First off, my hood has been off the last few days getting painted, so the engine has been getting rained on. That said, this morning I started the car up (83 carbed EA81 GL) let it get warm for 8 minutes and drove to work where it idles for a few minutes, no problems. Then I got back onto the road, revved it to about 4200 in 1st (trying to stay with the work convoy) and as soon as I got into 2nd gear the car lost power, like I went through a deep puddle or something. I immediately pulled into the nearest parking lot and the car stalled. I restarted it several times, but it would just stall out unless I pushed the gas all the way down, I only revved to 3K like that and it would not idle at all. Oil level was fine, plenty of gas. So I left it and came back after work. Turned the car on, stalled, turned on again and it held 1500 rpm but stalled when I pushed the gas slightly. Carb and distributor cap looked fine, no water. A few more starts and stalls and I just let it run at 1500 for a little while. Now I could rev it normally and it was a little rough and "poppy", but stayed on. I drove it about 3/4 mile in 1st, 3100 rpm and after that it was fine, idling smoothly. I have some ideas: fuel pump; Is it the kind that runs off the crankshaft, and would only give enough fuel at higher rpms if it were going out? Fuel filter; I did roll the car, maybe some crap got clogged in it, then dislodged? That's all I can think of, what do you folks think? (the hood's on it now too)

FP is electric - under the car near the tank. Not your problem. Filter probably is fine being you are in Oregon - might change it since you rolled the thing tho.

 

I would say your carb is in need of cleaning - try the redneck method - rev it to 5k, and stuff a rag over the intake of the carb - will suck all the junk through it.

 

GD

moisture in the distribulator. leave the cap off overnite to air out, shoot it up with some wd-40

 

had the same problem yself after hosing down the motor. i took out the disty and blew it our with air, dried it up what i could. problem solved

Got to work fine today, but stalled in the middle of an intersection and wouldn't restart at all so me and 75skunkaroo towed it to Northwest Auto. I'm going to let a certified pro handle this one. Fuel pump is probably dead

Hey, can we have a follow-up on this? I'm having the same problem with my '83 GL sedan (carbed EA81/5MT). The car only has 58K miles on it, and it stalled out on me three times on my way into work today. :-\