Cutoff solenoid...or not...?

[Tailfin]

Ok, here's the sum-up: The car works fine for the most part, and I have modified the choke by removing the heater so it only opens x amount and stays there (due to the choke pull-off). Opening it too far would make it stall when it warmed up, so that solved that...however... Where I have the idle set now, it idles just under 1000 when first started cold, and gets up to 1500 when warm.

When the car is first started, it requires a little help from the pedal to keep from stalling out if it's cold outside...but only for a short time. It's usually fine after about 10 seconds of holding it...this is when it's about 30 out.

Whenever the car is run and warmed up, shut off, and then attempted to start after it sits for say a half hour, it doesn't want to start. I've found that holding the choke open while cranking solves this, letting more air in...so from that, I gather that it somehow floods while it sits.

Once in a while the engine tends to diesel a couple times when it's shut off, but I'm not sure if that's because of the 1500 warm idle or not.

My guess here is that it's that fuel cutoff solenoid going to the back of the carb. It seems to me that it's letting a little fuel by and taking a second to do its job, thereby causing the dieseling, and possibly dripping fuel into the carb after shutoff, causing the flood, if I was right about that. I'd just like to hear some other opinions before I go and purchase the little trouble-maker....

[Tailfin]

Ok if anyone else has similar problems...yes, yes the solenoid is deader than my pet rock. Hopefully that's all it is, but I got off my lazy buttocks and put a multimeter between the plug and solenoid with the car on...nothin'. Voltage, yes, no retracting.

The main obvious symptom I have now is the stalling if the choke is opened anymore than startup amount... That better solve the whole thing because I'm running outta ideas...

[2oodoor]

Ok if anyone else has similar problems...yes, yes the solenoid is deader than my pet rock. Hopefully that's all it is, but I got off my lazy buttocks and put a multimeter between the plug and solenoid with the car on...nothin'. Voltage, yes, no retracting.
The main obvious symptom I have now is the stalling if the choke is opened anymore than startup amount... That better solve the whole thing because I'm running outta ideas...
That solenoid is only energized at certain times, so testing it just with voltmeter may not test it. You can unplug it and apply battery voltage to it with a jumper and see if you hear it. That way your under there when it is energized and will tell easier.

Addressing the problem of it not being able to run good with the choke fully open. Is the fuel bowl or float level up to specs?
What is the engine temperature when your experiencing this condition? These cars have manifold heaters, and carb base heaters, but if the thermostat is not closing to let the car up to operating temp, it won't like lean.

[Tailfin]

I'm sure the thing doesn't work. See, first, I actually unplugged it and started the car...I noticed no difference in running whatsoever. To confirm it, I left it unplugged, and put a multimeter between the plug and the receptacle..and I actually started the engine with the solenoid not even in the carb lol...and it ran exactly the same.. Plus, the multimeter read 12-13 volts at times while hooked up that way, and the solenoid didn't budge.

The float level is cool...right in the middle where it should be, and yes, the car was up to operating temp. Even with it fully warmed up, if I open the choke more than that initial amount, it starts..well...choking :rolleyes: .

I think the solenoid makes plenty of sense... Because it will not retract, it is constantly sort of "blocking" the idle fuel passage unless I'm mistaken...which explains it not getting enough fuel relative to the air, which is introduced if the choke opens up....

What I have done temporarily is remove the choke cover/spring heater doohickey. That way, it doesn't open any further. It keeps the car running until I get that solenoid. I'm willing to accept other things wrong here...it would be consistent lol...but I'm sure that is part of it.

The other thing is... Since the cover isn't there, the choke closes all the way when the car's off, even if it's still hot. This makes starting it while it's warm a problem...and it seems to need more air to do it...because it absolutely will not start, and if you hold the choke plate open, it will. A bit confusing, but I certainly don't know what else to try. I converted to the manual secondary this morning, and that helps for now because all I have to do is hold down the pedal, and the secondary now opens just from that, and that works just like holding the choke plate open. If there's something more wrong than that solenoid...well, I'd love to know what. A lot of the other parts that it could be...I've thrown out lol.

