engine and drivetrain Endlessly Stalling

[defectaux]

Hey all, my name is Lauren.

I have a 1974 bmw 2002a. One of the first automatics. She's a bit rusty and worn down but usually runs really great The only recent modification that I have done is a body switch (to another 1974 model 2002a to keep the rust at bay) and a carburetor rebuild. Speedometer, and odometer are currently broken, I do not know how many miles, but many.

My current problem is that she keeps stalling when decelerating or stopping. You can feel at high speeds that the power kind of slips while accelerating. So far the alternator, points and carburetor have been checked out, cleaned and pronounced good. The only current thing that is wrong, that I can tell, is that the battery mount is rusting and failing, such that the battery is now at an angle, shifting away from the engine.

 

She starts up fine after stalling. I tried resetting the idle, and while high idling helps prevent the stalling it never seems to be enough. Any ideas?

 

Thanks a lot for your input.

Edited September 9, 2013 by defectaux

[Pierre]

Typically, a car that won't idle is caused by a clogged idle jet in the carb.  Take the jet out, blow through it to make sure it's clear and see what happens.

Strap your battery down.  It's dangerous.  The positive terminal may be touching the body causing a short, which can cause an intermittent electrical failure, thus the stalling.  It can also cause a fire.  I would tend to this issue immediately.

[defectaux]

So the carburetor was actually cleaned out, but the battery could be the problem.

 

Could I test this by starting the car and maybe pushing the battery towards the body to recreate the motion it makes when decelerating?

[defectaux]

According to wikipedia, causing shorts can cause the battery to explode, so maybe I won't try that.

[FunkyLaneO]

Check your timing with a timing light, is all of your smog equipment still intact? if so what distributor are you running and how do you have it configured? ie. are there any vacuum hoses connected and what are they connected to? the 74 has a vacuum retard as opposed to a vacuum advance and if it is hooked up to standard manifold vacuum it will not run well.

[ray_]

Yep, I would suggest timing also.

 

Where might you be located? I may guess NOLA...

 

;-)

[defectaux]

I'm actually located in Ithaca, New York. 

 

FunkyLaneO, I'm going to read over your suggestions and try them out in a bit!

[Dev02]

I had this happen after rebuilding my carb and it turned out I had cracked the spacer plate when reinstalling the carb. This caused a vacuum leak and effected power and would stall as soon as I let off the gas. I limped her home by engaging the choke; you might see if the choke keeps yours running and if so you';d know it was a vacuum leak.

[PaulTWinterton]

Fuel delivery?

Replace fuel filter at engine (cheap). Check the screen at the bottom of the sending unit in the gastank. If it's black and you can't see through it, that means it's plugged and your engine is starved of fuel.

Sometimes it's the simpliest things :-)

[TobyB]

You don't say what carb-

but some Webers and the Solex (I think) have an electric solenoid that

shuts off the idle jet. 

 

If that gets unplugged, or dies, well, you can figure out what happens!

 

t

[defectaux]

Unfortunately I'm having trouble with the brakes too, making it very unsafe to drive. I feel no resistance on the break pedal anymore and it takes too much time to come to a full stop, therefore, I'll be taking it to a mechanic today =\