First of all, I have a 85 150 with a 318 all stock.

Now, when I fire it up in the morning, it starts right away, without hesitation and runs smooth. But, when it warms up, the rpms drop and it wants to stall(happens alot at lights). This forces two foot driving and it's annoying. Any ideas as to what it is and what might fix it?

This is my first older vehicle, so I'm not familliar with carbs and such.

Also, my guage cluster is out, so I can't tell if it's overheating, but when I got home, I opened the hood and it felt normal, temperature wise.

 

Okay, wierd, today it's not trying to stall, but instead revving REALLY high when in park or neutral and slamming the tranny around like a red headed stepchild everytime I shift.

 

Sounds like carb and possibly linkage problems. Spray the linkage with a cleaner, may help the fast idle. the low idle and stalling may require a carb rebuilding.

 

Thanks, I suspect that was it. I had only had the truck for a few days when that was happening, I think stuff was sticking because the truck was sitting, because now it's not doing it. I'm saving for an engine rebuild kit from summit, along with a manifold and carb combo.

 

sounds like a messed up carb. it might need a rebuild kit, or might just need cleaning out.

a couple of years ago i worked on a 85 or 86? 2 barrel on a 318 for a friend of mine that wouldn't idle at all. it would run if you held the throttle open a little, but it just wouldn't idle. it was a very simple 2 bbl stock carb. can't remember who made it holley or carter.

i pulled the carb off and very gently took it apart noting the location of the CHECK ***** and the number of turns out for the IDLE MIX screws. soaked all the metal parts in a 1 gal can of carb cleaner for a couple days and then blew everything out with air hose and put it back together. i figured it would need a kit but his components were all in good shape so i just reused all gaskets, pump, needle/seat, *****. it ran and idled perfect then and today. it just needed the idle circuits cleaned out.

if you do it, and have not done carbs before, then pull it off and take it to a nice clean work bench covered in a big towel. get a pad of paper and as you take it apart, draw it out how everything goes. be very careful, there are a couple of check *****, not much bigger than bb's that are lurking inside and they're just waiting to FALL OUT from an unknown place while you are not paying attention. other than that, its simple. before you remove the idle mix screws, screw then in and COUNT the turns so you can't reset it back where it was. probably 1 1/2 or 1 1/4. count them exact. go slow. you only get one chance. you can get the 1 gal can of carb cleaner at any parts store, its expensive, probably $25-35, but i bought a can about 15 years ago and i'm still using it. don't put any rubber or plastic parts in it, only metal. follow the directions on the can. also helpful afterwards to use a can of spray carb cleaner and squirt into each and every hole to verify it squirts out somewhere else - don't get it in your eyes it really burns good luck

 

Wow, really thorough, thanks alot. I do think the carb needs serviced for sure, it was revving high again tonight, untill I shut it off, it backfired, stalled when I started it again, then went back to normal idle.