Won't run in gear when cold

[ammachine390]

My Concord has been having some issues lately now that the temps are down in the 20s and 30s. When the engine is cold, it starts up fine, and idles fine in park, but as soon as I put it into gear and try to drive, it doesn't run right. Its like it just wants to bog out when you accelerate. Sometimes it just dies as soon as its in gear. When the engine temp gets up to normal it has no problems. I rebuilt the carter carb over the summer, and it did not do this on "cold" starts when the outdoor temp was between 55 and 85. Any ideas?

[Whuntmore]

I'd say check what position your electronic choke is sitting at. 

[AMC lifer]

I know that this may sound like a silly question but, when was the last time the oil & filter were replaced as well as the air filter. My Eagle did similar things when it was cold. I admit, rather than changing oil, I just kept adding as it did leak/burn oil. I concluded that it had been sometime between changes that maybe the oil filter was getting gummed up. When the engine got warmer, the oil flowed better.

[AMC lifer]

Just thought of something else. Is there oil in the air cleaer housing (probably not the right name for it)? Give all parts of that a good shot of carb cleaner to free up any gunked up areas. How about the flexible tube going from the engine to the snorkel? Is it on, broken or missing?

[ammachine390]

The choke is sitting in the same spot as it always been. When I rebuilt the carb I put it back to where it was. And all previous winters, the car has run great when cold.

As for the oil questions, it hasn't been replaced in a few months, but I don't think it's anything drastic. Car isn't driven that much, and when it is, the oil needs to be topped off. I will do an oil change sometime within the next month.

However, I think I may have solved the problem. I was inspecting around the carburetor, and all the gaskets looked kind of wet. I tightened the carb mounting bolts and all the other screws (but not the adjustment screws). The mounting bolts were rather loose, car started and ran a lot better then, however it is also warmer out right now. So I'll try to drive it again tonight when the temps drop.

[ammachine390]

Drove the car tonight, temp was probably around 35 degrees. Started right up as usual, and once in gear seemed to run fine. So hopefully the loose carb bolts was all it was.

[ammachine390]

Well I was wrong about the problems being gone. The other day, I drove the car on the highway for 300 miles, and drove fine, got almost 23 mpg. The next day, drove it to the gas station and around town, and it was still fine. Then later in the day, took it out again, started and drove fine, then all of the sudden, when I went to accelerate from a stop sign, car just died. Restarted it, and as soon as I hit the gas, it just died. Managed to get it into a church parking lot. In the lot, I was able to idle around the lot, but as soon as I hit the gas, it just dies. In park, it was running ok, and I was able to rev up the engine, and will idle in drive, but when I hit the gas it just died. I left the car there for the day, and went to pick it up later at night, and was able to drive it home, although it didn't seem to run right still. Then today, I removed a spark plug on it just to see it's condition, and discovered that it was almost completely oil fouled. Went to the store and picked up factory style new plugs, and will install them tomorrow. Hoping this was the problem all along.

[AMC lifer]

When you accelerate, it there a rattle coming from the engine? It coud be a bad lifter. When you do accelerate, is there gray/white smoke coming from the exhaust? This would mean that oil is getting into the cylinder. This could be the source of your fouled plug. Is there oil consumption elsewhere such a leaks?

[carnuck]

Intake manifold bolts coming loose? When I overhauled my carb, it still didn't run right and I found some of the bolts were loose (I tightened them a year ago, but when the motor was cold) and the valve cover leak made a pond that it sips from when I go around the corners.

[ammachine390]

Well I put the spark plugs in about 3 weeks ago. Drove the around the block a few times, seemed to be ok, temp was still pretty warm out. Then went back to school for 3 weeks and took my mom's car back, and she was driving the AMC 3 miles a day to work. She said she was still having some problems with it dying. I got home yesterday night, so today, I tried to drive it again, drove out the driveway, as soon as I try to accelerate car wants to stall. I figure why not try replacing the ignition module since I already had a new one and its easy. Now the car runs great again, guess the old one was on its way out.

[carnuck]

Or the connection was corroded and causing it to act up. Swap back and see if it's still good.

[ammachine390]

Or the connection was corroded and causing it to act up. Swap back and see if it's still good.

Actually swapped them back right away. Just to see if was still an issue, since this problem had been so inconsistent. As soon as the old one was plugged in, car started stumbling again, switched to new one, ran fine.

[carnuck]

That's 100% then. The problem may be caused by a corroded ground between the ignition box and dist.