Everything was great on my car, then one day it started idleing horribly! I have tried everthing I can think of to get it to work. Before it used to idle with about 15-15.5 in HG when warmed up at a steady 900 rpm. My A/F gauge read right where it starts to go rich (the first green LED), and all was well.
Now it barely idles at 13 inches and it fluctuates/misses every once and a while. I have the timing set just right where it has always been 16°initial with full vac advance at idle(15°vac). The exhaust smells weird too like it is too lean. Also when drive it off idle the car runs great like it always has. It just takes some effort to get the car off the idle and on to the primaries, it almost dies then kicks back on strong.

I checked for vacuum leaks and found none. The car will die if I turn the idle screws all the way in. When I back them out it gets smoother to a point then stops and I can't get the A/F gauge to read rich at all it is always Very lean and I think that is my problem.

Can the idle circuit be clogged or blocked? Would a super lean idle cause these symotms?

Edelbrock 600cfm 1405 one year old and bought brand new.

 

have you changed a fuel filter recently. Maybe you have crap in the carb.

 

I was thinking about pulling it off and disassembling it and spraying carb cleaner in it. Like I said, the part throttle is fine, but the idle is total crap. I hope nothing is jammed inside where I cannot get to it.

Has anyone ever had to cleanout these carbs?

I live in a VERY dusty area of the desert. Carb is only a year old but has crud all over near the pump and the idle screws.

 

yes the idle feed circuit and air bleeds can get clogged up with dirt.
Remove the top of the carb including the metering rods and power step up springs. remove the 2 idle mixture. screws. remove the 2 primary and 2 secondary venturi booster clusters with the gaskets underneath. remove the 4 main jets. remove the secondary velocity valve.
remove the accelerator pump plunger and spring.
Blow out all the passages with compressed air. clean out any gunk laying in the bottom of the float bowls.
remove the floats and needle and seat assemblys from the top casting of the carb. cleanout the needle and seat assemblys. reassembly the whole thing. turn the idle mixture screws two turns out from screwed all the way in and fire up the car. When it is completely warmed up readjust the idle mixture screws for best idle vacuum.

 

Thanks a lot F-Bird88! I just got to read your post today but it is almost exactly what i did. I did not take the main jets out, or the boosters, but i did take the idle screws out and the rest of it apart. I got some carb/choke clearner and used the whole can by the time I was done. Right under where the throttle blades closed was a lot of dark gooey residue. The carb cleaner made my carb like new again. I stuck the little red tube from the can into the hole that the screws go to and sprayed away. Fluid came out of all the air bleeds after a while and my carb is nice and shiny. I let it dry off for a minute or two and put it back togther, bolted it up and set my idle mixture screws to 3 turns out each(that's where my eninge has always liked it) and fired it up. On the first try it came to life and idle like i had a stock cam in it. I was so relieved. Some goo must have plugged the airbleeds or the idle slots. It runs like a beast, I think better than it did even before I was having trouble. Hopefully this helps someone in my same dilema, or just inspires you edelbrock guys to clean your carbs out from time to time for a smoother running engine.


Edelbrock Idle problems rough idle stumbling off idle