I need help with my 1963 1/2 ford galaxie?

Question

all original and kept well. so some reason when i start the car and let sit in park for five minutes at half trottle, the car dies when i start to drive. the temp gauge says cold but i havent had problems like this before. i have put on two hundred miles in the past year and have replaced all the hoses. the radiator is full. i am new to this car because i inherited it from my great grandmother. after about five times of restarting it drives like a bat out of hell. so what can be the problem? please help

note when i drive it at half throttle it dies

Answer 1

your grandmother you say
did she drive typicaly slowly
if so then you may have carbon build up it needs to get out on the open road and open it up for about 20 mins to blow out the shite

Answer 2

I love all the answers you are getting.
To go back to basics, you should start the car like the owner's manual says. Step on the throttle three quarters of the way or more and let up to one half throttle before you turn the key. This sets the fast idle screw on the choke. It won't set the fast idle for warm-up any other way.
The choke is unlikely to come off early on the old system with the heat tube coming up from the right (passenger) side exhaust manifold. If it was replaced with an electric choke, (an electric wire on the right side of the carburetor would be the clue) this is possible. It is quite possible the choke is sticking shut.
The most likely thing, if this had never happened before, is a vacuum leak from one of the large hoses on the back of the carburetor. If the carburetor has been adjusted, then the stroke on the accelerator pump may be too short or too late for cold weather operation. This adjustment requires practice.
Enjoy your Galaxie.
I have a few old Galaxies and will not let them get away.

Answer 3

Yep.. choke problems just like everyone says. Likely a bad choke coile because it runs good after it warms up because the heat from the engine opens the choke all the way up (the job the coil was supposed to do)

a couple of suggestions before you invest in a new or rebuilt carb.

1) Go get a couple of cans of carborator cleaner at a local auto store. Remove the air cleaner and spray away. Get a friend who knows a bit about cars to help you. The car will sputter and die a lot while you do this (don't worry that is supposed to happen if you don't have someway to give it gas - the friends job if you don't know how to move the linkage). Pay special attention to the choke coil .. it may simply be gooooed shut. (Hey! I made a word !!- grin)

2) If you have an electric choke, try replacing it. Its easy (three screws) and you can read how to reset the choke on line (also easy).

3) After that its rebuilt carb time. Let a mechanic do that because its really easy to get a bad carb. Sometimes it takes 2 or even three installations to get a good one.. a good mechanic will only charge you for one of those .

Good luck

.

Answer 4

First off, inspite of the suggestion, NEVER EVER EVER spray carburetor cleaner into the intake while the car is running, if you get a "popback" it'll turn into a fireball in your face, not to mention the fire risk. If you can tackle this yourself, start by rebuilding the carb, and if you have any suspicion of old fuel, drain it and purge the lines/replace filters before restarting after the rebuild, or the deposits may come back almost instantaneously. Also, a full tune up is a good idea, including points, condenser, cap, rotor, plug wires, and plugs, filters, ETC. That's a nice car, enjoy it, take care of it, it's a classic.

Answer 5

Sounds like a problem with the choke. Since it runs well when warm, things don't sound too serious. A tune up wouldn't be a bad idea either. These cars didn't have computers or fuel injection to keep the air/fuel ratio fixed at the right level. The spark plugs could foul with either gas or oil, the points in the ignition needed to be adjusted somewhat often. I would take it to a mechanic and have it looked at. You may get lucky, and just have a carb adjustment.

Answer 6

If the choke is automatic, needs to be re-set. It takes about 5 miles to get the engine off cold, maybe more if its extremely cold.
After driving for a while the temp. guage should go up, if not the thermostat maybe stuck open, and that's no good.
Young people today, don't know how to start a car with a carburator, it takes time to get use to it.
Sounds like you have a nice car.

Answer 7

these engines are very simple. what you are describing sounds like a carburator problem. You should get a carb kit and rebuild the carb. While you are at it...it wouldn't hurt to change the points, condensor and rotot in the distributor.

The points should gap at about .30 with a feeler guage.

Most likely though the accelator pump and or power valve in the carb is bad.

All that I have mentioned above is relatively inexpensive if you do it yourself..if you take it to a mechanic expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 for labor...depending on the garage.

Hope this helps

Answer 8

Choke pull off on pass side,The pull off works this way,when you start car Heat by dc current heats spring at chocke,The Pull of
has vacum all time it is a little belows type thing ,located on pass side of carb,has linkage that is connected to carb linkage;
Vacum hose may be split.Also check that 4 bolts that hold carb down are tight,

Answer 9

Sounds like a carb/choke issue to me. When you say half throttle can I assume you mean high{cold} choke idle? These older carbs were tricky to set up..maybe find a reputable shop locally and have them rebuild the carb and set the timing.

Answer 10

this does sound like a carb./choke problem . i believe these cars had a choke tube that brought warm air off of the manifold to the choke stat , those tubes can corode away or plug up after several years. but it sounds more like a powervalve or accelerator pump.