right turn engine "stumble"

[gulkster]

Hi all. First let me apologize if this is posted elsewhere but I could not find anything using the search button. My 83 ROW SC runs very rough after a medium right hand turn, like an on ramp etc. Within 2-3 secs of the turn the engine "stumbles" when I try to accelerate; it really feels like one or more cylinders is no longer firing. After 2-3 minutes of regular driving, it sorts itself out and the car runs great. Any ideas as to what can cause this? Thanks in advance.
Jamie

[James Brown]

I would say of the top of my head you have a NASCAR engine in there.

[RWebb]

float bowls, but CIS doesn't have them

search for a wire that gets pulled somehow

[ischmitz]

This could be a poor electrical connection (14 pin connector at the fuse box) or a cable in the main harness shorting out. My guess is that either the fuel pump shuts down or the CDI box power or trigger signal gets interupted. Also check the ground strap from the transmission to the chasis near the rear transmission cross member.

It's hard to say but look for anything near the fuse box. Try poking at cables. While the engine idles try to yank at the engine left to right and see if that makes a difference. During a turn the entire drive train is able to move quite a bit.

Good luck,
Ingo

[crustychief]

Let me know what you find out. It happened to me as well.
long right hander power loss?

[T77911S]

how much gas in the tank? condition of the tank? pull the sending unit and look inside for rust. any sparkplug wires lose? even though i am sure i put mine on good, i have found my #1 barley on more than once. give them all a slight tug.

does it smoke when it is running bad after the turn? (too much oil in that tank). a very bad valve stem seal and oil getting into cylinder ( very long shot) bad or broken rings on 1,2 or 3. pull the plugs on the left side and check. another long shot, but the plugs may tell you which cylinder if any are not firing.

electrical problem. try moving wires around while it is running.

[Laneco]

The first thing I thought on this is (as suggested above) - electrical. Something pulling and making an intermittent contact.

But on a CIS engine, don't overlook a vacuum leak from a cracked hose - it'll be a big one - e.g. breather. Crack opens on the turn, stumble about for a bit, then clears out when the crack "seals" back up.

angela

[gulkster]

Thank you very much everyone for the responses; I will attempt to address them all as I fumble around. What I noticed since the post (3 drives) is that the problem only occurs if I attempt to accelerate around the right hand corner. If I coast or maintain speed even around a long off ramp no problem at all. However even a quick attempt at a bit of acceleration sends it into a state. This does not happen at all around left hand corners. Thanks in advance for any new suggestions.
edit: To clear it up, the engine does not die, it badly stumbles though. It idels fine, but upon any acceleration it feels like it is misfiring, or running on fewer than six cylinders. Thanks.

[crustychief]

Mine does exactly the same thing except it doesn't stumble "badly" it just seems down on power for a couple of endless minutes.

[gulkster]

I just wanted to complete this thread letting everyone know that I found the problem; it turns out that #1 spark plug wire was loose. Not enough to affect the ignition of that cylinder on start up or "regular" driving, but when the engine torqued just enough, it must have pulled away. I want to again thank everyone for their input, as I went ahead and checked most of the suggestions above until I came across the loose plug wire. The funny thing is, the only reason I found it is because I needed to remove the plug wires to adjust my valves.