Drove my '78 DL 250 miles round trip to the ski mountain today and for the last 50 miles of the return trip the engine would stall whenever I put the clutch in. Cruises just fine @ 60mph but as I slow down (coasting in 4th) I can hear a popping noise from the tailpipe. Acceleration is fine, but it won't idle at all. Cranks back up no problem as long as I give it some gas.

 

From what I can find in this forum, the likely culprit is one of the 900 vacuum lines connected to the carb (which I'll be checking tomorrow) or I need a rebuild. Is there anything in the idle circuit I can easily get to and clean without a complete teardown? I'm supposed to drive the car to the Oregon coast next weekend (~1000 miles round trip) and would love to have this taken care of by then.

 

I know someone will suggest ditching the stock carb in favor of a Webber, but that's not an option unless someone is willing to donate a carb!

 

On an hopefully unrelated note, does the small vent tube from fuel tank serve any purpose other than emissions? Mine is disconnected the tube is rock hard so it would be a bear to hook it back up.

sound like the slow-jet is partially clogged.

 

by the accerator pump on the carb ,is a brass cap screw,remove it

 

then carefully unscrew and remove the jet

 

check the tiny hole in the bottom,this may be clogged

Ditto on the slow jet. I pulled the top off my carb 3 times befor I realized there was an access hole there to clean it out.

I kept getting microscopic debri stuck in it when I first got my 74 going. Haven't had a problem with it since it's been run, but it doesn't take much to plug it up.

I cleaned the slow idle jets (primary and secondary) out yesterday, and it seems to have solved the problem. I didn't actually see anything in the jet holes but i sprayed the cavity out with carb cleaner real good too, so maybe there was something down there.

 

Thanks for the help!