Car stalls when put in gear.

[Irishman]

So I'm in major panic mode right now trying to get my 60 Thunderbird in a driveable condition to go to the Lone Star Roundup on Thursday. Its a long drive which has me even more nervous.

It has a 352 from a 66 F100 connected to the stock Cruise-O-Matic.

Whenever I put it into drive the oil light flickers and the engine almost stalls. It's worse when I put it in reverse.

I've adjusted the timing to where it just barely manages to stay running at idle and in gear. It idles in Park and Neutral fine.

Scratching my head for a while on this and finally sprayed some carb cleaner around the base of the carb. The RPMs went up so I'm anxiously awaiting two new gaskets tomorrow.

I've only driven it back and forth on my driveway but its the sitting at idle and in gear that is the problem so far.

What do you guys think?

If this doesn't work tomorrow then I'll be bumming a ride to Austin which is kinda a bummer in itself.

[simplyconnected]

...I've adjusted the timing to where it just barely manages to stay running at idle and in gear. It idles in Park and Neutral fine...

Too many 'unknowns' to know for sure. How old is the engine? How much slop is in your timing chain? Does your vacuum advance work? Which vacuum line is it connected to? What's your total distributor advance, and how soon does it get there?

I advance my cam by at least four degrees. That lowers my torque curve. A sloppy chain retards the cam which gives crappy low end torque.

Before your engine develops vacuum, your distributor should be retarded for easier starting, then immediately advance the spark for idle speeds. As the distributor weights increase rotational speed, they advance spark even further with crank speed.

With correct idle fuel mixture, you should have plenty of low end torque, to 'pull' at the light in "D" and to idle in "N". You should have a dashpot to slow the throttle just a little when the gas pedal returns. - Dave

[Guest]

No help here but when I had my transmission rebuilt, my rebuilder said the transmission case was cracked. He said it wasn't uncommon and the main cause for that was usually the car dying upon putting it in gear, then giving it more gas and putting them in gear, dying, then more gas and dropping it into gear, then more gas and so forth.

[jopizz]

So I'm in major panic mode right now trying to get my 60 Thunderbird in a driveable condition to go to the Lone Star Roundup on Thursday. Its a long drive which has me even more nervous.

It has a 352 from a 66 F100 connected to the stock Cruise-O-Matic.

Whenever I put it into drive the oil light flickers and the engine almost stalls. It's worse when I put it in reverse.

I've adjusted the timing to where it just barely manages to stay running at idle and in gear. It idles in Park and Neutral fine.

Scratching my head for a while on this and finally sprayed some carb cleaner around the base of the carb. The RPMs went up so I'm anxiously awaiting two new gaskets tomorrow.

I've only driven it back and forth on my driveway but its the sitting at idle and in gear that is the problem so far.

What do you guys think?

If this doesn't work tomorrow then I'll be bumming a ride to Austin which is kinda a bummer in itself.

As Dave mentioned there are so many variables that could cause rough idling. If the new gaskets don't fix it then it could be as simple as clogged idle passages in the carburetor. That's fairly common if your gas tank is the original and hasn't been replaced. Sometimes removing the idle mixture screws and spraying carb cleaner in the holes will fix it. It's usually only temporary though if you have an old tank. As suggested also check the vacuum advance. I'm betting on a fuel issue though.

John

[Dan Leavens]

My wife's 58 had that problem last year, started right up put it into gear and snuff The solution was a new fuel filter which I believe was $6.98 + tax

[Astrowing]

Same with my 58. It ran good down to about 900 RPM, but wouldnt idle in gear. My problem was a dirty idle passage on one side of the carb. It was basically trying to run on every other cylinder if you look at the firing order and the way the intake manifold is designed. try fuel filter first followed by carb cleaning