I have an 87ss w/ a four barrell rochester and everything is operated electrically. It's in serious need of new sensors. I also have a 87 caprice wagon w/ a rochester but everything seems to be operated by a vacuum. My question is can I convert it over to work with my ss or should I just take the sensors out of it and put them in my carb. I appreciate the help and advice. Thanks

 

The "all vacuum" part of the Caprice sounds suspecious. Does the carb have the same electrical connections as your Monte? If so, then it's a CC carb, and should be close to the same thing as the Monte. Some models have two choke pull-offs, while others only have one (mine only has the front pull-off). Is that the difference you're seeing?

What "sensors" are you needing? How do you know they're bad? If the Caprice carb is indeed mechanical (i.e., not CC, or as you put it, "all vacuum"), then it won't have any of the sensors you need.

 

It has all the same connections as mine. Like the tps sensor(same location on carb and same connection), m/c solenoid ( same location and connection). The Idle control solenoid on it is vacuum operated tho. Mine is electric. I have a feeling it's my tps because of how my car idles. It's eratic, high (around 1500 rpm in park and 1100 rpm in gear. My gas mileage is terrible and it's running extremely rich. You can smell the gas constantly. I hooked up a meter to it to see if it was putting out any voltages. And I got nothing from the tps. The caprice is cc but it looks as if it has an oldsmobile engine. It's a 307. No center bolt valve covers and it has an older style dist. The owner of it is the original owner and the engine was never changed in it. My emissions test is in august and I need to get this fixed so I can put another cat on. I killed my last one by running the car too rich.

 

Is your SES light coming on? If not, it's not likely the TPS (at least not completely dead, not putting out any voltage).

The 307 was an Olds engine, but I've never heard of one in a Caprice (doesn't mean it didn't happen). I'm not completely sure, but I believe the throttle linkage is different between Chevy and Olds versions. Also, that isn't an idle control solenoid, rather just a high idle for the AC. I haven't seen a vacuum version, but again, doesn't mean it hasn't been done.

Sounds like you need to do some more trouble shooting, rather than parts replacement. Rich mixture is often an O2 sensor, but there may be other adjustments (like a simple choke problem) that's the real culprit. You might try installing this other carb to see what happens, but I doubt it's the solution.

 

So if it's not the tps what would it be? My timing is perfect but yet my rpm's jump up and down, it idles at 1500-2000 in park and around 1100-1200 in gear. I tried putting on one of those reman carbs from champion and it worked for about five min. My idle dropped, it was nice and smooth running and then it started to leak at the base of the carb. I tried everything and it did nothing but leak. So I'm pretty sure something in my carb is causing the idling problem. And since I get nothing from the tps I would assume that's whats wrong. However I don't have any trouble codes popping up. I have no idea what else to do.