[w261w261]

You know that kind of guilty feeling you have when you go by a car wreck, and you feel sorry for the people that were in it, but you also are happy that it wasn't you? I feel that way about having fuel injection. What a pain in the ass those carbs are! Too complicated, way too complicated.

[Tailfin]

It's not so much them being complicated... It's more that nothing in the complication works lol. I actually have another symptom here...which I noticed after converting to the manual secondary. If you put the pedal down, it loses power when you get much above 3K. Upon going up a steep hill, it stalled after it came to a stop. In order to start it and keep it started, I had to hold it at 3-4K...otherwise, it would stall out. This makes me think the fuel pump can't keep the fuel bowl full. I think that now that the secondary is opening more effectively, that it's sucking more fuel down and causing the inadequacy to show itself... I remember someone else mentioning that they suck and had a secondary pump put in-line... Where do I get one of those? :-P...or do I just need a new stock fuel pump? (What a pain in the friggin'....)

[2oodoor]

You know that kind of guilty feeling you have when you go by a car wreck, and you feel sorry for the people that were in it, but you also are happy that it wasn't you? I feel that way about having fuel injection. What a pain in the ass those carbs are! Too complicated, way too complicated.
agree, but crap we gotta work with what we got man...

tailfin, can you shine a flashlight down the carb, not running and look to see if your throttle plates in the bottom working right? The secondary may be sticking open, it would cause a lot of the problems you describe. also the primary thottle could be broken from shaft.
You should check to see if your egr valve is not stuck open too. You probably already have.
Fuel pressure is indeed another area to look at, but something you said in the first post drew me away from that , but it would hurt to look at it anyway.
I know its tough to concentrate outside with this weather, on something like these carbs. been there done that got the tee shirt, it is bloody and ripped. lol
Reckon you could rig up a manual choke cable on the car to get you by for a few months. It is hard to tell if your problems are caused by actions or by reactions. What was the original problem that caused you to f*ck with it to start with? trace your steps. I am just trying to help man.

[Tailfin]

No no, the help is appreciated lol. Originally what got me into this mess was trying to get it to run, basically, and a "mechanic" had said (I was told this anyway) "It's the carb" ....:-|....well perspicacity incarnate... So being at the time I had never even worked on a chainsaw carburetor lol...I got a rebuild kit...just gaskets and a few diaphrams, and needle and seat of course... Still had problems...which led me to the posts you've seen. But anyway...

I actually didn't think of EGR being stuck open... I understand why that would cause it though...However, due to certain modifications...the EGR is not part of the equation ;). I don't feel any guilt about removing the emissions-related stuff because I doubt half of it was working right anyway lol. But mainly, I just couldn't get the damned thing running right, and I did it to eliminate stuff from the problem because I can't afford to buy all the solenoids that were possible causes lol.

I did think of sticking throttle plates, but I don't think that's it. I had the whole carb off when I changed to manual secondary, and I moved the throttle arm manually many times and watched them both open properly and return...and I moved the linkage on the car (I wasn't looking down the barrel, but it seemed fine), and it moved freely...no binding at all. However, I still can't explain the stall issue (which it didn't do just now when I tried it), so I guess I'll blast the linkage with some WD-40 just to be sure.

As for the manual choke...tried that already, and I was throwing stuff by the end of that lol. The mechanism I bought went over the tab thingy in the choke heater, and the part that goes over that tab sort of broke and it moved freely around its pivot...I epoxy glued it, but it was still just too cumbersome to adjust correctly... I still think the reason I can't open the choke plate when the car is warm is due to that solenoid I mentioned. My hope/theory is that when that comes in the mail, I can set the idle lower, and since the fuel will get through better, it will be able to sustain the increased airflow of the open choke plate. In any case, it won't stall as it is now, which is without the choke heater. It just gets crap-tastic mileage hehe.

