My 22R in the 84 (yes I know its the wrong section) is having some issues.

I just replaced the head gasket and got everything bolted on. I have the vacuum lines in the right places (i'm pretty sure) and everything should be working.

When I primed the carburetor and turned the key, it fired right up! It runs at a high idle and every couple of seconds it misses a cylinder, but it runs. After a minute or two, it will start to slow the idle until the engine gets rough and quits, unless I really try to keep it alive by giving it gas.

I'm wondering if
A. The timing is off, slightly or significantly,
B. The truck is simply out of gas,
C. There is some other hidden problem. I've thought of doing a compression check, checking the spark plugs, and a few other simple items.

The truck wasn't out of gas when I pulled the head, but, since the fuel lines were unplugged below the intake manifold, I'm wondering if the gas evaporated over the 4 weeks the head was off (yeah I'm slow.. big deal). I put in most of a gallon of gas and it still wouldn't idle correctly. Could there be a vapor lock in between the fuel pump on the front of the engine and the fuel tank?

Should I have primed the fuel pump when I put it back on?

Also.. the green electrical plug's wire that goes in right where the Tstat is located broke off in the head removal process. I'm assuming this is the coolant temp gauge probe, but correct me please if I'm wrong. I figured I could solder it back into place once the engine is running correctly.

I hope all this makes sense, and you guys can help me pinpoint the issue, i just want my baby back!

 

Are you basically saying that the truck will not idle, but the fast idle works? My first guess would be that the fuel cut solenoid is not wired up correctly. The fuel cut solenoid wires go to that big green electrical plug coming off of the carburetor.

The green plugs that go near the thermostat are for temperature switches that run smog controls and the temp gauge sending unit. There should be two or three of them depending on the year and smog specs. That could be related to your idle problem, but I am not sure without looking at a diagram for your year.

 

The engine is an 85, I figured it was just a Temp Sending unit. I didn't want to short out the instrument by trying to hold the wire onto the plug without a steady connection like solder. I'll solder it and see where that gets me.

 

The temp sending unit is by the thermostat, mounted horizontally. The temp switches with the green plugs that I am refering to are mouned vertically behind the thermostat. I belive that that temp switches shut off when they reach the proper temp, so having the wires disconected is the same as having the engine at operating temperature. They have green single pin connectors. The temp switch has a flat connector with no harness type of connector around it. Is there any way you can post a picture of the broken wire and where you think it goes?

 

The green temp sensors are associated with the Air Injection System ("smog").

 

Its one of the green temp sensors just aft of the thermostat. I'll have to re-solder this connection as it was severed during head removal. Unfortunately, the connection was severed right at the little rubber boot inside of the green connector, so some kind of splice or crimping connector won't really do the trick.

I suspect my problem has something to do with this retarded emissions stuff.

I'll get the wire fixed tomorrow and have an update tomorrow night, I hope.