Skipping at idle.

[RobertwFiat124]

Car skips at idle every 5 seconds or so but otherwise idles flawlessly. Higher rpms there is no issue. Fuel filters and pump are new. New ignition and distributor. Carb is new. It also fluctuates a little but not terribly. Not sure what could be causing it. Will do a timing belt job this weekend since the last seller hasn't any clue if it was replaced recently. I also have a wobbling pulley on the timing belt (top of the engine) that chirps badly. Could that be causing it? Not sure what else it could be.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

How new are the spark plugs and spark plug wires? If you have a timing light, connect the pickup around the lead from the coil to the distributor cap (not one of the 4 plug wires) and see if there is a "skip" in the flashes at the same time when the engine seems to skip a beat at idle.

That wobbly pulley concerns me, though. Is this one of the intake or exhaust camshaft pulleys? Is it bent, or ?? The issue is that it could eventually come loose and then you have some major engine repairs ahead of you. I doubt it is the cause of your "skipping at idle" though.

-Bryan

[RobertwFiat124]

Gotcha will do. Also I just got the car and am a bit of a novice. The exhaust and and intake camshaft pulleys look the same to me and I have no clue which is which. It's the drivers side and it seems to be perfectly straight, just loose. It doesn't even wobble all the time only occasionally. Might I be able to tighten it down or do something simple when I replace the timing belt this weekend?

[blazingspider]

I also have a wobbling pulley

Some of the cam pulleys were made with phenolic "plastic" centers and have been known to separate from the toothed gear portion of the pulley. This may be the case with yours. My 77 had them and I replaced them both because they were starting to wobble.

[SteinOnkel]

Gotcha will do. Also I just got the car and am a bit of a novice. The exhaust and and intake camshaft pulleys look the same to me and I have no clue which is which. It's the drivers side and it seems to be perfectly straight, just loose. It doesn't even wobble all the time only occasionally. Might I be able to tighten it down or do something simple when I replace the timing belt this weekend?

Driver's side is intake, passenger side is exhaust.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

It could be a bad plastic pulley as noted above, and another possibility is that the bolt that holds the pulley to the camshaft is loose, or the dowel pin that locates the pulley against the camshaft has an issue.

None of these are good, and if something breaks loose, you're potentially looking at pretty significant engine repairs in addition to being stranded by the side of the road.

-Bryan