Carb question urgent help!

[cowboy5683]

Oh yea..yes it can be the fuel filter and or fuel pump..prolly not the pump tho..My experience when the pump goes out its not a slow process and its dead..I would check and rule out all possibilities before tearing carb apart tho..could be something real simple yer overlooking..done that to myself a 1000 times..lol

[Libertad]

Originally Posted by cowboy5683

Sounds to me like yer running lean if ya heard a pinging noise..especially with no load on the motor and the rag trick not working..I would use some wd40 and spray around any place (carefully) that could be the source of a vacuum leak..If ya hear the idle clean up or smooth out when ya spray certain spots then ya know thats one of the places thats suckin in air and should be sealed..Yes HEI can cause rough runnin motor..Is yer vacuum advance hooked up to either ported or ful manifold?..personally I prefer full vacuum..and if so..Is yer base timing correct?..Good wires?..good coil?..cap ..rotor..plugs..etc..with ya adding a spacer..ya added another place for a possible vacuum leak on the new baseplate also.

Ok let me rephrase it like this:

1. will idle fine at times in park
2. put in drive or reverse and the idle goes down
3. give it gas and it hesitates a bit then drives fine until I let let off throttle and come to a stop then dies most of the time unless I give it gas.

I will post pics of carb soon to see if anyone can tell me if any vacum lines may be unblocked or if you can see something out of wack

Thanks for all the help

[Libertad]

Here are some pics of my carb. Maybe one of you can see something that may be off or not connected right. I plan on taking it apart and cleaning the carb and checking the float and needles.

[77nomad]

I would replace the needle and seat. I had the same problem with a 600 Holly a few years back. I would suggest replacing the filter while your in there. Trash came from somewhere right?

[Libertad]

Well I went out for one last ditch effort to see if I overlooked anything coming off the carb and sure as sh!t the line that comes from the front of the carb to the breather hole in the valve cover was halfway out of the valve cover. I popped it back in and viola! she started right up, idled great and ran smooth when I took it for a drive. I hope that is all it was. I will take it to work later in the week and hope it doesn't have any more problems.

Thank you all for your advice and help it is greatly appreciated!

[cowboy5683]

I am glad ya are having some luck with it now..sounds like that line you are talking about is for the pcv system..make sure there is a working pcv valve in the valve cover..engine needs to breath right or you will get sum seals a'leakin..lol..ya..if that line was out and just suckin air..that is a MAJOR vacuum leak..totally could been it..curious as to why yer choke is wired open tho?..is the electric part not working?..the choke will totally help with yer cold starts if its set up and working right.

[Libertad]

Originally Posted by cowboy5683

I am glad ya are having some luck with it now..sounds like that line you are talking about is for the pcv system..make sure there is a working pcv valve in the valve cover..engine needs to breath right or you will get sum seals a'leakin..lol..ya..if that line was out and just suckin air..that is a MAJOR vacuum leak..totally could been it..curious as to why yer choke is wired open tho?..is the electric part not working?..the choke will totally help with yer cold starts if its set up and working right.

Yeah now I can go to work and not rattle my brain all trip. It was the PCV valve and it makes so much sense. The choke was wired by the previous owner and I have not needed it yet so havent reconnected it. I always use the heavy foot method anyways...lol
If I do decide to connect it, I just need to connect the choke cable by the throttle cable and what wires do i need to connect to the left side of the carb body?? There is a couple of flat connectors there. and what else?

[cowboy5683]

Ummm..I know for a fact on a quadrajet there is only one wire for the electric choke and it is hooked to an ignition 12volt source..I am sure its prolly the same for the eddy but the edelbrock website or their toll free tech line will tell you which of the two or if you have to hook up both.

[77nomad]

There is a ground that I normally just put an eyelet on and bolt it down to the carb bolt in front of the choke mechanisim. The other should be run to a keyed 12 volt source, otherwise it will burn up the choke element and drain your battery, witch ever comes first.

[Libertad]

Originally Posted by 77nomad

There is a ground that I normally just put an eyelet on and bolt it down to the carb bolt in front of the choke mechanisim. The other should be run to a keyed 12 volt source, otherwise it will burn up the choke element and drain your battery, witch ever comes first.

Well I have a wire that is attached where my battery ground wire goes to, which is the top of the alternator bracket. The wire has the perfect fitting for the electric choke and reaches just right so I assume it was connected at one time. Now for the wire going to the 12 volt keyed source what gauge wire should i use and where would a good spot be to connect it to?

Also how does that electric choke work? Does it open up once the motor warms up automaticly? The chokes I have used on my old shovel head motors have always been hand operated. Does the choke mechanism on the driver side of the carb body need to be all the way forward or all the way back when setting it in place?

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by Libertad

Yeah now I can go to work and not rattle my brain all trip. It was the PCV valve and it makes so much sense. The choke was wired by the previous owner and I have not needed it yet so havent reconnected it. I always use the heavy foot method anyways...lol
If I do decide to connect it, I just need to connect the choke cable by the throttle cable and what wires do i need to connect to the left side of the carb body?? There is a couple of flat connectors there. and what else?

I tried to run mine with the electric choke not connected and the flap wired open. It hated it and ran like a pig. Once I connected the electric choke it worked fantastic.

I grounded mine to the choke housing like Edelbrock says to do in the instruction sheet and ran the power from a fused ignition on accessory circuit in the fuel block. I used 14-gauge wire for this because I had it on hand but you may be able to use 16-gauge with out any issues too.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by Libertad

Also how does that electric choke work? Does it open up once the motor warms up automaticly? The chokes I have used on my old shovel head motors have always been hand operated. Does the choke mechanism on the driver side of the carb body need to be all the way forward or all the way back when setting it in place?

It will open automatically when the engine warms up or when you tap the throttle to idle it down.

You may have to mess with the idle when it fully warms up and rotate the choke housing to set the high idle speed you want / need after this when it is cold again.

The flap should look almost all the way closed when the ignition is off and the engine is cold.

[truckincurt]

humm well if the idle drops when you put it in gear i would say vacume leak somewhere thats whats wrong with my truck

[truckincurt]

oops dint read 2nd page my bad and ya it sounded like a vac leak to me glad ya found it

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by truckincurt

humm well if the idle drops when you put it in gear i would say vacume leak somewhere thats whats wrong with my truck

The idle dropping a little when you put it in gear is normal, especially on a non-computer controlled engine.