I actually went up the same hill again just now... I've been playing with the throttle cable a little...it never seems perfect to me lol. Anyhoo...It seemed a little better this time...at the very least, consistent. All that crap in mind, I have a different theory on my previous post here... Keep in mind this hill is steep...and there are a couple spots that flatten out some. I held the pedal in one spot the whole way up....this is around 4K. It seemed not too bad for most of it, but when it got to the second incline, I felt the "pull" of the car go away. Then when it flattened out, pedal still in the exact same spot, I felt it pull again. What it seems like to me is that the incline caused the fuel in the float bowl to shift too far towards the back of the carb, leaning out the forward jet, and when I leveled out, it got the fuel it needed again. Would sure love to know what to do about that lol. So I'm shying away from fuel pressure now too.

[Tailfin]

*ding* :idea: Scratch one part of that post... I think I have some of it... What I did most recently was loosen the throttle cable (yes, I've been through that and back before, but I'm too lazy to remove the battery tray for the TV cable lol)... It was a bit taut before...so that might have caused the linkage to bind up a little, and when I gave it a bit more slack, it freed it up... Great, so I just need to write the engineer on his/her poor design of carb and that solenoid...I hope...:squint:

I'll update this when I find out :) .

[2oodoor]

*ding* :idea: Scratch one part of that post... I think I have some of it... What I did most recently was loosen the throttle cable (yes, I've been through that and back before, but I'm too lazy to remove the battery tray for the TV cable lol)... It was a bit taut before...so that might have caused the linkage to bind up a little, and when I gave it a bit more slack, it freed it up... Great, so I just need to write the engineer on his/her poor design of carb and that solenoid...I hope...:squint:
I'll update this when I find out :) .
It never will be Perfect , I nearly fell on the floor laughing because I so feel your pain.
What happened with the manual choke, Try taking the whole housing off and all and attach a homemade braket to one of the many screws. also make sure it clears the air breather when you put it back together. Tie wraps, uphostry rings, those tiny cotter pins, think hardware mayne, ...lol
Tailfin, if you remove the plastic cover inside the wheel well, passenger side, the TV cable is really easy to get to then, just jack up the car a little so you can reach it.
very good theory about the gas going the wrong way on a steep incline, I had that problem with my jeep, it riched out real bad and got me in trouble a few times on long steep grades I had no business going up.

[Tailfin]

Well this is a road...point A to point B...just happens to be more of a really long ski jump, but I had all the business being there....damn New York lol. I guess that's just something we'll have to live with...only solution I could think of would be somehow installing a little baffle in the float bowl...would have to be a good centimeter or so lower than the fuel level though...so when filling it would.....but...no...then on the incline, it would be worse off once it was used up because the fuel would be blocked...hmph...

The manual choke...well, I'd like to avoid it if possible... I'm still counting on that solenoid fixing my problem with being able to let the heater open the choke, like I said...but if not, then I might end up doing it. The problem...well one of them... Well, I bought a kit actually meant for doing this at Autozone. It had a cap and device that goes over where the choke heater goes in order to manipulate the arm in there. It's basically a pivot with an arm that has a "U" in it that goes around the tang that moves the choke....two pieces...and if you put just a wee bit of force on it, the "U" piece would rotate around the pivot...this is the part that's supposed to immobilize/move the choke!... That was part of it...other than that, it was just being fussy and would bind slightly. I know I could have worked that out, but I could see that on top of the pieces screwing up, it wasn't worth it.

I'll investigate those options further...and not with that piece-of-crap kit, should the need arise...though I need to find out what's wrong if it isn't just that solenoid, because this thing is getting 21 mpg on the highway with that choke in the just slightly opened position. I had 27-ish before, at least...and with all the crap I've done, it's tough to be sure, but I think it was after I removed the choke heater. The other possibilities that I did around the same time are an Accel super coil and NGK V-power spark plugs gapped to 0.50... I somehow doubt that as hurting the mileage :-P.

