I was on my way to work with a buddy when my 1969 Camaro died and refused to restart, at a busy intersection. I got a couple guys to help us push it across the street.

I pulled the air cleaner and found the carb was squirting fuel when I manually give the car throttle. I had to crank the car for 20 seconds before it refired; then idled kind of rough, like it's lugged down and died again. More cranking, it restarted and I drove it in to work. While cruising the car has a random miss now. When I drove home, it died on me again at a stop sign, same thing, 20 seconds of cranking to restart.

This is only a 4 mile drive so I don't think overheating is an issue, but I don't have a temp gauge and my idiot light dosen't work. Oil pressure is good. The car has a new fuel tank, sending unit and pickup. The carb is an old Holley 600cfm 4bbl off my old engine.

Any ideas? I replaced my fuel filter by the tank today and replaced my fuel lines. I checked for spark at each wire and each plug is getting a good spark. I'm thinking my old carb might need a rebuild, maybe some junk has plugged it up.

if your carb is plugged its time to junk it, ive known ppl who have rebuilt carbs and ever since they havnt been right! i would say its pry a good time to invest in a new carb? thats my idea...good luck

if your carb is plugged its time to junk it, ive known ppl who have rebuilt carbs and ever since they havnt been right! i would say its pry a good time to invest in a new carb? thats my idea...good luck

That's crazy, I've rebuilt dozens of carbs and they've been great.

Dont blam the carb just yet. Are you running points or HEI? Make sure that all those are up to snuff. May be the coil heating up and then wanting to shut it down. Vacum lines all right? Can you get another carb from a buddy and see if it doese the same? Just my thoughts.

I'm running an MSD distributor with mechanical advance, an MSD 6A and an MSD coil. the plug wires arn't in the best shape, but I don't think they are the problem.

One other interesting thing is the carb stopped leaking fuel. It was leaking quite a bit from the passenger side. Maybe it got gummed up and that stopped the leak.

I'll ask one of my buddies if they have carb I can borrow. Thanks for the help.

I talked to my Dad who is a pretty experienced mechanic and he told me that the carb wasn't the problem. He said it was probably igntion related, due to the fact that car starts great when cold, then just dies. He said I probably have a bad coil. I'm going to see if I can get the car to mess up again, then crank it over and watch for spark.

The trigger plate in an HEI will do the same thing.

Let me know what it was. I always try everything and it sounded closer to an electrical problem. Thats why I said not to blam the carb just yet. A new coil may be your answer.

Forget it.... I'll take it off your hands so you won't have to fix it :)

Alright I hate to be a butthead here, but you had the money for a MSD ignition setup, but didn't take the time to put in a coolant temp sensor and gauge?


It very well could be overheating, if coolant isn't flowing it only takes a few mins for the engine to get very hot.



Random "misses" at operating RPMS aren't usually caused by fuel, that definiately sounds like an electrical issue. Is the msd box / coil getting the correct voltage? How close is the box mounted to the exhaust? Heat could be causing an intermittent electrical failure in the box / coil / distributor. Next time it fails check the temp. of these components.

Let it sit and idle in your driveway for 15 mins, see what happens.

if your carb is plugged its time to junk it, ive known ppl who have rebuilt carbs and ever since they havnt been right! i would say its pry a good time to invest in a new carb? thats my idea...good luck

Then they had no idea what they were doing!

Yeah I know. I bought the car with the MSD setup on it, but no temp gauge. I'm was trying to keep the interior original looking, but I think I'm going to spring for at least a coolant temp gauge. I've got an oil pressure gauge in my ash tray right now!

I was doing a little troubleshooting yesterday, letting the car idle in my driveway when the upper radiatory host broke loose from the thermostat housing and shot coolant everywhere. Thank god my face wasn't in the engine bay because the car was at operating temp. That's what I get for leaving a hose clamp loose. This time I double clamped it.

Hmm well incase everyone else didn't know this.

Your coolant system is under pressure while operating !!!! It runs at about 10-15psi. BE CAREFUL!

I pulled the air cleaner and found the carb was squirting fuel when I manually give the car throttle. I had to crank the car for 20 seconds before it refired; then idled kind of rough, like it's lugged down and died again. More cranking, it restarted and I drove it in to work. While cruising the car has a random miss now. When I drove home, it died on me again at a stop sign, same thing, 20 seconds of cranking to restart.

This is only a 4 mile drive so I don't think overheating is an issue, but I don't have a temp gauge and my idiot light dosen't work. Oil pressure is good. The car has a new fuel tank, sending unit and pickup. The carb is an old Holley 600cfm 4bbl off my old engine.



Are you sure the choke didn't just close on you?
That would stall you out and cause the 'lugging down'.
And would likely repeat at will.

Sounds like a classic blown power valve or a stuck needle and seat.

Let me make sure I understand what it's doing first....you crank and crank and it starts but runs rough (like it's flooded maybe?) then it dies. After it dies if you run to the engine and look down in the carb is there fuel dripping from the booster? If so it's one of the above.

I had the same problem...tiny pieces of rust from the 35 year old gas tank kept somehow getting past the fuel filter and sticking the needle open. That lets the fuel pump fill the bowls completely to the top and they leak. After the car is off for a bit the fuel level leaks down, the pressure is relieved and it stops leaking.

Remove your needle assemblies and blow then out with compressed air. Take a good look first though as ususally you can see the flake of trash. Good luck!

I ended up having to replace the gas tank too.

This guy's camaro & troubles reminds me of the common (good old days/bad old days) experiences. Driving your (daily driver) camaro to work & back with SOME gauges working & SOME not & one guage in the ash tray. I remember once years ago I drove from Texas to California via Utah in a 68 RS convertible with no gauges at all, no fuel, speedo, no nothing & bald tires to boot. I was only in my early twenties then. I wouldn't ever want to push my luck like that again