Okay...can anyone help me with this one?

I have an 86 IROC LG-4. Lately, it's been running rough, I thought just cuz of the cold weather, but the past couple of times I've taken it out, it's stalled on the road. I'll be driving and it'll just lose all power and sometimes stall out...I can start it right back up again, and if I pull over and park the engine'll come back to life.

It usually happens in the same place...I think it might be a bad batch of gas cuz it always occurs on an incline when I haven't been driving long. Once it warms up, though, it runs fine, albeit a little rough. I'm running Prestone winter fuel treatment in the gas now...also thought it might be gas line freeze or something similar...I haven't run a full tank of gas and there may be condensate in the tank. I was just wondering if anyone had experienced anything like this or may know what it is...

Also, although probably unrelated, I hear a tapping or knocking sound when I hold the RPMs around 2000-2500. Sounds like someone's knocking on the firewall. Don't really know what it is...any guesses?

 

So it only happens under load? When was the last time the car was tuned up? It may be your fuel filter, but I would check your wires first and foremost. I saw about the same thing on a friend's car, knock and all, it was his coil-to-dist. wire, was leaking like an SOB. I still to this day could not figure out what the heck the knock was. Swapped out wires and she ran perfect.

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"I don't want to be right - I just want to know if I'm right"
-Einstein

 

Yeah...that'd explain the vibration...had a problem once where my wires were sitting on the heat stove and it melted through 2 of them...the actual plug wires look alright, but I haven't checked the coil-to-dist wire...where is that located?

I put in a new fuel filter this summer...carb was leaking around the fuel filter. What is included in a "tune-up?" I changed the plugs last winter and the plug wires the summer before that. Haven't fooled with the distributor or coil or anything...I'm somewhat afraid of tampering with spark timing.

Changing the coil wire got rid of the knock too?

Thanx
Mark

 

Found part one of the problem...the EFE valve on the exhaust pipe isn't connected to a vacuum source...could be causing me to ice up. I know the mechs who put my starter in were trifling with it, but I don't know what port to re-connect it to. Gonna check the ignition too, but need to know where (specifically) the EFE vacuum line for the LG4 connects to. Thanks

Mark