83 Chevy Carburetor Issues

[Maggie Flinn]

I am currently in the Ehrenberg area for the winter. I will be at the RTR and this general area until April. Is there anyone mechanically inclined that could take a peak and give me your opinion regarding possibly replacing it or if I should keep it the way it is.
If you follow this forum you may have seen I broke down and had to be towed over 100 miles to be charged $500 to adjust the timing and change a distributor cap. Thank God for AAA or I likely would still be there.
I really hate asking for help in real life as rejection is really hard for me. I have almost always been self sufficient but am in a position now that I really need help. I knew I was going to be taken advantage of by the mechanic but was kind of stuck. I had asked around for help at the time I was broke down but would have probably not been able to solve the issue. There is still an issue. Please, if you could just give me your two cents or if you could help me fix it I would be extremely grateful. .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[user 2252]

What is the problem?

 

[highdesertranger]

what state is it registered in? highdesertranger

 

[Weight]

Can you describe the problem as you see it? What does the engine do that seems wrong?

 

[wagoneer]

Bunch of people here know carburetors , and many have rebuilt them, it may not need that but if you can get a local opinion or a good description of the symptoms??

 

[Manyways2go]

I see a great amount of knowledge and advice here on the forum so all the details are important.

It's common for that era vehicles show faults after years, hopefully minor and I'm sure worrying for most.
I hope to pass thru at some point next month and willing to help with advice and direction if still concerned.
Always find a little time to offer assistance wherever I'm able but haven't been out much past weeks.

When a problem exists often its worse when it is colder and just started up. The correct method for cold start on
a carburetor is press the gas pedal down slow once or twice for a shot of fuel and sets the choke. Take your foot
away from the pedal completely and crank it up.

#1 If it starts right away is it smooth and fast Idle or rough & dies out?
#2 Is it hard to start or keep it going on first start cold?
What color smoke out the back is it black or grayish or not much?
How smooth running at stops after you were back traveling?
Other information about what you think its doing or might need?

 

[QinReno]

I like your van, Maggie, very much so. Good to see there are good tires on it, . Glad you made it successfully down to AZ without more problems. Now you have time to sort things out without freezing in the meantime.

As there are a lot of other people around, go seek out the old grizzled guys who look like they've been around for a while, and they will be able to give you advice on the van. Many of them will have had older vehicles.

It's easier to ask for "advice", rather than help, and I'm sure they will offer to help too. The guys at the van build 2 weeks ago were totally happy to help out lots of other people. I would love to be able to mess with an older vehicle again myself. The newer ones are so complicated anymore. Good luck down the road.

The other thing is, if you run across old guys with older vehicles, they will very likely have the sort of equipment required to keep them running, like timing lights, dwell meters, on and on.

 

[wayne49]

Probably a Rochester quadrajet in need of a rebuild. They need a rebuild often.

 

[QinReno]

It would also be worthwhile to pickup a repair manual, cheap on amazon ... one of these I think, $7-10.

- https://www.amazon.com/Chevrolet-1967-86-Haynes-Repair-Manuals/dp/0801989779
- https://www.amazon.com/Haynes-Publications-24080-Repair-Manual/dp/1563921979

 

[closeanuf]

Put you hood up.  Some old fart like me will come by to see if you need help.  I'm not there but a lot of us old guys are looking for something to do and like to share our knowledge and experiences.

 

[Firtree]

Doesn’t help your current situation-
I made an error last time AAA towed me. Out of town, area had NO cell coverage Verizon or ATT so could not check online for repair places, AAA repair shops or call back AAA for their listing. So picked the Chevy dealer (van is Chevy). Dumb, dumb, dumb.
AAA authorized shop may not be the best in the area but you have a fighting chance to fuss if not repaired properly.

Perhaps useless info
— Had an ‘88 GMC with 5.7L engine, not carb. So not the same as yours.
Had a slight miss, but not a regular miss. Took to a mech who does lots of older Chevys. After driving he knew what it was. These are my words so,likely not correct. -The distributor has a magnet, in this series of Chevy vans the magnet would crack resulting in two N and two S poles throwing the firing off just a bit. There was a rebuild that redesigned and corrected the issue. Ran like a champ after that. Don’t know what years the issue covered.

 

[Weight]

Yep. I have seen many a damsel in distress, surrounded by gd ol boys that didn't have a clue, but insisted on the solution. I hope Maggie found some help. Hasn't been back here couple days.

 

[QinReno]

Yep. I have seen many a damsel in distress, surrounded by gd ol boys that didn't have a clue,

That's very encouraging.

 

[Doubleone]

What are the present symptoms?  There are just way too many things a novice mechanic can confuse for carb issues.  They usually tend to get vacuum leaks that cause lean fuel mixtures and progress into ignition misfires.  I can tell you generically for that vintage van they have issues with vacuum leaks from old crusty rubber hoses (or misrouted), the gasket under the carb gets cooked and leaks vacuum, ignition misfires and 'red death' inside the distributor, accelerator pump wears out, and egr's sometimes stick or get plugged up too. Quadrajet carbs are are actually quite straightforward, but not everyone understands them.

 

[closeanuf]

Have you found any help yet?

 

[highdesertranger]

I wish she would reply. kinda of bugs me. if it got fixed let us know. if it didn't we are trying to help. highdesertranger

 

[closeanuf]

^^^Kinda what I'm thinking.

 

[Doubleone]

Hopefully just parked in a bad cell area without good Internet...

 

[user 2252]

You will be relieved to learn that Maggie Is alive and well and doing just fine down by the river. She is camped amongst friends.
Her van on the other hand.......
That's another story.

 

[closeanuf]

What's the story?