GeezerTrainee

When pulling up a fairly steep hill with a warm engine, things seem fine. The heat riser tube is connect and intact. My wife allowed the car to idle until the rpm started climbing, then tapped the gas to drop the idle. After that, no problem. I'm going to take another look at the choke operation after letting the car sit for 8 hours.

I've already done the following as a tune-up: Checked all fluid levels Checked battery connections and cables Checked engine hoses Checked and adjusted valve clearance Cleaned and gapped plugs Checked and adjusted ignition timing and vac advance Checked and adjusted idle speed Replaced air filter and checked PCV valve and filter Replaced fuel filter (under hood) Will replace other Checked EGR hoses The engine temp (according to the guage) heats up to normal operating temperature in about 5 minutes. The heater puts out plenty of heat. The thermostat is the factory original (195F). It seems to be working based on change in temperature of the hoses leading to the heater core and radiator as the car is warmed up. The car runs well, getting just under 30 mpg, starts great, has no problem rolling along at 70 mph for a couple of hours. What has me baffled is the problem only seems to occur when trying to pull a fairly steep hill with a cold engine. I thought that there might be some water in the gas tank that was being moved with the change in angle. I dump in some dry-gas as well as change the secondary filter and see what happens.

I hit a moose in Alaska with a 1977 4WD station wagon. Minor body bending. Sold the wagon in 1986 in Fairbanks.

I have an 84 GL 4WD wagon with about 65K miles that is showing some strange behavior. My wife drives it to work most days and she is having problems only on the return trip. Her commute is over a mountain pass (about 7000 ft). She has not had problems going over in the morning, but on the return trip in the evening, the car has lacked power after starting, and last night stalled. The car is parked outdoors at home and at her workplace. It starts fine in both places. Both parking spots are level and the temperatures are about the same. The trip to work has about 2 miles of level road before it starts to climb. The return trip has an almost immeadiate climb. She has tried letting the car idle for a couple of minutes before starting the return trip, but it didn't seem to make any difference. Things I've done since acquiring the car (not necessarily efforts to fix the problem) include checking the ignition timing & advance, valve clearances, choke operation, coolant condition and quantity, fuel, air and oil filter, belt and hose condition. I checked to see that the heat control valve on the air cleaner was working and it seems fine. I haven't been able to recreate the problem when I've kept the car at home to work on it. The only variable I've been able to isolate is that the return trip has an immeadiate high engine load on a relatively cool engine. Is there something in the fuel/emission system that would cause a cool engine to not produce adequate power (and cause stalling)? Thanks in advance for any suggestion

Thanks for the info. I owned a 1977 wagon (bought new) which was a lot like the 1984. Wish I hadn't sold it when I left Alaska.

I recently acquired a 1984 GL wagon with 4WD and 4 speed manual. I can't find the specifed torque specs for the valve cover bolts. There is no oil leaking now and I don't want to over tighten them after adjusting the valves. Thanks for any help.