YACT: Loosing power? 1978 Chevy Pickup

v3rrv3

Golden Member
May 26, 2002
1,826
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Hey,
I'm asking this for a friend of mine, he's had his truck(1978 or so Chevy) in and out of the a dealer like 10 times and they can't friggin fix his problem. Luckily he doesn't get charged if they don't fix it :D It's an automatic and whenever he gives it a decent amount of gas and shifts into the next gear, his truck loses almost all of it's engine power it seems like. But yet he can down shift fine. Any ideas?

- Kevin
 

amdskip

Lifer
Jan 6, 2001
22,530
13
81
That should be simple for a dealership to figure out as its simple compared to cars today. I'm guessing 350 w/carburetor? I can't think of anything offhand.
 

Zenmervolt

Elite member
Oct 22, 2000
24,512
22
81
When was the last time he had the carburetor and the intake cleaned? It's hard to say, but it sounds like when there's extra load put on the engine from a higher gear it's stumbling. Could be running too rich or too lean.

ZV
 

HappyPuppy

Lifer
Apr 5, 2001
16,997
2
71
I had a similar problem with a '76 Chevy van, 350, 4 bbl. Turned out the in line filter, in the carburetor, was plugged. I discovered this after I paid a shop to rebuild the carb. They obviously screwed the pooch and just cleanened it up without even removing it from the engine.
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
2
81
It's a '78 and the dealership can't fix it? The 350/350 powertrain is the most common on earth. Definately check the fuel filters. If you have saddle tanks there will be three of them. One for each tank and one at the carb.
 

LAUST

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2000
8,957
1
81
Prolly a vacume problem. Best thing to do is replace ALL your vacume lines even if they look fine or were replaced a few years ago.

Also like Zen said whats the condition of the Carb? it's a Quadrajunk I'm guessing right? could prolly use a rebuild (God I do NOT miss carbs)
 

v3rrv3

Golden Member
May 26, 2002
1,826
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Originally posted by: LAUST
Prolly a vacume problem. Best thing to do is replace ALL your vacume lines even if they look fine or were replaced a few years ago.

Also like Zen said whats the condition of the Carb? it's a Quadrajunk I'm guessing right? could prolly use a rebuild (God I do NOT miss carbs)

He said it's a relatively new carb and it's decent condition. Something he mentioned was when he brought it to the dealer it worked fine(the first time) they said one of his vaccum lines was disconnected and the other was only have working and then this starts.

- Kevin