carb flooding

[whuzap]

ok so it's starting to get cold here in Canada and when i leave my car overnight (in a garage) or outside at school, somtimes when i start it it starts flooding itself. after a while of holding it at 3 thousand rpm, it won't even start warming up and if i start driving it will start revving itself at around 4 thousand when i stop at a light. what is going on? we checked the spark plugs and they look fine. and help would be appreciated.

[88Accord-DX]

If your car isn't warming up, either the ECT switch (engine coolant temp.) is bad or the thermostat is stuck open.
As far as your car revving, the carb probably has some kind of vacuum leak or needs to be rebuilt. I can't tell you how many hours I spent jacking with the stock P.O.S. (piece of shit) carbs. & vacuum lines on these! The answer was called Weber conversion.

The deal with these carbs is that they have around 50 feet of vacuum line & a emissions black box with thermovalves. Everything has to be working just right, if one thing isn't working, the whole system is out of whack. That isn't including the float, float needle & carburetor parts that has be up to par.

[VTEC_Inside]

Is the choke opening?

[2oodoor]

If your car isn't warming up, either the ECT switch (engine coolant temp.) is bad or the thermostat is stuck open.
As far as your car revving, the carb probably has some kind of vacuum leak or needs to be rebuilt. I can't tell you how many hours I spent jacking with the stock P.O.S. (piece of shit) carbs. & vacuum lines on these! The answer was called Weber conversion.

The deal with these carbs is that they have around 50 feet of vacuum line & a emissions black box with thermovalves. Everything has to be working just right, if one thing isn't working, the whole system is out of whack. That isn't including the float, float needle & carburetor parts that has be up to par.

hellz yeah ^^^ what he had said...
when I used that oem pos I removed the entire choke pull off slash separate fast idle servo pulloff and wired the choke open all the time. Two pumps of the gas and it started right up with no freaky idle issues again. Check vaccum lines, correct slash plug leakys.
I have worked on carbs of all kinds for years and never saw such a headache as these, not even from other asian cars. It was thier intention to have a perfectly smooth operating emmisions carb that could compete with EFI driveability at that time, which worked fine until the car gets some age on it. All cars of that generation, 3C, "computer" controled carbs had issues that were annoying to diagnose or repair. Aftermarket had a field day making Holley, Edlbrock etc.. "oem" replacements right about then too. Weber 32/36 is and was the greatest thing since quick release bras and sliced bread.

[VTEC_Inside]

hellz yeah ^^^ what he had said...
when I used that oem pos I removed the entire choke pull off slash separate fast idle servo pulloff and wired the choke open all the time. Two pumps of the gas and it started right up with no freaky idle issues again. Check vaccum lines, correct slash plug leakys.
I have worked on carbs of all kinds for years and never saw such a headache as these, not even from other asian cars. It was thier intention to have a perfectly smooth operating emmisions carb that could compete with EFI driveability at that time, which worked fine until the car gets some age on it. All cars of that generation, 3C, "computer" controled carbs had issues that were annoying to diagnose or repair. Aftermarket had a field day making Holley, Edlbrock etc.. "oem" replacements right about then too. Weber 32/36 is and was the greatest thing since quick release bras and sliced bread.

The problem with wiring the choke wide open is that its cold enough around here that it makes the car a bit of a pain in the ass to start. Then once you get it running you have to keep your foot on the gas to keep it that way until it warms up a bit.

[g.frost]

Hey Guys, I haven't been here in a year... until my car gives me problems:

My '88DX (150K miles!) carb has started acting this way as the cold weather arrived this year. ( But it just passed California Emissions test... it runs fine when fully warmed up) When it gets cold though, it will continue to race the engine at 3-4K RPM and run way too rich even after it should be warmed up (temp gauge is up to spec, thermostat is fine, )

Download the manual addendum and refer to the carb emissions section. You need a vacuum pump and gauge kit to test the various diaphrams and valves.

To save you some time, test the 'choke opener' function first. Note that the choke opener gets vacuum directly from the carb, and supplies this vacuum to the 'fast idle unloader' (via thermovalve A). So when the choke opener diaphram leaks, the high idle unloader does not get adaquate vacuum to work right.

The choke opener diaphram is leaking on mine, and causing the problem.
It is so bad, if you continueeto drive in this condition it will surely damage other things. (like burn up the catalytic converter from too much raw gas)

After testing the choke opener, follow procedure to check fast idle unloader function with the vacuum pump.

I wired mine open while parts are on order from Majestic Honda. Runs fine with it wired open but if it was really cold here.... I might miss not having the choke fully close on a cold start.

Inspecting the rubber in the vacuum system (it's all original on my car!) it is the rubber hoses in close proximity to the carb vacuum lines that has become brittle. (from exposure to gas fumes) I suspect this is why the choke unloader diaphram is the first to go. When you shut off the engine, gas fumes are drawn into the vacuum tubes. The rest of the tubing is in amazing shape considering the age.

With this problem I have had the worst gas mileage ever with this car; 275 miles on a tank.

(Not directly causing the problem but I also need a thermovalve 'C' (stuck open/cold) and the intake air control diaphram (leaks).

[g.frost]

Just to update on these problems (many seem to never end the thread with a solution....)
My parts came in a couple days ago, and I got the choke opener & thermovalve installed.

I have my old car back! it runs great, starts right up in the cold and idles down properly as the engine warms up. Having the vacuum leak(s) fixed makes better throttle response and smoother idle. It's been running lousy in the cold for the last couple years and just gradually got worse. So happy it's running so well, I even changed the (fuel diluted) oil.

[g.frost]

....forgot to mention here; to test for vacuum leak on the choke opener diaphragm, use a bit of carb cleaner on the backside of the opener. (while engine is running...) The vac line direct into the carb will let you know real quick if it is leaking. (manual says remove and plug the vac to test)