I had my E4ME Quadrajet rebuilt 2 years ago and now its acting weird. ill probably sound stupid trying to explain my problem but here it goes. Ok so i go to start my car, it starts fine, the idle will be good then like after a half a minute it dies. then i start it and hit the gas to keep the rpm up, when i hit the gas it wants to shut off. i've taken the carb off and cleaned it and checked all that i could. i dont know that much about caburetors but im trying to learn. can anyone tell me if they have had this problem and or how i could fix it?

 

Welcome aboard thirdgen.org.

We need a little information from you, such as year of the car, and any modifications that have been made.

What you describe could be a carb problem, or could be an ignition problem. If possible, find out if your accelerator pump is working for starters (a little difficult when driving down the street, but pull over when it tries to shut down, shut the engine off immediately, pull the air cleaner lid off to observe the shot while operating the accelerator. If that's good, try to determine if it's getting spark.

 

It's an 87 camaro no modifications that i know about. It shuts off even when its in park. i just replaced the spark plugs. when i rev the engine it sounds like kind of like a vacuum leak at the bottom of the carb.

 

Make sure the carb mount bolts are tight, and that the gasket is in good shape. I had a re-used several times base gasket that I finally figured out was leaking and causing subtle problems.

Check vacuum hoses (they get hard and crack, creating a vacuum leak). It is also possible your throttle shaft has worn out the throttle body and is leaking there. You can use spray carb cleaner to locate leaks - give a small squirt at a suspected leak area using the nozzle tube provided with the can of cleaner; if the RPMs go up, you've got a leak there.

'87 had an in-tank electric pump as well as an engine-mounted mechanical fuel pump. Make sure both are operating properly.