rough starting

[BAD5oh]

My 84 started all winter in single digit weather with no problems. Never plugged it in. It has new 60G plugs and I put a push button for extended cycles.

The other day I went to start it and when it fired it ran really rough like it wasn't firing on all cylinders and smoked more than usual and needed to hold the pedal to stay running till it cleared. No power loss when driving but sometimes it idles a bit low when stopped at a light to the point where it will not charge at 14 and sometimes it idles where it usually does before this started happening.

The fuel and air filters are new. There was Howes in the tank. Today and yesterday was above 65 deg. Any ideas??

[Subzilla]

For the hard starting, I would check the HPCA and fast idle solenoid connections on top/side of the pump. It's not the pink wire (fuel shut-off) but another color - green, I can't remember. These devices assist in the cold start-up only and will give symptoms like you described. They will shut down after engine is warmed up, therefore not affecting the way it runs/idles after warmed up. BUT, you said you having some idle issues also. I know you said filters are new but if you recently filled up, one bad batch of fuel can plug a filter quite quickly.

It also sounds like fuel pump failure symptoms, too. I've got an electric pump installed on mine and have forgotten to turn it on sometimes after working on the vehicles. I'll also get symptoms like you described. It will still run without the fuel pump as the injector pump continues pulling in the fuel but it idles eractically.