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electric choke unhappy

Kain

Kain

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i am trying to find a happy medeame for my electric choke. it would not shut off yesterday so i leaned it out by turning the choke to the right 2 clicks. after that it wouldn't start. so i turned it back one click.it started and choke did like it saposed to until this morning.
any advice on how to get the stupid thing to work like its ment to?

The motor is a small block chevy 40 over eddy heads(60899) eddy cam(7102) summit racing stage 3 intake, summit racing carb. This is the carb.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-m08750vs

And i know that it was never designed to run in 20 deg weather but when i am driving this morning the choke would come on at a stop and stall the truck. going to try and adjust it again but i am not doing anything today, its just to bloody cold.
 
Always find these problems when you don't want to work on them. :)

I'm assuming there is not much in the manual about setting the choke?

I know on the Q-jets the "throw" of the choke is adjustable via the lever that operates the choke plate. It is a delicate balance of getting the choke to shut far enough for startup, but open fully and stay fully open once warm.

Also could be an adjustment in the linkage that sets the choke for high idle, etc., but one would hope that would be pretty close as-sold.
 
well i don't mind working on them but when its this cold NO i don't want to.
i followed the summit cd that came with it and it is still unhappy i guess ill have to adjust it till it runs half way descent just have to put up with hard starts.
 
OK, it doesn't sound like an adjustment problem. I think you have an installation problem.
Once that choke opens, it should never close until the power is turned off. From what I read in the instruction sheet for that carb, the choke is electric only.
Also, you should not use the original choke wire.

You should have one of the connectors hooked to a good ground, and the other one hooked to a good ignition switched 12 volt source.
Do not use anything hooked to the spark system. They suggest something like the windshield wiper power source.

When you turn on the ignition, the coil in the choke cap starts to warm up from the current flowing through it.
As it does, the choke starts to open. The adjustment you are doing controls how long before the choke starts to open.

Once it opens, the coil will stay hot as long as there is power to it. You need to recheck your wiring.
 
Another thing this carb has been on the rig since march of last year
And worked great untill it got butt cold
 
Well its got 14 volts at the choke,could i have a bad regulator on the alltenator?
 
Turned the idle up and it quit doing it.Its idleing at 1100 rpm but i can drive it
Still dont get 14 volts though
 
I doubt it. 14.5 is normal alt voltage.
If its been on that long, the linkage may be gummed up and sticking.

FWIW, since I grew up driving a Jeep with a manual choke, every vehicle I have ever owned with an automatic choke I converted to manual as soon as I got it.

I was always better at setting the choke than the automatic system.

I would pull the air cleaner off, maybe take the wires off if there is not enough slack. Note where it is set now, and then rotate the cap from one extreme to the other.

The choke butterfly should open and close smoothly. Probably to get it to close all the way, you will have to hold the throttle open slightly because of the fast idle cam.

Since the choke heats up at about the same rate every time, the colder it starts with, the longer it will take to open.
That is usually good, since you want it to open slower on cold days. But the change is not perfect.

That is why I like the manual. I can open it at the rate I want, and can feel how the engine is running to tell when it needs more or less choke.

I'm sure they still make the kits to convert them, but I have not seen any lately. I know they were always cheap and cheaply made.
I always bought a heavier duty control cable at the same time I bought the kit, because the one in the kit was junk.

If you need the choke to come off differently, you could modify the way the power is setup.
Put a toggle switch in the system. Set the choke so that it is just closed when cold. That will cause it to open faster.
Then leave the switch off until the engine get going good, and you are up to speed. Then turn on the switch and the choke will open right up and stay open until you turn off the key.
 
learn something new every day that throws a wrench in your parade....:-)
 
Don't forget to make sure that your cold idle is set properly and the fast idle cam is working. Some people set the high idle down too low and while the truck will usually run OK, it can make for problems and slow warm-up when cold.
 
That could have been most of the problem. Don't forget, metal dimensions change with temp.
And aluminum is one of the better ones for that. If the clearances are real close, it might drag in real cold weather when it would not in warmer.

I was going to suggest one off the wall possibility. Its very unlikely, but I have seen it one time.
The spring inside the cap, on most of these setups, has a right angle tab that fits in a slot on the choke lever.
Its not supposed to be able to get out unless you take the cap all the way off. But I was thinking it might have slipped out if you loosened the cap too much when adjusting it.

Depending on which side of the lever it wound up on, the choke might open but close by its self or not open at all. If it were on the other side, it might open and not close.

You could check by carefully pulling the cap back enough to peek in and see, but now that you found that problem, I would not bother unless it keeps messing up.
 
well the choke itself crapped out today, started my Blazer let it warm up took it for a ride felt like the choke was stuck.pulled over and sure enough it was closed. I had a spare and changed it out now it opens and closes like its made to.

it snowed on me when i changed it,and it sucked at 23 deg with a wind of 10 miles an hour
 
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