Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I had mentioned that we had trouble with the 54 that has a rebuilt 359 in it. We got the 35 to running and running well but now the 54 is acting up. Yesterday we tried to start after about two weeks. I got it going by holding gas pedal to the floor and it ran rough for about 15 seconds then started running and idling on its own. The problem is it idles very fast and wouldn't slow down when you kick the gas pedal like it should. We finally turned it off and then it would start back up after that. Any ideas? We're not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to these things

Sounds like a carb/choke issue

Is the choke an easy fix?

idle going up and down mysteriously?
if you put modern gasoline in the engine and it sits around for too long ,the gas makes this stuff that looks like dried pancake syrup inside of your carburator ,it can cause all kinds of hard to figure out problems,it collects in wierd places and causes mystery problems because shafts that are supposed to rotate freely like the throttle plate, and holes that re supposed to be open like jets can get goo in them or around them ,try a shot of carb cleaner ,use some stabil or a gas storage product for occasional starting

the choke flap could be sticky, more carb cleaner to fix
another up and down rpm and idle problem is if the vacumb advance is dead ,theres a little rubber diaphram inside it that gets old ,the vacumb pipe that goes to it has to be open this is a really easy and fun replacement project and the part is cheap
its that disc looking thing at the side of the distributer you have to know if you have a delco remy or an autolite distributer when you are ordering the part ,theres a plack on the side thats hard to see , the starter will be from the same company,that tags easeir to see ,look inside of the distributer to see if its cruddy looking the rotor and contacts can get fried stuff on them ,maby time for a new cap n rotor ,dont mess up the order of the wires!!

another thing that can make your motor run slow/fast is if your accelerator pedal cable is sticky ,you can spray some wd 40 on the coiled housing and itll leak in ,check your acellerator return spring ,is it 61 yr old and shot?
one sneaky one is if the 4 bolts that hold down the carb have shook loose letting air in ,you can check this by shooting the base of the carb with the wd 40 or carb cleaner and the car will falter ,that means its leaking ,takes the same amount of time to just tighten the bolts tho
whats in that air cleaner ? do you have an oil bath ? is there water in it ? I found a paper element for mine and my problems were over !
how about making sure the plug wires are all down on the plugs and not loose so that an extra cylinder is firing sometimes ,or at cirtain rpm's are they old?
another fast slow idle mystery item is the fuel filter ,is this 59 yr old too?its another quick fix I have one of those clear ones you can see into ,but even this can fool you with the new fuel goo ,brake parts cleaner spray cuts through the stuff nicley .
what kind of exhaust do you have when it doesnt want to run is it white or black or blue each of those are diagnostic clues to problems
nothing nicer than a smooth idling thunderbolt! clickety clickety clickety