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choke problems

4K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  greywolf 
#1 ·
first off im new second i have a problem with my electronic choke on my 1980 el camino with the 229 with 50,000 original miles i tested the fuse box also i tested the oil sending unit/switch (sorry bad with proper terminology) also tested plug that went into choke all of them tested ok so the real ? is what am i missing that is keeping the choke from working correctly it stays closed and and barely opens but can be opened maually so not stuck any imput would be appreciated
 
#2 ·
Welcome From Texas ,,,Sounds like your electric Choke Needs adjustment, there are 3 Hold downs on your Choke Cap,there may be screws or Rivits,if there are rivets than take a small drill bit and drill them out if there a screws than Cool less trouble here is a picture of a common GM QJet Choke
 
#3 ·
What he said up there !!!

If the choke is closing, then its getting power obviously otherwise it would not work at all and stay full open and no high idle cam either. So as fixitman suggested.

By your name, you remind me of my grandmother, may she RIP. Poor women was pretty much blind but did her best at whatever she did, but I'll tell you what, she made biscuits from hell. Them things were hard as rock and would break teeth off if you tried to eat them. Thankfully grandma had a dog that loved'em. When grandma went down for a bite, my hand went under the table with a biscuit. Sad thing was, I fed so many damn biscuits to the dog, my grandma thought I loved her biscuits, so she'd make more and more evertime she made them. Poor dog. He ran away, and I don't blame him after having to eat her cooking.
 
#4 ·
/\ Power makes the heating coil work to OPEN the choke. Ambient Temperature cools the coil and CLOSES the choke.
The choke must also be making a ground through the carb body. The element in it may also be bad. Can't remember what the resistance is supposed to be.
 
#10 ·
/\ Power makes the heating coil work to OPEN the choke. Ambient Temperature cools the coil and CLOSES the choke.
The choke must also be making a ground through the carb body. The element in it may also be bad. Can't remember what the resistance is supposed to be.
That makes perfect sense to me, and I thought that is the way it was. I had never considered myself good with carbs. Just the basics, but not real good. I can rebuild one properly, but I have to use vac guages to adjust them etc where I know some guys can listen and do it by ear. Not Me. So I thought it worked as you said it did, but someone who I THOUGHT knew carbs well, told me no. If its closed its getting power and thats why when you first start a vehicle with electric auto choke you have to touch the gas pedal so the electric choke will close the butterfly. When I thought the reason you hit the pedal was just to set the high idle cam along with the choke butterfly that should be already closed by ambient air as you mention. Thanks for clearning that up for me.

I am from So Cal and we didn't need choke really, and the vehilce that was cold natured that I had, was manual choke. So I have not dealt with E choke much at all.
But now I have a good excuse to call my good old buddy still in So Cal and tell him he told me wrong and have a good laugh. So I sure hope you're right. :beer:
 
#5 ·
Are you have starting and idling problems? The choke will only open so much, the entire thing will not open with the electric choke. Mine opens maybe a 1/4" and it starts right up
 
#6 ·
hey

im in school for auto and ya my teacher and i agreed it may be in need of adjustment as suggested from everyone here havent done it yet but would the adjustment help fix my idling and initial start up its a lil rough
thanx
p.s. the nickname is biscuit i have a tattoo of the pillsbury doughboy on my arm to make it official lol
 
#8 ·
p.s. the nickname is biscuit i have a tattoo of the pillsbury doughboy on my arm to make it official lol

Haha, that's cool. I was a supervisor at one of my long time jobs, and I had 2 guys I called Biscuit. One was little Biscuit and one was big Biscuit. I didn't tell them for about 3 days why I was calling them Biscuit. Finally in a meeting, as I addressed one of them, and said, well Little Biscuit over here..... and my boss asked me, Little Biscuit??? I said yeah, and that's Big Biscuit over there. LMAO , and of course everyone had to know why Biscuit??? I said cuz they are lazy and always soaking up the gravy, whle the other guy are busting their butts. Needless to say, Little Biscuit and Big Biscuit weren't to happy to hear that explanation.
 
#7 ·
My SOP for Choke setup is as follows:
If thermostat cover is still retained by rivets, carefully drill out the rivets, tap the holes (8-32 thread IIRC) and replace with machine screws.
Adjust the thermostat so that the choke blade is just barely closed at an ambient temp of about 60 degrees.
Adjust a single vac break carb so that it opens 1/4" (including free play in the linkage) when vacuum is applied. A dual break carb should be about 1/8" on the primary break and 1/4" on the secondary break)
Fire it up and see how it behaves. These settings on a rochester 2 or 4bbl should put you very close, if not right on the money.

Bill
 
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