today while driving to work i was waiting in a intersection to turn left and when i pressed the gas pedal to go it took a few seconds before it finally took off. also when i shut the car off it dieseled too. anything in particular i should check? its a '83 elky 305 with a q-jet by the way.

Assuming the vehicle ran well up to that point. Was there a fuel smell? was/is fuel leaking from the carb? Is the carb loose? Are there any vacumn leaks on the hoses? Dieseling may be caused by too high an idle speed, or fuel being siphoned into the throat due to too high a float level.

Hi when I had a 1978 Lincoln Town Car that is what my car would do all the time and I was told to replace the floater in the car and it would work better and since to get to the float you need to open the carb you might as well rebuilt the carb cause it is very easy to do takes like nothing. Just a couple hours and about $75. So I would recommend that.

Your Qjet is most likely a computer controlled carburetor (E4ME). If so, a special gauge is a must to set the float level. These carbs also have special settings for the lean and rich settings. They also require special gauges (and know how). Before attempting to work on that animal, I suggest you study up on the subject. If you disassemble it and do not get those settings just right, you'll have worse problems than the current one.

Use the search feature to find a source of the tools and gauges to set and adjust the E4ME carb.

Good advice Spoonplugger, those feedback carbs are are not DIY for inexperienced mechanics. I would also check for any stored codes with one of the inexpensive scan tools.

Ther inexpensive scan tools are actually just expensive paper clips. They just ground pins A and B to flash the check engine light.

Get a real scan tool off ebay like a OTC Monitor. Get an eariler model like a 3 or 85 and it shouldn't more than ~$30. For a little more, get a 2000 with cartridges and do cars up to 1993.

I didn't mean that inexpensive. TheEZ-Scan 3000 at about $240 offers code reading in English, live streaming and frame capture.