Ok, my 2.8 recently ran about the worst it has since before the carb was rebuilt. It made no power for most of my drive to Syracuse, and I could not go over 50 uphill, like the secondaries weren't opening. The secondaries didnt seem to be going down smoothly when I pushed on them, but that went away 250 miles into a 300 mile trek, and that right now isnt my primary concern. My main concern, is whenever I touch the gas at all I can hear a noticeable ticking noise under the hood, not like a rocker or something, almost like an exhaust leak, but not real noticeable at idle. I just had the timing adjusted, and the car will run over a little, but that may be due to high idle. But it didnt seem to be in high idle when it did it, which is pointing me towards timing. And another thing, when I hit the gas at a stop, it doesnt do anything really, and takes a second or two to go, almost like its bogging, but there seems to be no way the secondary could open that fast and it doesnt stumble like my quadrajet would, it just hesitates real bad. Help, Im confused, 300 miles from home with a car thats running poorly, any ideas are appreciated. If it gets over 5 degrees today i may go out and play with the timing.

 

sounds to me like your timing is off. I'm no expert, but I've had something similar happen with my fuel injected 3.1, and timing was the culprit. You have a 4bbl 2.8L ?

 

No, I have a 2bbl on the car. After more investigation, I appear to have a nasty exhaust leak. Its a factory varijet, which IMHO is one of the worst carbs. I love my quadrajet on my t/a so much more, but the maro is my daily driver and needs to run well. Im almost thinking that since the leak sounds like its near the O2 sensor that it is giving it faulty readings and causing it to run poorly. I dont know, Im at my wits end (not very far actually) trying to fix it. The noise is prevalent even in park, so that makes me think its not knocking. Ive never heard a knocking car so I wouldnt know the noise anyways.

 

LOl the lowly 2bbl carb was an awful choice for the 82-84 v6's. I had a terrible exhaust leak, it sounded like two hammers being knocked together. Get some gaskets and new bolts for the maniflods.

 

I'm the opposite.
I love my Varijet on my Blazer.
It's the "same" thing.
What I suggest is
Get the car to idle strong, loosen distributor, swing it towards the firewall.
You'll hear engine smooth out!
Next go for ride, find a hill, to listen for pings, if any.
IF pings, back off the distb. twist, slightly, until pings go away.
Exhaust leak is easy to locate.
Put hand by exhaust manifolds under hood and feel extra engine heat. Look at manifold logs and notice ANY WHITE POWERDY STUFF?
You found the problem!
NEXT test timing chain stretch...
SIMPLE get a 17 or 19mm socket & ratchet.
Place this on balancer nut, pop off distb cap, HAND ROTATE ENGINE, notice the rotor cap movement.
IF it take longer than an inch at BALANCER to make ROTOR MOVE, you need timing chain!
Twisting Distb toward firewall is a "cure" that works, YET ya need new chain.
Will this increase your power back up those Ithaca hills
Damn straight!
When I rebuilt my Blazer Varijet second time (it had first rebuild at 130,000, this second at 211,500 miles), second job I replaced primary shaft bushings on throttle plate. WHAT A JOB, but, my Blazer purrs!
I suggest you start elsewhere to add the power back.
You have old ride, it's cold and you in hills with an auto to boot.
ALOT going against ya and ALOT of effort to regain the power!
PLUS, have you fixed ANY vacuum hose leaks or old vacuum hoses?
You'll gain back lots of power that way, too.
Or just conceede & buy a newer ride.
82-84 F Body's are aged and lack lots of maintenance by previous owners. It's a battle to get back to square one.
My Blazer at 211,500 miles finally died. I've added the 3.4 under the old 85 Blazer ignition/induction system.
Have you rebuilt your distributor yet?
I kinda doubt the rebuild was a bad job. Check other areas to gain back the power you seek. It can be done, but again it's a chase....
OH PS
That noise
MAY BE WORN TIMING CHAIN SLAPPING AGAINST THE T Chain Cover!
USE A LONG screwdriver.
Get car to idle, place metal screwdriver tip against the engine, place screwdriver handle against your ear & hear the engine! It's fun & WORKS
WHAT IS ENGINE MILAGE!!??

