1980 Buick Century 3.8 2 barrel Dies Under Load

[jcelk]

just a thought have you looked down the throat of the carb while not running to see a good stream of gas from the accelerator pump? and plug off as many vacuum lines as possible brake booster evap system; egr ; heater control vac line; ;pcv valve to rule out a vacuum leak .to undo cat they are usually very rusted bolts needing to heat up the nuts with a torch or cut them off also i don;t know if they sell the bypass pipes anymore

 

[Rocknrod]

Is this something that I could replace myself relatively easy. I don't want to make you work but if you link one for me. Would greatly appreciate it.

You might want to watch this 3 part series and determine if you can do it yourself -

 

[gbodybuick]

just a thought have you looked down the throat of the carb while not running to see a good stream of gas from the accelerator pump? and plug off as many vacuum lines as possible brake booster evap system; egr ; heater control vac line; ;pcv valve to rule out a vacuum leak .to undo cat they are usually very rusted bolts needing to heat up the nuts with a torch or cut them off also i don;t know if they sell the bypass pipes anymore

I have not, I assume it works fine because I just got it replaced by I could try to though I don't think I would be able to see it. To plug the lines, do I leave the carbs lines loose or the ones going to the car loose?

 

[SoFloG]

This is your second thread bud and we've all given you tons of sound suggestions. Not to be a dick but you keep saying you had a professional rebuild the carb and work on the engine... seems like you have a lot of faith in whoever did the work and the integrity of the parts used. While it may have run for a while after you had the work done doesn't mean that parts like the carb especially or the "work" performed were up to par to begin with. Not to mention, a couple tanks of crappy gas can wreak havoc and degrade the fuel system in a short time.

I mentioned the spark plugs, and you ruled them out by checking them for spark against the block, correct? Even a completely fouled plug will spark when grounded, but won't necessarily be up to the task of sparking enough to create combustion while installed in your engine and under load. You also may have a cracked plug, plug wire grounding out somewhere, etc etc etc.

I suggest you post some pictures and better yet video of what the car is doing. With all the knowledge on this forum we are limited to what you are conveying through messages regarding the symptoms and have no visuals to possibly see something that you don't.

I personally want to help you remedy the siuation and I'm sure others do as well which is apparent. Please post some pics of the engine compartment, spark plugs, fuel filter, battery terminals, etc. Lets solve this!

 

[jcelk]

to plug the vacuum lines you cap the nipple coming out of the carb .. a cracked plug will cause a misfire to cheak this ;while idling pull one plug wire off at a time rpm should drop if it doesn;t something is wrong with that plug use a plug puller or don;t ground yourself to the car we all got zapped a couple of ttimes

 

[gbodybuick]

This is your second thread bud and we've all given you tons of sound suggestions. Not to be a dick but you keep saying you had a professional rebuild the carb and work on the engine... seems like you have a lot of faith in whoever did the work and the integrity of the parts used. While it may have run for a while after you had the work done doesn't mean that parts like the carb especially or the "work" performed were up to par to begin with. Not to mention, a couple tanks of crappy gas can wreak havoc and degrade the fuel system in a short time.

I mentioned the spark plugs, and you ruled them out by checking them for spark against the block, correct? Even a completely fouled plug will spark when grounded, but won't necessarily be up to the task of sparking enough to create combustion while installed in your engine and under load. You also may have a cracked plug, plug wire grounding out somewhere, etc etc etc.

I suggest you post some pictures and better yet video of what the car is doing. With all the knowledge on this forum we are limited to what you are conveying through messages regarding the symptoms and have no visuals to possibly see something that you don't.

I personally want to help you remedy the siuation and I'm sure others do as well which is apparent. Please post some pics of the engine compartment, spark plugs, fuel filter, battery terminals, etc. Lets solve this!

Below is a link for a video of me attempting to start it. Reason I have so much faith in the carb is the guy who fixed it was a professional and I had it fixed again the other month when these problems started, I will however, continue to look into the carb. I did check the plugs by putting the against the block, but I also brought them to a mechanic and he said they looked fine, though I could change them anyway to see if it makes a difference because they did look a little dark to me. The engine generally has always ran rich and burned oil, so possibility the plugs are not good. Hope the video is at all helpful, if you need any other types of videos or perspectives let me know, again im very appreciative to have this help.

 

[SoFloG]

Below is a link for a video of me attempting to start it. Reason I have so much faith in the carb is the guy who fixed it was a professional and I had it fixed again the other month when these problems started, I will however, continue to look into the carb. I did check the plugs by putting the against the block, but I also brought them to a mechanic and he said they looked fine, though I could change them anyway to see if it makes a difference because they did look a little dark to me. The engine generally has always ran rich and burned oil, so possibility the plugs are not good. Hope the video is at all helpful, if you need any other types of videos or perspectives let me know, again im very appreciative to have this help.

To me sounds like ignition problem. What's the deal with the dibtrutor? Bad module? Is the firing order correct?

 

[SoFloG]

Can you post some picstures of the engine?

 

[gbodybuick]

Can you post some picstures of the engine?

Sure, any specific areas?

 

[SoFloG]

Sure, any specific areas?

Carb, distributor, overall engine compartment, pull plug or 2. Have you checked thd distributor cap and rotor?