Carb advice for a poor teacher?

[montana_mel]

Hi all... this is my first time posting on this forum. This November I bought an '87 4WD wagon. I was looking for something cheap that would get me around Montana roads, and heard great things about these little wagons. The car just has 150k, and is in great shape. My dog and I love it so far. However, my main issues are:
1. It gets pretty horrible gas mileage (around 20 mpg),
2. Starts hard in the cold weather, and
3. Usually stalls a couple times if it doesn't have a chance to warm up.

I'm a poor middle school teacher with not a lot of time or mechanical skills. I'd love to learn some basic repair, but have no garage or anyone handy to teach me. I've replaced batteries, headlights, and fuel filters, but that's about it. My problems seem to suggest that my carb needs to be replaced. What are my options? I've heard mention of rebuild kits. Or would I be better off just getting a new one? my local mechanic quoted me $800 (ouch!). I know there is a lot of life left in this car, and I'm not ready to give up on it. It's definitely drivable as is, but I'd love to see the mileage improve. Any advice?

Thanks! ~Melissa

[Petros]

Welcome, you came to the right place.

Not likely the carb needs replacing, just some service. They can be rebuilt for only about $30 for a kit. but before you do that I would check all of the vacuum lines to make sure they are connected and not leaking. Search this list for how to find a vac leak. Also the Factory servcie manual (link at the top of the page) has a good section on the carb. troubleshooting. You can also put some fuel system cleaner in the tank, it might help.

You should also check the timing, poor spark timing can also cause those symptoms.
Good luck

[garyfish]

Going through your vacuum system and replacing all the tubing was my first thought... especially check the lines on the charcoal canister. Be careful when removing the old lines... it's safer just to slice the tubing longitudinally with a utility knife, rather than running the risk of cracking or breaking some of the fragile -- and expensive -- plastic components such as the TVSV, etc.

Here's a link to the vacuum diagrams: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2810

As for fuel economy, mine improved considerably when I replaced the leaking AAP diaphragm (Auxiliary Acceleration Pump diaphragm, mounted on the right side of the carb)... discovered it was leaking by finding gasoline in the vacuum line between the AAP & the bottom port of the TVSV. Had to buy an entire carb rebuild kit just to get the AAP diaphragm... carb rebuild kits run around $25 but I bought mine on eBay for about half that.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4971
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5222
viewtopic.php?p=38754#p38754



Check out some of these threads for other useful info:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5269
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4987
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4956
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3042
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3111



Good luck... and keep us informed how things go.

[takza]

If you have the original vac tubing on it...try to keep it...cause it was good silicone rubber. If needed...you can cut just the very end off the tubing...where it has expanded...and put it back on. You can also use small nylon wire ties to tighten the ends up some if they are still loose. Just don't try to use oxidized and dried out tubing...it will keep splitting.

Need to check your choke to see if it is closing right.

[keith]

First, I want to warn you that if you remove the top of the carburetor and accidently turn it upside down, some small metal balls will fall out and that can be disastrous if you can't remember where they came from.

Your gas mileage and possibly part of the starting and stumbling problems could be due to the vacuum advance in the distributor. Chances are the mechanical advance has also frozen up too. You can easily free up the mechanical advance with a little penetrating oil. At the bottom of the distributor, and I mean the part facing the ground as its installed, not the part that faces the head, there is a hole about a 1/2" diameter. Spray the oil up into this hole as the engine is running.

As for the vacuum advance, if you have a good timing light, you can see if its working. If not, you could remove the distributor cap. At the base of the distributor, there is a rod coming from the vacuum advance. You could try pushing on the rod to see if it moves, and turns the plate its attached to. If you get it to go back and forth, the remove one of the vacuum lines and see if you can feel a puff of air at the port. Check both ports, if no puff of air from either, then you probably need a new advance. Set your timing to specs after everything is working and you should see 26 mpg.

[xirdneh]

i'm betting on the carb
they cause problems on a regular basis
usually need to be re-built
the cheapest kits are at o'reillys and autozone (less than 30.00)
when you remove the carb top , if you tip it over you only have to worry about one ball bearing (large)falling out
the other three ball bearings (small ) are held in place with screws or metal "G" clip (accelerator pump)
you need to be more concerned about the small light coil spring that will fall out before the bearing.
that spring sits on top of the large ball bearing, the aluminum piston like thing sits on top of the spring

the carbs are not difficult to re-build
i recommend measuring the length of EVERY spring and noting where they go on the exploded view of the carb that comes with the kit

there are two small and very light springs that will blow away with a breath of air so do not loose them.

make sure to blow out the main body with compressed air beFore re-assembly
you do not want even a tiny drop of water left behind if you rinsed it out with water after soaking the thing in carb cleaner (did i do that?)

check out the tiny holes on some of the brass screws and parts with a magnifing glass
shine a light on the back side to see if they are clear

[scouttster]

Carb needs a good douching and I would clean the EGR value. Also, make sure its timed correctly.. Both are easy to understand and do - thanks to this website... Spend a day or two reading old posts and the online FSM with regards to the carb is great. I rebuilt my carb without the re-build kit. I used the old gasket with liquid gasket and played with the springs and float a bit and my carb works pretty good. Cleaning the bowl out alone, gives new life.. Good Luck, teach... Thanks for all the D's in High School.. LOL

[Trev]

Whats up with the metal ball? I just did this to my GF's car, and noticed a metal ball floating around my garage floor. I bet its still there. What does it go to? I sure hope I can find it tomorrow! lol.

Sorry to thread jack/