Ahoy, I just bought a 1973 Dodge Tradesman. It's been fitted with a 360 and (I believe) a 727 transmission.

The engine starts and idles fine. But when it is put into gear, the van often dies. Sometimes it works fine, most of the time it dies.

When I first bought it a few weeks ago, it had just run completely out of fuel. I replaced the fuel filter underneath the body and that seemed to help a little but I still have problems. It seems somewhat related to outside temperature -- when the weather is warm, the van is less likely to die than when it's cold out.

Any suggestions?


My new toy:


Thanks for any help. I'll be asking some more questions but I'll try to search first. I'm mechanically-inclined but this is the first automatic tranny I've ever owned.

 

It sounds like your choke isn't properly adjusted, not a tranny problem.

 

Thank you. Forgive my ignorance of carburetors as well, please. That makes sense though... I've also noticed that it idles at different speeds and when it's doing the fast idle, it's more likely to work properly. I'll check the choke adjustment procedure in my manual - how difficult/annoying is it?

I found a manual choke kit (uninstalled) in the van. Is that worth installing?

 

Hmm, the fact that a manual choke kit was in the van kind of tells you the previous owner already knew there was a choke issue.

It's much nicer to have the automatic one. If it were me I'd work on figuring out what was wrong with it, instead of installing the manual choke kit. But that's just me, cause I don't sleep well at night when I know something isn't the way it should be.

Adjusting the choke and fast idle is fairly straightforward. You just follow the steps and make sure everything is set to specifications.

 

I've found that my choke works if I follow these steps:

1. Turn key to Accessory.
2. Pump the gas pedal once.
3. Start the car with no throttle being applied.

Is this how the choke is supposed to work on these vans? I can start it this way in either Neutral or Park.

As long as it's not too cold out and I let it warm up a little bit, I don't have any problems with it dying at stops.

 

Yes that is how it's supposed to work.

If it's still dying when cold, either the choke butterfly is open too much or the high idle screw is not adjusted correctly. You should not have to wait for it to warm up so you can drive it without stalling.

 

alloro
Besides the choke, he could also have a bad EGR amplifier or the exhaust crossover is plugged on the intake manifold for the choke. What do you think?

 

I figure I just answered that question.

 

Thanks very much. I think I'll be all set. I've been having great success with it now that I know how to do it properly. I'll check those two things if I have a problem going forward.

 

Update: I've been driving the van every day and it's working well (except for a leaking roof but that's for another thread).

The fast idle seems high (no tach in the van to see what it's actually at, though) and when I shift into Drive without a foot on the brakes, it will chirp the tires. From a dead start, with no throttle, the van will accelerate to 30mph on flat ground.

I'll try adjusting the fast idle screw once I find my external tach (somewhere in the mess that is my garage). I assume that's the problem (but, as I noted before, I'm not very familiar with carbs).

Thanks again for all the help. My van is really growing on me and we'll be going on our first camping trip tomorrow.


EDIT: for the heck of it, I drove home from work just letting the van idle. It got to about 45 before I had to stop for a stop sign. I would have made it all the way home without using the throttle but it was only doing 20mph on a moderate uphill so I gave it gas to be considerate to other drivers.