Question for a friend

[47heaven]

Hey guys...you may remember Rob with the '46 P15 4-door that used to post on here a while back. Anyway, I stopped by his house and we went for a ride in his car. As were were nearing the house the engine all of a sudden started to race fast and Rob pushed in the clutch and then shut the engine off. He was real confused on what that was all about because it had never happened before, he said. He started it again and the engine started racing again as if it was at full throttle and let out a big back fire. Rob shut the engine off and this time was real concerned because, like I said, it had never happened before. Since there was a loud backfire, I told him that I thought it was something to do with the carb...maybe the throttle was sticking...hard to tell. After letting it sit for a short while, he started it up again and it was fine. He said that it hasn't happened again since then, but I cautioned him not to ignore it. Does anyone know what caused the engine to race like that and what it might be a sign of? I'm sure it's probably a no-brainer diagnosis, but I'm not a mechanic nor is Rob.

Thanks,

Darin

[Niel Hoback]

Throttle linkage got caught on something like a plug wire? Return spring caught? I wouldn't drive it until I figured that out.

[Normspeed]

I'll bet Niel hit it. Throttle linkage can rub up against plug wires or other stuff and get hung up. Especially up on top of the head area. If it happens again he should be able to stick his toe under the gas pedal and lift and it should idle down.

[Don Coatney]

The backfire happened because the exhaust pipe was full of raw gas. This happened because he shut the engine down with the throttle open. Used to do this as a kid with my dads car until the back fire blew the muffler apart.

Geez dad I dont know how the muffler blew up. It just backfired:cool:

[47heaven]

Thanks, guys. I called Rob to tell him, but wasn't home so I left a message to call me or check the message board and read who you guys said for himself. Thanks again.