i am having a problem with my edelbrock carb, its a performer 600 cfm and the choke doenst want to come on after its been started. like today i went and i started it and it started pretty good after i turned on the choke, then i let it set for about 3 hours and tried starting it again but the choke wouldnt come on so i hade to manually open the hood and turn the choke on at the carb. adn after i shut it off and then start it again it gets really gasy, blows white smoke and exhaust smells super gassy for about 5-10 minutes. i just had the carb set by a professional using one of those guages but he didnt mess with the choke. is it possibly sticking? maybe it needs adjusted? also the gas milage is terrible, its a 350 and i knwo it wont be very good but this is terrible, could this be the problem?

 

does your car have an electric choke or a manual choke, if electric is the electric choke have power to it and is it properly grounded.

 

it has a manual choke, hit the pedle to teh floor once to turn it on but i cant get it to turn on, it will only work if its been sitting for like 4 hours

 

You do know that a manual choke won't come on unless you turn it on, right?

 

yes i know that, but the only time it will come on is when its really cold, i hit the foot feet to the floor once adn it works fine, then i shut the car off and about an hour later i cant get it to come on using the foot feet and i can barely get my car started.

 

I thought a manual choke is operated by a cable inside the car. Do they also make a mechanical choke?

 

all i know is that you hit the gas peddle to the floor once when its cold and the choke kicks on and you start it and it idles high till it gets warm then u hit the peddle to the floor onr more time and it kicks it off and your ready to go. but sometimes the choke doesnt turn on, im gunna adjust it adn see if thats it

 

There's nothing to "adjust" on a manual choke. If that's how it behaves, then you don't have a manual choke, you have an automatic choke.

What's the actual problem you're having? If the engine is still warm, you don't need the choke closed to start.

 

you can adjust the choke by the screw underneath it, i thought an automatic just comes on when you try to start the car? mine doesnt, you have to turn it on. the problem, like i posted a few times is that it starts fine the 1st time, then u let it sit for about 2-3 hours and it wont start without the choke on and i cant get the choke to come on by using the foot feet like you do when you first start it.

 

The screw underneath? You mean on the driver side of the carb? That's the fast idle screw. Look at the passenger side of the carb. Is there a round black plastic cap with a couple of electrical terminals on it? If so, you have an electric choke. If not, then you should have a cable that runs to the interior so you can open and close the choke manually from inside the car.

 

yeah, its electric choke, thats my fault, i checked the ground adn stuff and it seems to be good, any other ideas?

 

I have the same carb and the same problem. I've pretty much learned to deal with it, since I cant seem to get the choke set up properly no matter what I do. It doesnt even set itself when its cold half the time anymore, and I dont know why. Maybe the mech is getting sticky, I'll spray it down. As far as starting it up again after 3-4 hours, like I said I've learned to deal with it. I think that the engine cools off to the point where it needs to be choked for about a minute, but the block/carb is retaining enough heat to keep the choke from closing up. Not much you can do about that but pop the hood or have it start up all ****ty. After about 2 1/2 years of it, I just have it start ****ty and it looks like I'm driving a POS until it warms up. In all honesty, I'm sick of the edelcrock and I'm trying to build up a q-jet. Actually, that is what brings me to the boards today....

 

what you are expiriencing is called fuel perculation. edelbrock is famous for it. the only way to get rid of it is to get anohter carb. they have heat shields and shielding gaskets but they don't work that great. your choke is working fine. when you adjust it you only take it 1 or 2 lines from factory setting. when mine kikcs on, it will run up to 2000rpm and stay there till i hit the gas pedal to bring it down. you really don't need a choke for anything over 50* that's why it stays open. i too am building a qjet, but i have more work to do cuz of my cam. hope this helps

 

Why do you say it's percolation?

 

after you shut it off and the steam comes out of the air horn of the carb and all you smell is gas, then that's the fuel perculating and evaporating out of the fuel bowl. it's also hard to start unless it's been sitting for more than 2 hours from heat soak. i have the same problem with my edelbrock. when i shut it off i smell gas. if i start it right after i shut it off, it starts with one crank. if i let it set for 10 minutes to 2 hours then i have to press the gas pedal to the floor while the fule bowl fills and allows the truck to start.

 

I think you're wrong about the perculating problem. I've never had that problem with an Edelbrock carburetor,
but then again I don't run any kind of choke either.

 

Doesn't sound like percolation to me either. What's the actual complaint, are you just expecting the fast idle to be on when the car starts, or are you actually having trouble starting it without the choke when it doesn't come on?

 

its just hard to start the car without the choke on and it wont come on unless its been sitting for a long time or its cold out, and when you shut the car off you can smell gas under the hood, then when you start it white smoke comes out for a couple seconds and it smells really gassy but then it warms up and runs fine

 

that's fuel perculation. my truck does the same exact thing. try getting a spacer or seat sink gasket to fix it.

 

i already have a spacer, should i get a different one? whats a seat sink gasket?

 

it's a thick ubber gasket for edelbrock carbs. www.edelbrock.com has them on there web site.

 

here is the gasket