[2oodoor]

good idea, if it is needed, which I doubt cause I have not seen that concern here for these cars, but yea I have seen the baffles on Ford two barrels , it is just like you said, sheet metal it has a hole and you screw the seat housing right thru it, it keeps sloshing and gravity from affecting the needle and seat. On v8 pick ups fords. Your pretty smart not to be a regular wrench, your very anaylitical and problem solver dude. good luck and keep posting till you get it fixed.

[Tailfin]

Well, it was part of the problem. Got the solenoid installed and such... but it still doesn't like it when I try to open that choke. It will tolerate a little more than it would before, but if I get the plate open enough to start being able to see the booster venturi, it gets rough, and stalls if I push it. It will idle a little "wavy" if I keep it in a moderate position, but put the car in gear and it will stall. Opening the choke always seems to have a direct relationship with the RPM...the RPM go down as the choke is opened. There is a little gap in the linkage so I can hold the secondary open just a bit...and if I do that, it perks right up...I'm guessing because it's a small opening and it's enhancing the vacuum instead of weakening it. From what I've heard about certain lucky people in Hawaii removing their choke entirely...It seems like I should be able to open it all the way after the car is fully warmed up, but I can't come close. It's not just from cold air coming in either because I put the air cleaner on and held the hot air thing open so it got just that (propped it), and it still does it.

I took the oil cap off to take a peek and saw something which concerned me... It was difficult to tell the valves were moving... I actually slowly put my finger down to touch the one under the cap, and it was, indeed, moving...from the feel of it, a centimeter or two, perhaps (I know that's probably a big difference when talking about valves)... Should it be much more obvious that it's moving under there? And if so, I can adjust the valves and it's definitely not necessary for me to replace a flat cam, right...right? :D Ok no...errghh...

Plus, not that I can tell for sure this quickly, but it seems like it's still getting really crap gas mileage...and that change happened within like a week...So there's SOMETHING wrong besides the camshaft (if that's a problem...I'd like it not to be...), as those don't generally go in a week.

Does the air jet controller do anything that might cause this? I'm not too familiar with that part...and how do I diagnose the thing?

I get the feeling if I were a full-time mechanic, I'd be working on cars less...and I'd be warmer...:beat:

[jackal]

It sounds like you may have a fuel mixture problem. If the engine is at operating temp and you open the choke, the engine rpms should in fact increase as you are allowing more air to enter the primary barrel thus leaning out the mixture. If they go down, it is possible that the mixture is leaning out too much and causing the engine to loose power. Also, you mentioned the car would deisel which is an indication that the mixture is running lean and the high heat in the combustion chamber due to the lean fuel mixture is causing the explosion instead of the spark.

This can be caused by a couple of things. You should first make sure your fuel pump puts out enough pressure somewhere between 2 and 3 psi I think. If this is not the problem, then the float in the float bowl maybe getting stuck. Or, since you were able to get the rpms to increase by opening the secondary plate, its possible the venturi in the primary barrel is clogged. One final thing to check is that the ECU has a good ground connection. The ECU also controls mixture and could be causing the problem.

[POS carb]

when I had the stock carb I remember that when the solenoid was disconnected the car would do everything normal except idle, it would just turn off if I didn't gas it at idle. when it was plugged back in everything worked fine. The solenoid is only energised below an RPM determined by the ECM.

if the car runs better as you close the choke it means that your engine is running too lean, you most likely have a vacuum leak somewhere in the maze of vacuum lines.

Start the engine and get it to idle, spray some carb cleaner around the manifold area, (the base of the carb, the vacuum hoses) listen for any changes in rpms or any whistling/hissing noises. The carb cleaner will get sucked through the leak and your engine will run different for a second or two.

The float level is externally adjustable on the stock carb, it is the flathead screw on top of the fuel inlet. Be gentle, usually the o-ring starts leaking if it has never been messed with. Make sure the fuel level stays in the middle of the window.

[Tailfin]

Hmm, thanks for the input...I have some updating to do. First off, I'm all but dead sure there is no vacuum leak. I have taken most of the vacuum maze out, including the entire black box. All I have left are the distributor advances, choke opener, air jet controller, accelerator pump thingy, and the cruise control...so there aren't that many vacuum hoses for me to miss, and I've checked.

