[ihc] Pete's Choking!

["Peter Ferris" <binder@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fellow & Madam Reapers,

The purpose of this note is two-fold:

Reason #1, to grovel for help with a problem -  of course!  

And #2, to let those that care know that I'm still alive.  Since it's been
several months since my last posting, I figured I was due anyhow. Greetings
all! Still unemployed but determined to stay in the Tulsa area. Doing misc
jobs - part time consulting stuff (network engineering, PC stuff, web
development, etc.) and substitute teaching.  Thanks for the kind notes and
expressions of concern. I'm still here!

Back to #1! Today's problem. 

Background: This relates to my 1977 Scout II, V304. Not sure what carb,
perzackly, some flavor of Holly, I believe.

When idling in driveway, there is an _occasional_ "blurble blurble" or two -
a spluttering/blurbling/stumbling (very technical terms I learned on the
digest!). 

The problem began by presenting itself very rarely.  Maybe once every 2
weeks or so, starting maybe a month or so ago.  Now it's getting worse -
which is good, it should make it easier to fix, right?

Sometimes in the morning it's VERY hard to start. Other times starts right
up. But when there's a problem, the quickest fix seems to be to get the
lawnmower gas jug and dump about 1/2 gallon (seriously!) or so down the
carb.  Then fires right up no more probs. SO this is acting like a fuel
starvation problem.  Filter is a clear/translucent one. New & Good condition
about 1/2 - 2/3 full at all times. 

"But wait... there's still more!!"

Yesterday the problem reached a climax when I was headed to the PO about 3/4
of a mile from here. I started the Scout. Let it idle for about 3-4 minutes
or so. Then it died.  I restarted it again, and let it run another few
minutes and took off. It seemed there was a problem on random corners (it
seemed that left was worse than right, but could be coincidence). Nearly
every time I took a corner the beast would die. No cough, sputter or
anything, just die, as if someone turned the key off. This was usually
accompanied by a very strong odor-de-fuel. Next, I'd have to wait a good 5
minutes or so and try again. Sometimes I had to pump it, other times not,
and it'd re-start just fine. 

It just so happened Tom M. and I were having an offline conversation a few
days ago and I happened to mention this problem - albeit with less info then
than I have available now. He suspected a choke or vacuum leak. I will
investigate this ASAP. But the bit with the dying while  cornering has me
bumfuzzled. Back in the day, we'd call this a float prob. Dunno if that's
applicable here, or just a red herring. By the same token, I suppose it
could be a intermittent/loose coil wire (or intermittent coil? Having to
wait a few minutes to cool down?) perhaps combined with a choke problem -
explaining the occasional hard starting in the a.m.

Any/all advice welcome! Direct e-mail is preferred, but I'll try to catch
the discussion in the digest, too.  

Happy trails, all!!!!

--Pete

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   \/-----------------\/  Peter Ferris
   ||( )| | | | | |( )||  Binder AT pferris DOT com
   | ----------------- |  '77 Scout II, 304, a/t, p/s, etc.
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