I have an 84 H code Camaro with a q-jet four barrel. When I first start the car, and put it in drive I can push the gas pedal about an inch or two. After about two inches it starts bogging and jerking. It's rare but sometimes it will die. When I try to put the pedal to the floor I can hear the secondaries open up but its like tying somebody's shoes, it wont go anywhere. When that happens I take the pedal back up to about two inches in and I can feel power coming back. The booster squirts like its supposed to. The spark plugs are new Autolites gapped at .45. The butterfly for the secondaries isnt loose and it seems to work fine. This is my only car to take my little girl to her doctors appointments, and I really need help with this. Thank you

 

Are you running an EGR on it? If so, try disconnecting the EGR and plug the vacuum line. That gapping seems a little high, but I'm not familiar with the CCC Q-jet engines. If you gapped that per specs, then don't mind that comment; let me know either way. I don't mind learning new things . Have you done any other maintenance recently on it?

 

Honestly I dont know. I could have found the egr on my Infiniti in 10 seconds flat, but I'm new to carb'd cars. I thought that gap was high myself, but thats what the guy at Dummyzone told me his magic computer said it should be at.

 

If I remember correctly, your EGR should be behind the carb, slightly left of centerline. Also, what kind of distributor are you running? Vacuum advance? If so, check that vacuum line and make sure there are no breaks.

 

EGR should look like this http://www.partsgeek.com/478vgbp-che...Motor+Products

 

Just looked at it. It still has the EGR on it with all the other AIR equipment.

 

Try disconnecting the vacuum line to it and plug it. You should notice an immediate difference, so if that's not it, just hook it back up. Were you having this issue before the spark plug replacement?

 

No, it started about 2 to 3 weeks after I replaced the old ones. When I looked the EGR was already plugged.

 

Have you done anything else to it? Any SES or Check Engine lights? Does it do this all the time or just until warm? I'm wondering if it's a air/choke problem.

 

Haven't done anything to it yet. It does it even after it warms up.

 

So I tried it with and without the EGR plugged and it didn't make a difference. When I pushed the pedal to the floor I thought the car had shut off, but I moved my foot back and power came back to it.

 

If your egr was blanked off already, then that can't be the issue. Does the exhaust smell rich when you give it heavier throttle? Does it seem like the carb is flooding the engine? Is your check engine light on?

 

It smells kinda sweet sometimes. The check engine light is weird, it will come on for a few seconds when I slow down at lights or getting off the interstate. After that it turns off again. I pushed the screw on the passenger side bottom of the carb all the way in then back where it was, and it didn't seem to change anything.

 

What screw are you talking about? The Fast Idle Screw? If so, that's only when the choke is applied to raise the rpms of the engine for quicker warm-up. Are you running a CCC Q-jet? You should try and pull the codes from that SES light, as it should hopefully be stored in the ECM. Get the code(s) and try to isolate the issue.

 

Its a computer controlled Q-jet yeah. Do you know where I can take it to have the code checked? Autozones here don't have an obd 1 reader. The one that changed the idle is on the drivers side by the linkage on the carb. From what I was reading the screw on the passenger side was for fuel, but I'm really not that great with carbs yet.

 

The screw on the passenger side (if we are talking about the one that looks similar to the idle control screw) is the Fast Idle Screw. It controls the Fast Idle cam for the choke, and is designed to increase the idle initially when cold and step down the idle as it warms up. You should try checking the codes yourself:https://www.thirdgen.org/service-eng...ht-error-codes

 

That is pretty cool man thank you! Probably a dumb question, but how do I know which trouble code it is? Does #14 flash 14 times or will it repeat the "12" sequence 14 times?

 

Should have asked this in the last one, but how many turns out should the fast idle screw be?

 

a code 14 will be shown as such: Flash, pause, Flash Flash Flash Flash. You should see code 12 flashed 3 times, then a longer pause, then a trouble code, if any are stored. IIRC the fast idle screw should be turned a max of 1600 RPM. That's quite a bit. I have a friend with an 82 El Camino, and I kept that one at 900, as 1600 is way too much IMO. The only time you really need it is when it's cold, so the next time it is, start the car up and see what rpms it idles at. Adjust it from there. I see you're in NM, so it's probably quite warm right now and it might not close the choke much during startup (or at all).

