Ok, short background, in cold weather my car won't stay idleing for like 5 mins after the choke pulls in, after it warms up more its fine. I belive it was rx7carl that suggested checking the dashpot as a maladjusted one would cause it to simply drop off and stall as it was doing. Checked teh dashpot, to my surprise it wasn't even working, the plunger was stuck in the housing of it. I replaced that with a working one, car still stalls. I richened up the mix, still stalls, I plugged the shutter valve and adjusted the carb accordingly (turn up idle and richen the mix even more) and still the ****** stalls. What else could this be? vaccum leak maybe? This has really gotton me stumped and it pisses me off having to hold the damn choke out to stay running. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

ps. oh yea, its a 83 S, pretty much stock 12a except mechanical secondaries and K&N filter, and it stalled like this before I did both those things, so its not that.

 

If your car idles fine when it's warm, perhaps your temperature sensor switch is faulty and it's telling your choke to open up too soon. The sensor is located right behind the thermostat on the pump housing. Have you ever replaced your thermostat? Maybe it is opening too soon.

 

Nah, it sounds like fuel delivery or ignition. Ok, so the dashpot thing didnt work. Maybe it is (the choke) dropping off early? Where on the gauge is the water temp when the choke drops off? And what is your idle speed when warm and running good?

 

Its almost gotta be something fuel related, cause the plugs, wires, and dist rotor are maybe a month old at most. When its warmed up and running the way it should be it idles at 900 and ultra smooth I might add, the needle on the tach doesn't budge now matter how long i leave it idleing. As for the temp gauge, its hard to explain where it is, but I can tell you that it is not all the way up when the choke pulls off, it increses, not much, but it does increse. If the choke is pulling in too early can I adjust that? or is it all preset stuff? thanks guys

 

Im placing it to be maybe the throttle isnt allowing it to run quick enough, adjust the dashpot to push the throttle lever down , so it will speed up the idle.

 

Wouldn't that be equivelent to simply raising the idle speed using the adjustment screw.

 

Are you positive that it's adjusted correctly? What happens if you start the car, let the choke pop in, and let it stall. Then start the car back up without the choke. Does it idle now?

 

nope, it stalls, i restart, its stalls, i restart blah blah, it takes at least another 5 mins of running before it will even try to idle. and thats on a "good" day, if its damp then forget it. I'm sure its not the dashpot. I don't think its the carb settings either, cause once its running it runs really smooth but if I richen it anymore it will be too much, and leaner and it will start to idle rough. ugh.

 

Yes and No, the throttle screw is an air adjust. The throttle lever adjusts the idle stop, you can add air all day long and its only gonna make it run worse.

 

I have a question for you guys plugging the shutter valve. Are you plugging all 4 places? Bottom of air cleaner so you don't by-pass filter, big line to valve, vacumn line to valve, and vucumn line to the tree.??

 

I jerked the entire POS out when I had my 12A, did the same on my 80 too.

But if you cap all the openings you are ok. You just have the flap in there, even tho in the vertical position, it will be fine.

 

hmm check and see if your distributor cap has any cracks

 

hmmm, guess i should replace the cap, it is quite old. I'll do that tomrrow. Oh and to plug my shutter I just blocked the big line coming from the air box for now. I'll plug it all later after I get this mess figured out.

 

I think someone posted that replacing the distributor cap during the winter time is part of the Winterization process. I think it was V8kilr?

 

Here's the thread I was talking about Winter Problems. Maybe this will help you out if not someone else with a similar problem

 

yeah, if your affected by dampness its gotta be electric. once the car heats up you're getting rid of any moisture. as a quick fix you can always disconnect the choke sensor and manually control the choke until you get it fixed.

 

The shutter valve can fail in different ways. Most often if you suck on the vac. line there is no reistance. If you don't plug that line at the tree, it may mess with the vac. in the rest of the system. (not remembering where it goes right now). It may also let air into the manifold from that direction?? You should also plug the air cleaner or you have an opening into the engine that bypasses the filter. I think the best thing to do is diconnect BOTH rubber lines and cap all 4 openings. That will take it completely out of the picture except for 1 type of failure, getting air thru the acturator (mechanical piston). That's rare and the only way around that is removal like Mike-P-28 did.

 

well, just replaced my distributor cap a few mins ago, so I'll have to wait and test it for the next few days, then I'll post here again and let everyone know whats happening. thanks again

 

Good luck!

 

My car always did run crappy till it was fully warmed up.
Are you saying it continues to stall even after being warm?

 

No, once its warmed up all the way it idles rock solid with no problems. Its just that ~5 min between the time the choke pulls in and its fully warm thats giving me the problem. Its damp and cold today, so after I get back from work I'll let everyone know if that new cap did it or not.

 

Just for the heck of it, I might as well mention this. Back when I had the Jeep, I remember driving to work and all of a sudden the car started dying and vibrating. It was foggy and humid out. I pulled over and popped the hood and noticed that there were sparks jumping from the wires to the engine block. After work, I drove over to the dealer and picked up some new wires. No more vibration and the power was back.
I just wanted to mention this because the wet weather can really cause a lot of trouble in the ignition system on any car.

 

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, still friggin stalls with the new cap. Guess I should try replacing that sensor for the choke. Just to confirm, its on the water pump right below the long bolt for the alternator right? I assume thats it, cause as far as I can see its the only one on there.

 

Yup, its the only one on the back of the water pump housing. Sorry to hear your still having trouble. I'd still suggest richening the mixture a little just to try it though. When the choke opens you get a mad rush of air right? So without enough fuel it should stall dontcha think?

 

Cool, If its not raining tomorrow I'll grab the one off my parts car. I already have richened the mix about a turn in total over the past week trying to see if that would do it, but no luck. Just have to wait and see if this sensor is bad.