I recently acquired an 83 wagon, with a few issues.

It won't idle consistently and bogs down when under a load. Will run fine when accelerator is pushed to well above idle but when attempting to drive bogs down and dies.

The only things done so far are to spray carb cleaner which helped some. I plan to drain the tank and put in fresh fuel and a new filter. I also plan to replace the vacuum lines with new ones.

Future plans are to flush the cooling system, replace hoses, new fluids, put a new thermostat in, and change all of the belts.

Any other thoughts or ideas I should try? I am not ruling out a carburetor rebuild eventually but would like to avoid it if anything simple comes to mind.

Forgive my newbness, it has been a while since I fooled with a carb'd motor. Any other suggestions to be on the look out for?

Also anyone know of a good source for rear window regulators and any how to's for fixing the door lock mechanisms?

Thanks in advance.

 

The carb on these cars are an EPA inspired nightmare and not many are successful at repairing them. I'm lucky, (I have access to a father/son team that only works on Hondas), in that I had a couple repaired fairly well. Even so, they hate to work on them.

I think that the ultimate and simplest cure is the Weber conversion that gets rid of all of the vacuum lines. They are available on eBay and will set you back at just over $300 but the result is better performance and some say even better gas mileage.

I drive an '82 Civic DX auto every day and a Weber is in my future...

 

Kind of what I am thinking. Going to try a few things first though since I only have $500 in the car so far.

 

Truth. OP, I had nearly the same issue as you, except mine would finally run when decently warm, but still, it was DOG slow. Swapped on a weber yesterday and the difference is ridiculous.

 

Yeah the Weber swaps definitely smoothed out how my old Mazda b2000 and 2200's ran.

 

My current daily driver, an '82 DX hatchback automatic was obtained for $100 about five years ago and had been sitting in a private salvage yard for several years before that. Soooo, I replaced all the brake items, had the radiator rodded, installed a (rebuilt by Holly) carb from eBay and put it on the road. Since then I've replaced the fuel pump and had to screw around with the nightmarish Kehein carb which is now working fine. Like you, about a "$500 into it car" that just is ultra dependable.

I've long lusted for a wagon but they hardly ever appear in these heeyah pawts. Some day maybe...