I'm not sure if tossing the black box would cause the computer to abandon control over the mixture, but it seems like it... Do I need to just need to reconnect stuff related to the oxygen sensor? I think these have one anyway... Or on another note... This seems to be consistent, would it be ok to slowly tweak the air/fuel mixture screw (though I still don't see how to get that stupid metal thing covering it off :-P)? I thought of that before, but was told here that it's easy to mess things up with that *shrug*. I could always mark where it starts off though... Is there anything I need to reconnect?

Anyway, I did discover part of the problem, just for trivia, but it was not the mixture issue that seems at hand. The mileage one though...was a result of me rushing through the installation of my Accel Super Coil. The coil wire terminal on that thing is well...fat... And the boot to my coil wire had to stretch to get over it... What I didn't realize was that the actual metal part inside didn't even quite reach the metal part of the terminal!...so I had a little spark plug gap, or just really bad connection, in the coil. I pulled the wire through the boot so it would plug in properly, and in addition, just for now, I set the idle way too high... What this does is when the engine is cold, it idles a normal speed...maybe 900-1000-ish. When it warms up, if the choke were left in the starting slightly open position, it would be like 1600-1700, but with the choke open partway, it brings it down to around 1100 in P/N, or 750-ish in gear, and it surges, which blows. Plus, if I open it more, it still stalls. However, I got MUCH better gas mileage...maybe that was just the coil though. It does diesel, but at this point, I think part of that is because the throttle plate is open too much from this idle setting, letting air in. I know this is taking it off the idle circuit and such, but it's all I could think to do for the time being.

As for the carb itself, I've replaced gaskets and such...sprayed carb cleaner through all the passageways (basically rebuilt it). I could buy the primary venturi being clogged I guess, with that needle valve thingy in it, but I have already nailed it with carb cleaner. Is there a better way? I doubt this one anyway, because the idle jet underneath should be holding its own here...

The fuel pump, I've thought about, but again, I don't think so. The float level has long been set to the middle of the window, and while running, it stays consistent...and the car accelerates without hesitation or surging. The needle, seat, and o-ring and such are also new from when I did the rebuild. I have a fuel pressure tester, but it's got a fitting for a fuel injection line (high pressure) Is there an adaptor or something? Anyhoo...

So what I'm thinking now is that I should take that carb off and get that metal thing out and adjust the air/fuel screw... I don't see any better action at this time, but I'll surely listen if someone else does lol.

[Tailfin]

UGH, I'm going to drive this piece of junk off a cliff...

So I took the carburetor off...AGAIN...and I got to the a/f screw. Left it alone until I had it back on the car. I started it, warmed it up, and got under the hood so I could manually open the choke plate a little to hear the effects of me adjusting it. I turned it out a little, and I didn't hear much difference, but I tried opening the choke and it seemed to help... I heard a slight increase in RPM as I opened it, and then it evened back out as I opened it more...and I could hold it almost all the way and it still ran. So I put the air cleaner stuff back on, tried once more holding it all the way open, and it coughed and stalled... I figured I just couldn't open it ALL the way, which was fine with me since the choke heater wouldn't quite go that far.

So I drove it about 15 miles to a gas station - no stalling, idling nice... So just to make sure the choke was actually open and I wasn't dreaming, I looked under the hood, and yep...open a good chunk, it was... I pushed it all the way open, and it did not stall...Great, I say to myself :)... So since it was, despite this, idling a bit high (1400-ish), I figured I'd back it off, since I no longer needed to compensate for a would-be stalling situation... Did that, down to 1100...no problem, choke still open... So, for a final test, I put it in drive and held it there to make sure it would take the engine load...yet, steady at 750-800... Put it back in park....STALL!

And there were no grey areas here, it went right down dead. I tried starting it again, and same result. So I had to put the idle back up to get it started again, and sure enough, it was back to its old habits, such that it ran with the idle high, and if you open the choke more than the initial amount, stall... It's a good thing I did not have a baseball bat in the car...

