1978 fuel problems

[Harry G.]

My "78 L82 four speed has been running fine for over a year on highway driving. I tried to drive to Carlisle last week and after about thirty miles it lost began to buck and lose power. I limped it to Fredrick and left it there for most of the day. that afternoon we tried fuel treatment in the tank and started it it up. It ran for about twenty miles at speeds under 30. It began to busk again and lose power and cut out, spraying starter fludid would start it; finally limped along until it would not start again and towed it home.

Any ideas? I am going to pull the in carb. filter but is only a year old.

[Michael W.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Fuel pump?

[Tom R.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Guy in town with his 1980 last week, called me after it acted up. He thought he got some bad gas. I directed him to a local shop with a Corvette mechanic. After a couple of days and lots of testing and compression checks, they found a cylinder with 0 compression...had a valve spring that had busted.

Hopefully your isn't that bad but have you also check all vacuum hoses. I would not limit the problem to fuel...unless you're not getting any.

[John D.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Harry, Don't overlook checking out the ignition system. John

[Tom H.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Probably not your issue, but I remember changing the rubber fuel hoses on my 78 many years ago and had a little kink in the feed hose. Ran fine at low speeds but bucked and kicked when I throttled it. User error on my part for sure. Lesson learned. Made sure I didn't have a kink in it again !

[Paul J.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Harry, start with changing your fuel filter and add a can of Techron, if that's not it then check your fuel pump pressure. If these are'nt your problem, then come back and we'll get into ignition.

Paul

[Tom H.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Have you replaced any parts of fixed anything recently ??? If not, I'd take Paul's advise and change the fuel filter too !!

[Edward J.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Harry, I agree with the posters here that it likely a fuel filter, I would just cut the metal ends off the filter with a razor blade and slice the filter open and have a look in the folds for debris, If it plugged you'll know right away. Also If its plugged there may be some debris sitting on the bottom of the tank. One year is not a lot of time even for the small size of the gas filter.

[Joel T.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Harry;

I had a similar problem with my 1978. Was running fine... I shut it off to do a little work on the carb and when I went to start it back up, nothing but cranking. I checked the fuel delivery; zippo, so I went the fuel pump/filter route with the same result. Bottom line, it was the two small pieces of hose, on top of the tank by the pick up unit; the fuel feed and the fuel return. After 35 years of being there, they had dried out and had cracked.. no leaks mind you, but just enough air getting in to the line to keep the pump from doing its job.. Now, you can change these hoses with the tank in place. I elected to drop the tank and replace everything while I had it apart. Runs like a champ now with no issues... As an added bonus, you might also find your tank sticker up on top of the tank... Mine was there, semi disintegrated, and only partially legible. Good luck....

[Dick W.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Whether or not this is the problem, you would be well advised to replace all the fuel hoses. This Ethocrap 10 fuel we get today attacks the older fuel hoses causing interior flaking and eventually leaking

[Tom R.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Whether or not this is the problem, you would be well advised to replace all the fuel hoses. This Ethocrap 10 fuel we get today attacks the older fuel hoses causing interior flaking and eventually leaking

I learned from the Stihl small engine shop it also acts like cholesterol in small engine carbs, closing off the jetting and disrupting the fixed orifice for the fuel air mixture.

[Harry G.]

Re: 1978 fuel problems

Thanks for all of your advice and help. It was the fuel lines from the tank. They and the tank have been replaced. I replaced the line from the pump to the cqrb. because it was twisted.