Shuddering when accelerating?

JOSIAH KAMBELL

MEMBER
1971 AMC JAVELIN
5.0L
V8
2WD
MANUAL
80,000 MILES

So this vehicle fires up fine but as soon as I give it gas it violently studders and barely moves under its own power. It has a new 4-barrel carburetor on it and new oil. I cannot figure what is wrong and I am about to take the whole engine apart. If I rev it high, it chops super bad.

Video (Click to make bigger)

3 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
48,359 POSTS

Thanks for the video, it helps. Nice car btw. I have seen one of these in a while, the first thing I would do is remove the spark plugs and install new ones with the correct gap, next it looks like the main jets in the carburetor are clogged or you have bad gas. I would use starting fluid when you open the throttle to see if the engine does better and if so, remove the top of the carb for inspection/cleaning with carb cleaning and compressed air. Please upload pictures or videos in your response of any problems so we can see what to help you with.

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Thursday, November 21st, 2024 AT 11:24 AM

JOSIAH KAMBELL

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Hi, thank you for your advice. I checked all the spark plugs in the timing and it seems okay, I put a new carburetor on it too, and it still does the same thing. It has no power and when I try to drive it, it violently shakes.

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Monday, December 2nd, 2024 AT 12:20 PM

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
48,359 POSTS

Okay, it seems like you may have a blown head gasket between two cylinders, let do a compression test to confirm the engine is okay.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

Thanks for the videos, they help. Seems like it will be a fun car once running correctly :) Please go over this guide and get back to us.

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Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 AT 9:26 AM