LUVTruck.com

alright...
about 4k miles on a rebuilt G180
up until now it was running perfect. then on a trip from vancouver, WA to seattle, WA. i pulled off to get gas, filled up and went to get back on the freeway and the truck died at the stop light. and wouldnt start. rolled it out of the road, fiddled with it a bit and still nada.
tried doing a bump start. still nada.
waited about 20 mins tried again and got it to start again. and it got me up to seattle. no big problems again for a few days. got back to vancouver and it started over heating even on what were fairly short drives. and it started needing to be revved to around 5000 to get rolling then would automatically drop the RPM down to where i had to feather the clutch to keep rolling and would only run at excessively high RPM 4000-5000. and would die whenever i let off the gas and got on the brake. (manual trans). i am not a mechanic and of course my dad isnt willing to help or even tell me wth the problem is.

sorry this is a bit long winded but i figured the more information i can provide the better diagnosis i can get.

also. now that its in the garage i popped the hood and took the air cleaner cover off turned the key. and it turns over but wont start. got it to start a bit and i had to feather the throttle on and off quickly to keep it going. really unsteady rpm. so i turned the engine off. tried it again and got back pressure blasting out of the carb. tried again and got a big fireball out of my carb so i decided it was time to stop screwing with it before i break it worse.

if anyone has any clue what is wrong with it i would love to hear it! i have a complete spare parts engine minus the crankshaft. i hope its just something small and simple like the valves needing adjusted or the timing. but i have no idea

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

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also to put this out there...
cylinder head was checked and cleaned before use, all new engine bearings & gaskets, distributor cap and rotor, new battery, plug wires, plugs...
nearly new pistons and rods, engine block, cyl head, the manifolds, carb ended up going with the older model carb than the one for my 1980 (i think from series 4-6?, distributor assembly (new cap and rotor) and misc odds and ends.

did i do some internal damage from overheating? and if so what should i be looking for?

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

My 1st guess would be ign coil going bad or spark plug wires bad. My 2nd guess would be carb or fuel pressure problem.

Here is what my truck did when it spit out the carb, but I had more than one problem and I decided to go process of elimination till the problems were solved.

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This sounds really similar to when I bought my LUV. On the drive home from buying it I had to go about 50 miles on the interstate with a giant bridge for letting cruise ships pass under. It ran okay until I got off the freeway and then it would die unless I was on the throttle at least 50-75%. Something imploded in the carb and I got the company that I bought it from to refund me $300 for a new one. I kind of threatened negative feedback on ebay but after they did that I gave them awesome reviews. lol

Even if it doesn't end up being the problem, look into buying a better carb. It'll save you a lot of headaches in the future.

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1976 2x4 LUV: 4-speed, 32/36 Weber, desmogged, 3.42 gears

My '76 LUV and Impulse 5-speed for sale:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=24576

Since the problem began when you filled up with fuel lets start there. It sounds just like a load of fuel with water in it.
Check that the fuel level in the carb is at the dot in the glass window half way up. If not maybe the fuel filter is plugged also adding to the problem but being that it runs ok at times I'm thinking water.
Water will set in the bottom of the tank untill you go around a corner, up or down a hill or hit the brakes, then it will gulp some in and raise heck for a while. Anyhow check that out first.

Change fuel filters..both of them.Check plugs,wires cap,rotor,condenser.Part of being a mechanic is diagnosis..look at a basic automotive for dummies book or a Chilton/Haynes manual.It will help you by leaps and bounds!

wasnt the gas i have put in higher grade gas since then and the problem didnt stop.
brand new fuel filters, and i put heet in the tank so any water would be gone, once i get my paycheck at work im switching over to fuel injection . save the headache of a carb all togather!

and i have a spare coil sitting around in one of my toolboxes i will swap out in the morning hopefully that solves the problem. it seems like it should. new plug wires, plugs, battery, dist. cap and rotor, old coil. it would make sense that it would fry especially because my voltage regulator went out and it kept overcharging my battery. i will swap that out.

also. would a 60 amp alternator harm the system? it has a built in regulator and i happen to have one sitting around i pulled out of a datsun. i don't want to swap out parts just to have it fry again because of no regulator.

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

k swapped out the alternator for a 60amp one with a built in regulator, switched out my coil, checked the wiring. turn key and. nothing new.
i give up on that epic failure of a carb making the switch to EFI on payday

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride

Condenser for the points!It will fry the points!

You've got to have 2 basic things for the engine to run. Fuel and Spark. Is it sparking? Take a plug wire off and ground it to the block with a screwdriver and see. Just don't shock yourself.

Be prepared to put a new set of points in after you do this.

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if you have checked everything suggested here and still can't fix it do as my dad always told me

buy a new radiator cap, put that on and then replace everything from there back.

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luv less for the time being

I just had a very similar problem to your with my '80. It would be very hard to start, ran very rough when cold. You had to work the throttle quite a bit to be able to drive it. You could smell gas but didn't really see a leak. At first i adjusted the idle up on it but that made idle stupid fast once it warmed up. After a day or two of troubleshooting it, I figured out it was a combination of the float and the needle and seat. I had mixed and matched pieces from an older (maybe a 76) carb and my "80 carb. I guess some combination of items made it fill the float bowl so full of fuel it leaked back thru the return line to the charcoal canister and yet the float was right on the money with the sight glass. I relaced the float and the needle and seat with new or known good 1980 items and it has run like a champ since.

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Tact is for people not funny enough to be sarcastic.

well after a lot of troubleshooting and switching this and that. i have narrowed it down to either *a vacuum leak in my intake manifold (from emissions delete)
*or a bent intake valve/timing WAY off (lack of suction pulling fuel in through carb and backfires)

and im not running the 60 amp alt i swapped it out for my spare stock 30 amp. the 60 was only run for a few test starts which lasted all of about 10 seconds a piece

im about to tow it up to my dads place, pulling the intake manifold checking the block plate and plugging it better. as well as checking the timing. if that doesn't work checking all the valves (thankfully i have a whole extra cylinder head worth of valves and components
so hopefully in the next day or two it will be all up and running again

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride