Carb/Choke Help - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

sk8rgui · 12-09-2011, 01:42 PM

Hello all! Glad to have found such a useful site.

I have recently been working on rebuilding a 1982 Chevy C10 that belonged to my late grandfather. I am having an issue with the electric choke on the vehicle.

The truck originally came with a 305 and my grandfather put 350 in it. I believe that it is a car engine, but not 100% sure (from my understanding the only difference is 2 bolt vs 4 bolt to fly wheel). The truck has a 4 barrel Rochester carb with electric choke.

The choke light stays on all the time, so I unplugged the wire from it until I can figure out what is wrong. How do I tell if the choke is bad or if it is something like what is mentioned in this thread http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=123429

I would like to get this fixed soon because it runs like crap when it is cold out. It sounds like it isn't running on all cylinders, is sluggish and dies a lot. As soon as it is warm it works fine. When cold I can manually adjust the air inlet on the carb and it will run fine.

Sorry if this is a dumb question... this is my first carb vehicle. I plan to try and locate the wire it mentions in the thread above when I am off tomorrow and have a bit of available sunlight.

tucsonjwt · 12-09-2011, 03:08 PM

I always recommend a manual choke conversion - $12 investment for no more choke problems - you know when the choke is open or closed.

sk8rgui · 12-09-2011, 03:17 PM

I have thought about doing that... I worry that I would forget to reset the choke and it would cause the carb to become dirty.

I also like the idea of restoring it back to factory... which means this is something I would have to fix (amongst other things).

tucsonjwt · 12-09-2011, 05:13 PM

A manual choke conversion is completely reversible. You will not forget to push in the choke because you will notice the truck stumbling and sputtering and you will think "Oh, that must be the choke I forgot to push in."

Once you have the manual choke it will become second nature to pull it out before cold start up and push it in once you are underway. Our forefathers and foremothers did this for decades without negative effect.

Kutzy · 12-09-2011, 06:27 PM

Second vote for the manual choke conversion.
Did it in my 1980 C10 and cold weather starts are no problem at all now!

12-09-2011, 01:42 PM	#1
sk8rgui Registered User Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: St. Louis, Mo Posts: 18	Carb/Choke Help Hello all! Glad to have found such a useful site. I have recently been working on rebuilding a 1982 Chevy C10 that belonged to my late grandfather. I am having an issue with the electric choke on the vehicle. The truck originally came with a 305 and my grandfather put 350 in it. I believe that it is a car engine, but not 100% sure (from my understanding the only difference is 2 bolt vs 4 bolt to fly wheel). The truck has a 4 barrel Rochester carb with electric choke. The choke light stays on all the time, so I unplugged the wire from it until I can figure out what is wrong. How do I tell if the choke is bad or if it is something like what is mentioned in this thread http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=123429 I would like to get this fixed soon because it runs like crap when it is cold out. It sounds like it isn't running on all cylinders, is sluggish and dies a lot. As soon as it is warm it works fine. When cold I can manually adjust the air inlet on the carb and it will run fine. Sorry if this is a dumb question... this is my first carb vehicle. I plan to try and locate the wire it mentions in the thread above when I am off tomorrow and have a bit of available sunlight.

12-09-2011, 03:08 PM	#2
tucsonjwt Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 3,189	Re: Carb/Choke Help I always recommend a manual choke conversion - $12 investment for no more choke problems - you know when the choke is open or closed.

12-09-2011, 03:17 PM	#3
sk8rgui Registered User Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: St. Louis, Mo Posts: 18	Re: Carb/Choke Help I have thought about doing that... I worry that I would forget to reset the choke and it would cause the carb to become dirty. I also like the idea of restoring it back to factory... which means this is something I would have to fix (amongst other things).

12-09-2011, 05:13 PM	#4
tucsonjwt Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Tucson, AZ Posts: 3,189	Re: Carb/Choke Help A manual choke conversion is completely reversible. You will not forget to push in the choke because you will notice the truck stumbling and sputtering and you will think "Oh, that must be the choke I forgot to push in." Once you have the manual choke it will become second nature to pull it out before cold start up and push it in once you are underway. Our forefathers and foremothers did this for decades without negative effect.

12-09-2011, 06:27 PM	#5
Kutzy Registered User Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Las Cruces, New Mexico Posts: 29	Re: Carb/Choke Help Second vote for the manual choke conversion. Did it in my 1980 C10 and cold weather starts are no problem at all now! __________________ 1980 GMC C10 Pickup - SBC 350/Muncie SM465 A slow work in progress!

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