Pri$erulz

Hello all,

I have been been searching around and reviewed a lot of posts about various topics but have a bit of an odd ball here. My starter cable caught fire and burned up some wiring and vacuum lines in the area. It is dark now and I can't take pictures of what has been repaired yet but I'll give you the information I have and see if anyone has a solution or things to investigate. But first, I need to tell you about the truck. Bear with me though, I'm an electrician, not a mechanic.

I was leaving work one day and I accidentally hit the key while it was warming up. My starter ground and had a clicking noise when I started it from then until it caught fire. Apparently it grenaded the starter and must have overloaded the wire. I have a 1981 Pickup SR5 4WD with a few upgrades. I have a weber 32/36 DGEV with a LCE spiral adapter, fuel pressure regulator, as well as a performance clutch with a heavy duty flywheel. It also has a k&n air filter on it that lets the hood close (pm me for part numbers if you are interested). The truck ran fine for 2 years before the fire and has been sitting for about a year and a half since. This is a CA truck with all the smog equipment.

I cut the sections of wire out one by one and replaced them with the appropriate wire as I went. The connector that feeds the original Aisin choke charred; I cut it out and replaced what was originally,connected to the weber. I ran "run" power back to the electric choke and fuel cut off solenoid of the weber and it lit up on my test light. The other three wires are capped off (black/yellow, white/black, white). There is another set of wires that come off of the engine wiring harness behind the battery that is 8 #18's, and one #16 going into a connector. That was a little charred so I removed it as well but did those 1 by 1 to not confuse them. There is another wire that ran to the power steering pump that I repaired. My fusible links had some charring on the wires that fed them so I replaced them as well. It obviously got a new starter, starter cable, and a ground to the engine. I had two vacuum lines that I could find that showed any evidence of charring; they were replaced one at a time to not mix them up. The 1/8th of a tank of gas I had in there was old so I added a bottle of HEET along with two gallons of 89.

The truck cranked and cranked but eventually fired up. It had a little tiny bit of a roughness to it but will not idle. I have been under the truck, inside the wheel well, and on top with a flash light and can't find anything that is not connected or charred except for one thing. There is a white and black chingadera that dangles down on the passenger side of the engine with three vacuum lines running into it. The vacuum lines look good but it is slightly burned on its opposite side and slightly into its' vent. I think it might be the HAC but unsure at the moment.

My fusible links are good and holding just fine. There is power to the choke and fuel cut off solenoid. My headlights, gauges and everything seem to work. I do not remember seeing my tail lights but don't see why that would matter to this problem. I checked my mixture screw on the weber and it is a half a turn out (2.5 turns). I tightened it half a turn with a slight improvement in holding idle. 1 full turn made no difference from there. I put it back to where I started since it ran fine before the fire. My brake fluid is beyond low to the point where I had no brakes when I took it for a test drive. I have not been able to verify the fuel pressure yet but did have it adjusted down to 2.5psi or so before the fire. The regulator and gauge seem unaffected.

Any insight? I have to have the truck moved by next weekend. I'm moving to Arkansas/Tennessee in a few months and know I can drive the truck how it is but sure would like it to hold an idle.

I live in in riverside county. If you are familiar with these and willing to lend a hand, I can definitely lend you a case of beer.

I'll be reading up and expirimenting until I get it.

Thanks,
Nathan

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

it sat for 1.5 years? did you drain the old gas, put new gas in and replace the fuel filter. I would also blow out the gas line

Pri$erulz

No I did not drain out the old fuel. I added fuel system cleaner and mixed it with fresh gas. It went from 1/8th of a tank to 1/4. The fuel filter was fresh before it was parked and looks clean. The gas level in it looks pretty normal.

​​​​​​​I'll try blowing through the gas lines.

L5wolvesf

I would pop the top of the Weber and check if there is any gunk in the bowl and all of the jets/tubes.

Pri$erulz

My fuel lines are good and the pressure is gravy. It's right at 2.5 psi.

I got got the top off of the weber and looked around. All looked good but I doused it in carb cleaner anyways. I removed the idle speed screw and sprayed that too. No change.

I wedged the the gas pedal to keep it running and sprayed carb cleaner all over the vacuum lines and heavily where the fire was. No change.

Im suspecting the fuel cut off solenoid. I have 12v power running to it but am questioning whether or not it works. I read on this here interweb that it should move freely in your hand and when power is supplied, you should be able to feel a click. I removed the solenoid and it does not move at all. I touched the terminal to the positive post on the battery and did not feel a click or see any movement in the solenoid. The fire burned that connector and wire that fed the solenoid so maybe it shorted out? The truck runs when I am on the gas and only starts when I press on the pedal.

Pri$erulz

it was the idle cut off solenoid. Thanks for the help and suggestions!