Anyhoo, drove it back, this time compensating a stall upon slowing to stops with a little pedal...steered it in as it stalled...then started messing about again. Now, I know this isn't wise, but nothing works anyway on this carb, so I went ahead and went all out with the a/f screw...I turned it all the way out...all the way back in...and the whole time, it didn't change a thing! No RPM changes, no difference in the affect of the choke...not a thing...so I put it back where it was originally. I also double-checked the slow mixture cutoff solenoid... The part is brand new, and I put the multimeter between the plug and the harness, and sure enough...steady 13.65 volts... Yet if I pull the solenoid right out of the carb, it also has no effect on how the car runs/idles... Tell me that isn't bullsquash...

The only thing I can think of is the cat is far from new... Could a clogged cat cause this much trouble? I mean the a/f screw and the cutoff solenoid...both of them have NO EFFECT on how the engine runs...driving me batty :madflip:

[Tailfin]

Well, had a chance to cool off lol... The only thing I can think of is the idle jet/passageway being clogged or really dirty... I'm thinking of taking the carb apart, and completely removing the a/f screw and blasting in there with carb cleaner. If that doesn't work...I'll...I'll...well, I don't know, but I'll do something... Maybe I'll just get a throttle body fuel injector and stick it in the venturi and hook it up to a throttle position sensor and hope that has something to do with pulse width... :help:

[POS carb]

i still think you A - have a vacuum leak or B - yuo missed a connection on the carb.

Check to make sure the ignition advance diaphragm is holding vacuum.
Also, there are 2 ports, the one closest to the body of the dizzy gets constant vacuum and provides around 15 degrees of advance (don't quote me but it's to prove a point) . The secondary port is only supposed to get vacuum at cold temperatures and it only adds around 3 degrees. If you mixed up the hoses or the diaphragm is leaking you will get major idle misses.

However, you mentioned the choke still cannot open 100% withoput killing the motor, this usually indicates a vacuum leak

The power valve has an external connection ont the top driver's side corner of the carb, make sure that is in. if not use constant vacuum (like for the distributor)
The secondary opener also needs to be connected to its original circuit. I remember I had major issues with trying to find a suitable replacement vacuum tap for it and I ended up using the stock feed, the only thing I did different was remove the vacuum T that is right by the carb. The egr feed might work for this but evetually I changed the linkage to make it a mechanical secondary.

It's been a while since I messed with this setup but I had eventually gotten it down to removal of the black box and removal of the ECM.

The oxygen sensor makes no difference
Disconnecting the low speed solenoid should kill the motor at idle.
you cannot connect the secondary to constant vacuum without bending the lockout tab (part that doesn't allow the 2ndary to open if the primary isn't WOT) on the throttle shaft first
if you have deleted the air suction box you have to plug up all the lines.
you should keep the altitude compensation (ABC controller by the ignition coil)
I also had issues where the vacuum thermal switches on the back of the manifold were so old that they just leaked, and also my choke had constant vacuum for some unknown reason and it would open up 100% as soon as the car started.
you should plug all the lines that go to the aircleaner.
Try disconnecting and plugging the EGR's vacuum hose

Hope this helps.
The a/f mix screw made a noticable difference in the idle but definately not as much as the ones on aftermarket carbs

Do you have any closeup pictures of your setup?

[POS carb]

oh and by ABC i mean the air jet controlelr

[Tailfin]

Thanks for the suggestions...but I really don't think I have a vacuum leak. The only thing I saw was a broken vacuum cap on the back of the carb, but I wrapped it in electric tape temporarily, plus tried it with my finger over it just in case whatever tiny amount of air made that difference, and it didn't...

I have both distributor advances going to the intake manifold directly. I thought about putting one on venturi vacuum for when the throttle is pressed, but I've gotta get this idle issue first lol. I have pulled both hoses off and put them back on with it running (high idle or nearly closed choke lol), and I can hear a noticeable difference in the engine with either one, so I don't think that's an issue... Plus, I've messed with the timing, and I just double-checked that it was properly set yesterday.

