tired of putting money into and getting no results. Anyone have any ideas what could be causing us touble. I believe the engine is jus a 2 cyl.
Welcome from MD! Your stalling problem could be caused by a handful of things. Sounds like you have already touched most of the problem areas. Lets try and figure out what you have first. Is it an inline 6 cylinder or a V8? (you do not have a 2 cyl, maybe you meant 2 barrel carburetor?) Is it an automatic or a standard transmission? What color is it? (nothing to do with stalling, we just really like pictures of cars! ) I'm sure we can help you get this problem figured out.
Its a 6 cly. atuomatic....and its black! lol. Maybe I can put a picture of it up one day when its clean.
Could be a fuel starvation problem. I assume the carb rebuild included a new fuel filter? I would check the rubber fuel lines to make sure they are not cracked and sucking air. Is it an original fuel pump?
From the Florida Gulfcoast. Edit ... re-read original message one more time ... The clue for me is that you started having this problem this winter. I am betting your carburator choke is set close to right when you had the carb done,(after the weather got colder?) but might need a further tweak. Now that it is colder, it may be possible the choke stays on all the time. Is the car doing this when fully warmed up? (as in driven more than 5 miles or so) Is the duct that heats the carb from the exhaust manifold still present? Many of them get tossed in the long history of an old car? Some of them are foil or glorified cardboard and rot away. Does the exhaust smell a bit strong, like raw gasoline? If so, that would make me look at the choke. I imagine that your weather is similar to Florida. During the summer, it never drops below 78 or so. During the winter that may be the high temp. If you set the choke in the summer, it may never pull off in 55 degree weather. I used to have a summer choke setting and a winter one. It needs to be set when the car is cold, so it is best to do first thing in the morning, at home if possible... that way, the motor is as cold as it will get and you are matching your worst weather conditions. I would adjust the choke so that it just closed for the given conditions. This may seem like a pain, but this is how cars were before computers. Also .... it has been a while since I had a stock carb on my Comet, and it was a V8, but I seem to remember it having an anti-stall solenoid. This slows the carb closing down a bit, like if you got off the throttle and jumped on the brakes. If the carb just slaps shut, the motor can bog and stall without one. Another item to look at. Somebody help me here if I am remember "some other old car I had" ... LOL
I'm really not sure if it got a new fuel filter. It wasn't listed on my invoice so I'm gonna say no. I'll be sure to tell my husband to check the lines & the filter. I really don't know if its the orginal fuel pump either lol. This car has passed through a few people and we have never went and asked any of them about the car. Its been warm here in Texas for the last couple of days so now the car is running good. Not sure if it's because of the weather is warm or because of the coil that was put on it!
Yes the car does it when it's warmed up also. I'll have to check into the anti-stall solenoid! Thanks!
