Hi!

Worth mentioning right of the bat - I know NOTHING about these cars/motors/carbs.

Just got a -82 D150 rebuilt as a -79 Li'l Red clone
Seems like it haven't been driven in winter for 10 years, so natually there are gonna be some issues one might not notice/care about otherwise.


1:
Cold, cold start seems impossible. Allmost drained the battery getting it to fire this morning in 24 degrees f. ( new battery, was charged last night )
I tried the old pump-n-turn, but pumping the gas just once or twice seemed to make it worse every time - Not pumping the gas didn't work either.
See the carb in the pics - Doesn't this carb have a manual choke? i se the throttle lever and another wire going through the firewall, but there is no sign of a choke handle anywhere in the cab.
if not, then does it have an automatic spring choke on the left side? - everything looks brand new - and i have no clue as to why it wouldn't fire right up.


2:
The defrost function on the AC does not blow up on the window, everything else works fine - Any resistorthingy i should replace?
I noticed that the previous owner had disconnected the wire from the heatercore flow valve...maybe to get more cooling on the engine during summer?
Would there be any reason for anyone to disconnect something, so that the AC doesn't blow air up on the windshield?


3:
The cab heats up really fast, and the radiator hoses heat up really slow + the engine temp gauge moves maybe 1/16 inch after driving for 30 minutes.
Most likely the thermostat is busted and locked in the open position?


4:
When i drove it home two days ago, there seemed to not be any charge from the generator. The last two days i am reading over 18v on the battery during idle with heater on max and running light on.
Bad connection somewhere?
is 18V safe?


5:
The gas pedal is really hard and seems to want to stick - Anything i can do? lube?


Once fired up, the engine never stalls, and runs smoothly through the entire RPM range.

Any help would the much appreciated

-Jeremy

 

In pic 4, the round black feller is the choke coil. It's automatic, there should be wire going to it. (hot with ignition on.)

When you pump the throttle, does the carb squirt some gas into the engine?

 

OK, thanks! There are clearly no cables going to the coil in the picture, so thats a problem
I'm guessing the guy who rebuilt this car, ( and only used in during summer ) didnt bother with hooking that up, or that the cables came out.

Update: The coil has a male and a female connector. There are no such cables hangin around in the engine compartment, but there are two unconnected cables behind the carb. ( they are too short and does not have the plug that would fit the coil. )
Anyone know the voltage that should reach the coil? i can check with a voltmeter tomorrow.

Update 2 :
According to Edelbrock I just need to ground the female connector, an hook the other one up to any ignition activated 12v source - this is going to be my first stop, followed by a quick choke adjustment while engine is hot


Any comments on issues 2,3,4,and 5, anyone?

-Jeremy

 

2. If all the other vent functions work properly, probably a bad actuator in there. (yeah, that should be fun.....)

3. Think I would check and see what the various temps were with an IR thermometer. May be a bad thermostat, or, it may be the temp gauge is lying to you.

4. Check wiring for whatever they did for the voltage regulator. The regulator itself may be bad, or wired wrong. 18 volts will boil your battery....... not a good scene.

5. Find out WHY it is binding. Then fix it.

 

1: I added ground and ignition activated 12v to the choke coil two days ago. Yesterday, in 21f, there was some improvement. Today in 10f, it fired right up and stayed at 3000RPM for a long time, even after the coil/engine heated up and the airflow valve was completely open.
I guess i need to adjust the choke, but here's the question: did my pedal stick, or does the fast idle actually work?
( i gave it one pump and pushed it down just a little bit before starting the engine )


2 : Could this be a mechanical issue, as there is visible movement in the cab for every stage on the A/C slider. ( there is a wire with a big round thingy near the end - to the left of the dual floor blower valve. The wire moves with every step on the AC slider )


3: Actually seems like the thermostat is working. I guess the heater core allways gets a lot of heat, before the engine does, as this is a completely separate valve on the same loop.
Radiator hoses are ice cold until at least 10 minutes of idle. One time, from colde start, i had it running at idle for 5 minutes, then checked the radiator hoses - ice cold - ,then I revved it up and the hoses immediately got too hot to hold on to.
The seal is bad, So i'll just replace the thermostat and temp sensor anyways

4: The wiring looks brand new and wired correctly. I can see that the regulator hanging on the firewall is not new. The volt drops and rises with every RPM change.
It's out now - hope I can get a new one tomorrow.

 

You may have to bump the gas pedal once the choke is fully open, to get it to come down off high idle. If that doesn't change anything, I would check adjustments for idle. (throttle open to far, to much fuel allowed in, etc. Been a LONG time since I had to play with a carb on car/truck/van.....)

Entirely possible. Gonna require some looking into.

Heater core is constant flow, so, as the coolant warms, the heater gets warm as well, radiator/hoses won't start getting hot till the thermostat actually opens.

 

Just a quick update!

Regulator busted - new one came down to 11v. ( yup, too low )

Temperature gauge ok, but sensor busted - swapped and see that the engine is overheating a little.

Not charging properly and engine slightly overheating - Loosened the alternator and tighten it up. Generates correct voltage and engine runs at correct temperature.

Leak from thermostat housing - Changed thermostat and cleaned up the surfaces. New seal is holding

Window blower - i removed the bottom of the glovebox and pushed a rod, in the middle under the dash, against the driver side - Now blows on the windshield.
when I cycle the other functions on the AC panel, everything works, but it won't go back and open the windshield air duct again in the defrost mode - Needs to be set manually behind the dashboard every time
Since the lever works one way, it should only be a lubrication issue....if I'm lucky!

Electric choke hooked up and adjusted correctly, but it's still a b**** to start below 35f.
On the back of the engine, right behind the carb base, i found a plastic 24mm bolt with ground and current connected...could this be the culprit? An air temperatur gauge not working properly and basically telling the carb that it's summertime??...my voltmeter tells me this thing is dead.
Please advice

 

Pics of the bolt?

How many times do you pump the gas before you start it when cold?

 

I've tried not pumping at all - not even a hint of firing
one pump - same as above
one pump and holding the gas down a little bit - same as above
....and 4-6 pumps just now, in 30f weather - it fires after maybe 6 seconds, then stumbles and stops after a second or two.

I noticed today, that when it finally fires up after dying 3 times first, is that i cant touch the pedal for at least two minutes....this chokes the engine.
the fast idle did not engage, as I didn't hold the pedal down( if i understand this function correctly)...got around 900 RPM - at normal operating temperature it idles around 1050 RPM

I am tempted to try 10 pumps and holding the gas halfway down tomorrow, just to see what happens.

So, either this sensor got something to do with it, or my carb is waaay off.
It starts up much easier in 40f, but still struggles

 

That may be a temp switch for the choke. So, being open at ambient temp may be normal. When that sensor sees the engine coming up to whatever it's set-point is, it closes the switch, and closes the circuit for the choke coil? Maybe??

I suspect your cold start problem is indeed a carb adjustment issue. Maybe not enough of a pump shot, or too small of main jets for the motor. (running lean) Maybe idle jets not opened enough?