Rebuilt my carb, and having a weird issue where I cant get it to fire when cold because the choke isnt closing, but if I spray starting fluid in it to get it to start, the choke then closes once it's running, and stays closed until warm.

Any suggestions?
Choke when cold prior to first-fire:



Choke after starting w/ starter fluid

 

Do you pump the accellerator before trying to crank the first time?
Some chokes won't close til the throttle is opened once when cold.

 

Yeah, tried pumping it three times before cranking.

Accelerator pump works too, obviously cant hear it from inside the cabin, but if I work the throttle by hand you can hear it squirt

 

Okay, finally got the truck to fire without starting fluid, but it took an act of congress... like 100 pedal pumps total over multiple crankings over about 5 minutes time.

My carb has definitely still got to have some major problems.

1) Sometimes the accelerator pump would making a squirting sound, and sometimes it didn't, when working it by hand. Looking down into the carb, when it did "squirt," it was more of a little dribble. Should it be a forceful "squirt" coming out of the tube?

2) The carb clearly isn't moving around on the stepped idle thing on the back. When I was able to get it to crank, it was trying to idle at 700 rpms. I had to physically reach back there and push it up on the stepped thing to raise the idle for cold idle, and then it didn't gradually come off it as it warmed up. The truck was completely warm and still running at high idle, until I reached back there and fiddled with it again.

I thought I got all the linkage and everything hooked up correctly when I put the carb back together, but maybe not. Does anyone have any good pics of their carb linkage?

Any other suggestions?

Help, anyone?

 

When you worked on the carb you did adjust the choke linkage after you were done??

When you press the throttle one time it should snap closed if adjusted correct.

Once the engine is warmed up does it open like it should??

I really like my EFI.

 

I didn't adjust anything, I didn't think there was anything to adjust. Guess I'll have to go back and look.

I tried pressing the throttle thinking it would kick off high idle, and it didn't do anything. That's when I went back and pushed on it by hand, and it came off high idle then.

I really like EFI too, but it's not worth converting this truck over. This is my only carb'ed vehicle and will likely be the last carb'ed vehicle I own, unless I get an old muscle car some day.

 

Main adjustment is by turning the black heater element.
Look at the pic you posted. The marks on the top of the choke body are to help in adjusting.
These electric chokes take me way back to the VW Solex carb days of my youth.

Edit: It is an electric heater is'nt it?? Does'nt really matter I guess, has to be heated by exhaust heat or electric, both types work the same.

 

Ha, like I said, I literally know nothing about carbs. I didn't even realize that was an adjustment. I'll try and mess with it tomorrow and report back

I'm not retarded, I promise. I'm just... young, only 30. Never had to deal with a carburetor before this. Been deep in engines, just literally know nothing about carburetors.

 

Thing is like any part they get old and tired with age.

Like me!!

I bet not to many have a tach and dwell meter in the tool box.

 

I do, but it's borrowed from my old man.

 

I know a fair bit about carburetors, but not on a Toyota, so my comments are only general.

When I had a very similar problem on an S-10, it turned out to be just too much friction in the external linkages. On that carburetor, some pieces literally relied on gravity to fall into position when cold. A tiny bit of dirt in the linkages kept them from falling into place (without a finger-tip push). I carefully cleaned all the linkages and pivot points, and put the tiniest drop of oil in the bushing, and it worked fine.

I emphasize restraint with oil. The carburetor is sitting in the dusty air flow, and any exposed oil will turn into viscous sludge, exactly where you don't need it.

I think I can say my experience with the S-10 is what convinced me that electronic fuel injection is a very good thing.

 

All good advice so far, but the fall back plan, if you can't get the automatic feature working properly, is to just put on a manual cable and operate the choke from inside the cab. It's a pretty simple algorithm - if the engine is cold, use the choke; if it's hot, don't. If it's in between, use choke lightly. I grew up with hand operated chokes on our farm tractors and trucks, and it doesn't take long to become smarter than the automatic controllers.

Plus no thief will be able to get it started if it's been sitting for a while and he doesn't know to pull the choke button.

 

I have considered converting to manual choke, but don't have any idea where to get a kit locally to do so. Are there generic kits, or would that be carb specific?

Im pulling the carb off tomorrow to inspect everything and clean the linkage. Thanks for all the suggestions, I will report back.

 

I'm not sure what's available these days. I would probably just look for a generic control cable and make a trip to the hardware store to put together some brackets to attach it.

 

Got the carb off and the linkage is either bound up some place that's not immediately obvious, or got gunked up somehow between when I cleaned it and when I installed it. Not enough attention to detail on my part.

Going to take it apart and clean at some point this week, and hope for better results this weekend.