Engine stalling when in gear.

[douglas17]

Engine stalls when in gear, with foot on the brake. Engine was running fine , transmission shifted smoothly drove about 20 miles. First stop light, foot on brake engine stalls. put it in park engine starts right up, put it in drive engine stalls. brought it home and with back wheels off the ground engine ideals with trans in R or D with wheels spinning. Wheels back on ground engine stalls.
Could the torque converter be the cause ? Engine is 340 with 727 auto trans. Fluid is clear and no smells.

 

[Ricks72Chlgr440]

What car? What carburetor and ignition do you have? Is the fuel fresh?

 

[moparleo]

Any type of recent work done on the car, or this is just out of the blue.
Ran perfect and then one day problem just started ?

 

[540HemiCuda]

Several different things could be the issue. More details are definitely needed to be of much help.

 

[Xcudame]

Could also be a torque convertor gone bad. It happens!

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Often carb tuning , any carb has a Power Valve circuit but different ways to tune it , if the vacuum drops too low at idle in gear the powervalve will open & add fuel enrichening the fuel mix causing it to stall . You need to get a vacuum reading at idle in gear , the power valve needs to be 2" lower than that reading to stay closed

 

[douglas17]

Think the problem may be solved. waiting on part and test drive. Fingers and toes crossed.

 

[moparlee]

Think the problem may be solved. waiting on part and test drive. Fingers and toes crossed.

So what do you think the problem was?

 

[douglas17]

So what do you think the problem was?

not fixed yet. works ok when cold, but when engine warms up it will stall every time. forward and reverse

 

[Xcudame]

What carburetor is on it? And what's the condition? Does the engine run fine cold or warm when not in gear? What is the engine's idle speed when warm? What's the timing set at? I'm still leaning towards the torque convertor/transmission as the culprit, but we need to make sure the engine is healthy when warm.

 

[douglas17]

engine is a 1969 340 with a 6 pack, has new carbs from Holley. Engine idles just fine cold or hot. you can apply brake peddle when in park or neutral has no effect on Engine. Put trans in R or 1 2 D Transmission works properly and shifts. Soon as you touch the brake peddle engine stumbles and stalls. acting like the fluid coupling in torque converter not working. Replaced Torque converter with new B+M unit , Didn't make any difference . still Banging my head again the wall! ( for safety I am wearing a helmet) .

 

[douglas17]

Should mention Transmission has a Locar kick down cable .Installed as there directions exactly. Could this be applying to much pressure on the kick down leaver tricking the valve body that its performing the wrong function .

 

[Xcudame]

DO NOT run the vehicle very long this way, but temporarily disconnect the locker cable and wire the kickdown lever all the way back. If the cable was the problem, this will prove it. Just don't run it too much this way because it will cause severe harm to your transmission.

Do you have power brakes? If so, disconnect the vacuum booster and plug the fitting supplying the vacuum. Brakes will be very low and suck, but it will point to a problem with the vacuum booster. Might be leaking and causing a severe vacuum leak which will kill the engine when engaged.

 

[douglas17]

Up date. Now after all your advice on here as well as 3 local transmission guys diagnosis . Local guys say torque converter is damaged.
Ok ordered new rebuilt converter from Summit $750 Canadian plus $65 shipping , installed and same dam thing. Now take back out. while trans is out I'll go for a full transmission rebuild $2000. (included Torque convert( Original one) rebuild). reinstall transmission again NO CHANGE. Check timing ,reset carb, double check vacuum leaks with propane (none). Now pulling hair out and making up new curse words.
After walking away discouraged. Now looking things over again listening very very quietly like Elmer Fudd hunting wabbits I here a faint rattle.
PCV valve doing a dance. Now we are going some where. So more over sea's junk.
Apparently Chrysler never released any info on PCV valve info. Now over time the PCV valves have become so generic covering a lot of different engines using the same valve . So the spring in my PCV valve was not strong enough to hold the valve shut at idle, bouncing up and down causing fluctuations of vacuum.
New Brand name PCV from NAPA stopped the bouncing ball. Reset carb and timing again.
Test drove today, no stalling and car worked as advertised. Probably won't try the $100 on the dash trick but it will set you back in the seat.
Hopeful that I can get some wheel time between construction on our street and snow fall Ha Ha.

 

[Xcudame]

I'm still running my factory PCV valve on my 70 Challenger with 250k+ miles on her. Unless they get broken, they clean up nicely with gasoline and blown with the air compressor nozzle. Glad you found the problem. Sorry it was expensive.