 

Ive got 30 K on the motor, it was a goowrench replacement. I got the car when I was 16 and wasn't "mature enough" for a V-8, so Ive got that in it. Im going to take another look at it later, its just nasty and snowy outside right now, and I'll let them plow a little bit first. The power magically returned it seems, and I think (hope) the secondaires just were stuck on the way up. Maybe it ran in limp home mode. My carb was rebuilt 3,000 miles ago. Im afraid to touch the distributor right now, with all the wetness and cold outside, but if it warms up i may get brave. Problem is I originally got my t/a to learn to work on an auto, and while I can rip off a cylinder head no problem on that motor, this 2.8 scares me pretty good.

The timing chain thing, would that happen with only 30K on the motor? The motor has been used hard but the oil and filter have been religiously changed at 3000 mile intervals. I used to tow a 1300 lb boat with the thing, and for most of the ride up, it felt like the boat was back there again.

Problem with getting a newer ride is with a rebuilt tranny, new motor, and damn near everything else replaced, its hard to see why it still would run so bad and be so problematic. I have realized I couldve gotten a decent older TPI car for the money Ive dumped in it thus far.

I appreciate the help guys, I want to keep my 2.8 (never thought Id say that, but Ive got the t/a to play with and its better than driving some old honda around) and will look at it soon. I dont think the distributor was rebuilt, may be wise to do that over spring break. Car now has to last me approx 500 miles and a month until I can take it home and really get into it. Its intimidating to go into a car motor 250 miles from home with minimal knowledge and a small toolbox. Maybe I should invest time in learning how to work on the vehicle I drive everyday instead of a glamorous project

 

GREAT THINGS TO HEAR!!
You HAVE SUPERB FOUNDATION!
Let's help.
CHECK ALL HOSES
CHECK ALL HOSES
Check linkage
Check EXHAUST SYSTEM (Ya never know if CC clogged or too old now!) and MAYBE change muffler (it may have internally collasped).
rebuilding dsitributor is one of the easiest things ya can do.
I have read about it so often on Small Block Chevy's.
DOING THIS DISTB IS SO EASY.
DO A SEARCH used my name as author & have at it.
The 2.8 STRIPPED is just like any other engine ya know.
Drag is, yeah, LOTS of hoses, as I am NOW reattaching all mine on my 2.8->3.4 swap in my Blazer to make it pass smog.
I WILL SAY THIS
Those two choke pots on the carb ARE EXPENSIVE, if worn.
Mine on my Blazer carb are.
YET, I'm not in cold area, so I save the $85+ cost of them for me.
IF ya gone 3,000 miles on this mill, carb rebuilt, was ok before, was better, then worse, then better, START SEARCHING FOR COMMON SENSE SOLUTIONS not blame the carb.
I KNOW IT'S COLD, I used to live back east & know about wind chill factors. TRY 11* BELOW WIND CHILL!
Find a place indoors to examine.
MAYBE a CAR WASH STALL close the doors & have at it!
NO CHAIN AIN'T STRETCHED.
You've got a SUBERB foundation.
IT IS NOT ELECTRICAL OR COMPUTER RELATED THIS PROBLEM.
CHECK COMMON SENSE ANSWERS!
PS IF A MOMENTARY PROBLEM (It comes & goes)-LOOK REAL HARD AT VACUUM HOSES & SUCH!
Need to score a vacuum hose guide for your help.
Refer to a past post about
"Carb'd V-6 Owner, come on in!"
It has a pic of the hose routing set up to help ya.
IT'S A GUIDE and I'm actually buying that sticker for my Blazer!

 

Okay, I found the source of the noise, its a large gash in the y-pipe right where the passenger side piece hooks to the main pipe. Im going to patch it until spring. It was a good sized gash, and I guess that means the noise. Would that cause a lot of hesitation with the car to? Oh and the secondaries are now opening, but the hesitation is bad, and its the only thing that changed with the noise. Ill patch it tonite and see the results.

Oh, I usually blame the carb for problems. Always have, probably always will. Is there any guide out there on how to tune a varijet? I looked at the roe book today and there is not much in there about anything but the quadrajet.

 

Exhaust
WELD THE HOLE NOT PATCH
The patch will blow out due to pressure.
I know, been there!
Will this cause loss of power OH G0D YES BIG TIME YES!!!!
How to tune these carbs is so easy.
TAKE IT TO SMOG STATION have them hook up on scope for emision, dial in carb. It's the perfect way to be done.
It can be done, as that's how I did mine.
Works like a charm!
The smog station will know what to do.
ASK AROUND FOR AN HONEST MECHANIC in the area.