Hi, I am totally new to Dodge Vans and therefore I have a question that someone here might be able to answer.

My van is an 1985 B250 Royal Wagon with 318 and 2 barrel carb, but it seems like the carb has lost its choke function over the years. This is a problem because I live in northern Sweden and it's pretty cold sometimes .

I haven't opened anything up yet so I just want some information on what to check first, and if there is som common problem with the choke. I assume that the choke is automatic on this van as in most american vheicles I have seen.

So were to begin is my question?

 

The very first thing you'll want to do is remove the air cleaner housing and see if the choke closes all the way when it's cold. You will have to press the gas pedal once before checking just to make sure none of the cams or linkages are holding it open from the last time it was hot.

 

Will do, I get home from work on friday so the first thing I'll do is to test that.

 

Went out and ripped the aircleaner of just to find out that the choke is stuck in full open position, and wont move at all. Something is blocking it, and also theres something that looks like an electric motor or something on the left side of the carb, but the connector and wires are missing from it.

I guess I have to rip the carb apart to find out why it's stuck.

And I also assume that the choke is the one located at the front of the carb..am I right?

 

Many different carbs were used, so it's hard to answer your question without a picture of it.

Usually on a 318, the choke spring and heating element are mounted down on the intake with a linkage rod going up to the choke butterfly.

 

Yes, it seems like that's the case on my engine. But the linkage rod is totally impossible to move.

 

Disconnect the linkage from the butterfly and see if it will now move. If it's still frozen, replace the choke coil down on the intake. If the linkage does move, see if you can manually flip the butterfly open and closed. If it won't move then spray the heck out of it with carb cleaner to remove any gum, varnish, or any other gunk on it and try to work it open and closed again.

 

It's the choke coil thats busted, disconnected everything today. I think that I'm gonna put an ordinary chokewire to operate it until I replace the carb, because it looks pretty worn in all the linkages.