The power valve is also connected to intake vacuum (I got this from the vacuum mod how-to here). Air jet controller is still there and connected properly... Pretty much all of this is new vacuum hose too.

I actually converted the thing to a manual secondary recently and plugged the vacuum port, of course, so that is not an issue.

I agree the mixture solenoid being pulled should kill it...and the a/f screw should make differences... It's like the idle jet's getting nothing at all or something. I'm basically getting it to run by a way overdone throttle stop screw. That's why I suspected some sort of clog or something, but I don't see how it could be so bad considering I've had the carb apart and blasted the passageways with B-12 Chemtool...Don't think I missed that anyway...

I'm not using any thermovalves. After pulling one and testing it in boiling and cold water, I was not impressed with the reliability lol... My choke works by having constant vacuum on the choke pull-off, which I have set to open a good amount for startup, then I let the bimetallic heater do the rest.

There is no EGR hehe. I could put it back if necessary, but now, the valve is just on the manifold going to nowhere, and it isn't leaking so... I might rig something up for that if it would just work right heh...

The air cleaner is plugged up good and proper, including the big spot where the EGR used to go to.

I don't have pictures right on hand...but I can borrow my girlfriend's cell phone and grab a few... I'll get around to that and get them up here if I can.

Thanks again for the input. I'll keep at it, but damn... Taking into account laws of physics, this carb could cause a man to re-examine his faith...:rant:

[jackal]

One more thing worth checking is that you don't have an intake leak where the intake manifold connects to the head. Also, I am assuming since you have removed the EGR valve that you plugged the EGR port on the intake manifold.

I would not recommend attempting to set the mixture yourself by adjusting the mixture screw. The symptoms you are describing do not point to the mixture screw itself being the problem. Besides, it would not solve your problem entirely. The mixture is primarily controlled by the ECU so it is more likely that the ECU or anything else is causing the lean mixture condition.

You mentioned that you set the timing correctly. How do you know it is correct? I'm not sure what is correct, but you should try setting a little more advance at idle and then opening the choke up a bit to see what kind of difference this makes.

>I set the idle way too high... What this does is when the engine is cold, it >idles a normal speed...maybe 900-1000-ish. When it warms up, if the choke >were left in the starting slightly open position, it would be like 1600-1700, >but with the choke open partway, it brings it down to around 1100 in P/N, or >750-ish in gear, and it surges, which blows. Plus, if I open it more, it still >stalls.

This definitely points to a lean mixture condition. If you have the air cleaner removed, this would further add to the problem.

This can be dangerous, but you can try to enrich the mixture a bit by spraying a small amount of starting fluid into the carb while you have the choke open. If the rpms increase, then you can be sure you are running lean.

[Tailfin]

Yeah, I fully agree with the diagnosis that I'm running lean, I just don't know how to fix it lol. I tried taking off the carb once again, and I sprayed and blocked every passage I could find to be sure the fuel wasn't being blocked by any buildup in order to get down to the idle jet..and everything was alright. Still have the same problem.

I replaced the intake manifold gasket, so I'm sure that is not leaking. I wasn't going to mess with the a/f mixture screw, but it's all I had left... Besides, the fact that it doesn't change how the engine runs no matter what I do to it is screwed up.

I didn't remove the EGR valve itself, just the conduit from it to the air intake. So basically, it's just closed all the time.

I've been wrestling with the idea of ordering myself a Weber... I don't want to pay the cash lol...but if I gotta do it, I gotta do it. I'm not sure about the ECU...but I don't even think that's it because I checked the voltage going to the cutoff solenoid, and it was constantly 13.5-ish while the car was running...which causes the solenoid to retract...so that tells me the ECU is trying to richen it but failing. It's almost like the pin that goes in the hole in the primary booster venturi is letting too much fuel go by or something...like if it were further in, it would force more fuel down the idle jet instead of the primary barrel...but I don't know....