 

Lol my friend even in winter this place is warm. I was born and raised in Indianapolis so after all this time the heat out here still chokes me up sometimes.
So the flash before the pause indicates a 1 and after the pause the series of flashes indicates the second number (hope I got that right)?

 

yessir. The number of flashes before and after the pause is the number you're looking for.

 

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you help. Thank you. I'll let you know what code(S) come up.

 

Checked for codes and none came up. As the check engine light only comes on rarely for a very short time I guess I'm not surprised. I was hoping it would give me a direction to look so I could solve this problem.

 

Hopefully you gapped the plugs at 0.045", not 0.45".

It's usually suspicious when something starts up after something has been done/changed.

You are better off with an operating choke even in a "warm" climate. A properly tuned carb should not start well without a choke when the engine hasn't been run, even if the temp is 90 degrees. Make sure the choke is opening all the way when the engine is warmed up.

Which screw are you talking about "pushing all the way in"?

 

Yes Sir, they are gapped at .045. I though that was kind of a big gap, but that's what they said at Autozone. I believe it was #88 on there, but it was a horizontal screw and the one on the pic looks angled. This car was treated bad by the previous owner, and it got really messed up by the guy that stole it (steering column busted, turn signal busted, hi/low beam busted, most wires under dash cut, Ignition cylinder pulled etc.) so I've spent all my money trying to catch up so I don't have any cash left to take it to a shop. BTW the choke plate is always open, but I can close it by hand without any problem.

 

bump

 

I looked up the value of your gapping, and that's correct from what I've read. You can try playing with the choke to see if that makes a difference, but if it's acting up when warm, then I don't think your choke would be at fault. If the car is stumbling, it could be an air or fuel flow problem. Has the ECM been changed? Did all that wiring mess get hooked back up correctly, or is there something left still dangling?

 

Maybe this will help you? If the carb itself is having an issue delivering the correct amount of air/fuel mixture, maybe that's what you're experiencing? i don't really know at this point, but it's good info to have anyway . He has a couple other videos that might be worth watching.

 

Watched that video last week, and it was a really good one. Tried what he said (think it was part 2 or 3), but it didnt change anything. All the wiring is back in place as it should be.

 

BTW #10 on the diagram seemed to hang up a little bit. Only saw this once, but I wasn't looking for it either.

 

bump

 

bump again

 

Well, that could be significant. That controls the mixture for the secondaries, which would be the last third or so of pedal travel.

Check again with the engine off. The hanger should move smoothly as the air valves are opened up, and drop smoothly as the air valves are closed.

Is the choke pull-off working? The diagram I posted only shows a rear model, 3rd gens I've seen use one on the front. If the pull-off diaphragm is leaking, it can cause a bog when the secondaries open.

 

Checked the hanger. Working great after I hit it with carb cleaner last time. The choke pull off is smooth doesnt snap the butterfly closed, and has a good amount of tension on it. It is however loose where it goes in until I start the car.

 

It's better to check the choke pull-off with a vacuum pump and see if hit holds without applying more vacuum. The engine is going to keep on sucking on it - I've seen bad ones that the engine would pull in.

Did you check how it runs after using the carb cleaner?

 

It didn't change how it ran at all. I just can't believe this all started with a bad tank of gas. Been a nightmare ever since

 

Bump

 

On my carb, on the passenger side, it had a pin that hung down that caught the secondary throttle shaft and kept it from opening when the choke was closed. Once the choke was open something was suppose to hit that pin and allow the secondaries to open but it was missing /broken on mine and the secondaries would not open. I doubt that this is your problem since you mention a bad tank of gas as the start of the problem.

Have you checked the fuel filter and the inside of the carb to see if there is any "gunk" or clogged passages in there?

 

oh yeah! After I turn the car off, pull the air filter off and look down the carb I can see dirt around the edge of the secondaries bowl. Yeah the pins on the side dont seem to want to do anything as far as I can tell. Going to give them more attention now. I put a whole bottle of B-12 Chemtool in the tank but it doesnt seem to have helped much. After I drive the car for about ten minutes or so now it doesnt bog nearly as much and gives pretty decent power throughout, but first thing in the morning when I start it up sure as Im sitting here typing this it will bog. I had just put a new fuel filter in maybe a week before I got the tank of bad gas. Going to change that out monday morning (in the process of moving).

 

This is the ECM reading a rich/lean condition out of tolerance while slowing down, it's nothing to worry about.

 

Thanks I've been curious about that.