Q-Jet choke plate stuck open

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firebane

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Perhaps I'm blind.. But I don't see a zip tie?
 

raylanr

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Perhaps I'm blind.. But I don't see a zip tie?
Do you see that black section next to the wall towards the back of the canister that's a zip tie that comes from under the carb between the wall of the carb and canister

the circle is the plastic zip tie.

the red arrow pointing to the rod on the canister should move back and forth right? that is stuck the way it looks.

the rod pointed by the blue arrow moves as I move back and forth to open and close the secondaries
 

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MadOgre

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Use carb cleaner to clean it. Avoid cleaning solvents as they will remove the finish off the metal and that is a bad thing.

Just be liberal with the carb cleaner and use a tooth brush to clean it up.

The linkages may very well be gummed up and causing things to bind.
 

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It would be nice to see a picture of what that zip tie is attached to ?
 

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You may have to by hand push the throttle linkage open slightly while pushing on the choke linkage to get it to full close.

The spring on the intake manifold heats up and expands allowing the choke to open. When its cold it retracts and put pressure on the linkage so that it closes. How ever it will not fully close with out stepping on the throttle first to allow all the linkage to reset.
 

Quadrajet Power

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Do you have an exhaust leak on passenger side? Looks like your choke coil may have had exhaust coming out and heating up the passenger side of the carb. You can get new choke coils too. Quadrajetparts.com has a good variety.

Cliff has great parts and advice. If you do it yourself, I would highly recommend his parts. You may also need a new vacuum release, make sure you test it. It should hold vacuum, and release slowly.

The fast idle cam should be where the zip tie is. Is it hiding in there somewhere?
 

raylanr

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These are the best I could take.

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firebane

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LOL that zip tie is what is causing you all your grief. Cut that thing off! Its holding that lever in the open position.

But if you do cut it off.. it may open more worms such as having to actually fix or setup your choke properly.
 

raylanr

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Well I have had this truck for over two years and that thing may have been there since. That explains a lot of hard starts I guess.
 

firebane

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Well I have had this truck for over two years and that thing may have been there since. That explains a lot of hard starts I guess.

Absolutely. Choke plate is supposed to shut close on cold starts and stay open when the truck is already warmed up.

If your choke plate is always stuck open like it is.. its getting WAY to much air and will be a royal pain in the ass to start.
 

raylanr

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When I took the rod that moves the choke plate off to move the choke plate manually I it will not close completely there is a little something that is preventing it to be flush with the wall. I have to push it a little too close and to reopen it I have to pull a little to get it unstuck.
 
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raylanr

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Do you have an exhaust leak on passenger side? Looks like your choke coil may have had exhaust coming out and heating up the passenger side of the carb. You can get new choke coils too. Quadrajetparts.com has a good variety.

Cliff has great parts and advice. If you do it yourself, I would highly recommend his parts. You may also need a new vacuum release, make sure you test it. It should hold vacuum, and release slowly.

The fast idle cam should be where the zip tie is. Is it hiding in there somewhere?

Are you talking about the spring on the canister?
 

raylanr

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The spring is supposed to be there. Do not remove it!

I wasn't planning on removing it, I was just thinking on cleaning it with the carburetor cleaner to see if it actually expands and contracts properly.
 

firebane

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When I took the rod that moves the choke plate off to move the choke plate manually I it will not close completely there is a little something that is preventing it to be flush with the wall. I have to push it a little too close and to reopen it I have to pull a little to get it unstuck.

Its ok if the choke plate doesn't completely close! It can be open a tiny bit. The key is that when the truck is running the choke pull off opens it up with the choke. It also looks like you have a vacuum line plugged off for the choke pull off which should be hooked up as well.
 

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