k now this might sound stupid. but say u have a electric choke and it broke right what would happen if u just left it open all the time while driveing. would it effect your cars perfomance at all???

 

If you turned the thermostat housing so that the choke was fully open when the engine was cold, it would affect cold starting/operation only. Warmed-up operation would be completely the same as if the choke worked properly.

 

so u could drive around all day with the choke open wide and it would not effect the performace of the car? i no it effects start up when hot/cold, but say your at a stop and u went WOT would it effect the cars responce with the choke being wide open?

 

At most, the choke is not completely open for no more than 5 minutes after being started stone cold. The "electric" part is just to warm up the thermostat so it will open, or go "off", in a controlled manner. In days gone by, the factory used heat from the exhaust to open up the choke. That had all sorts of problems associated with it, which the electricly-heated choke thermostat pretty much solved.

There is no function for the choke when the engine warms up except to stay open and not flap shut. The use of the choke is purely to aid in cold starting and cold-but-warming-up operation.