Hi!

Today I drove to work in my '82 305 cui TA and I have had problems. WhenI started in the morning it was cold and the windows where frozenshut. Yet it started like there was no tomorrow.

But at noon, when it got a little warmer, I was having difficulty. I could start the engine, drive backwards a few metres no prob but when I put it in D and tried to step on the gas pedal a little it almost died on me. I had to either not touch the pedal at all or floor it to get any power out of it.

Strangely enough, altough I was stepping on it it accelerated normal (like when I only press it a little bit... it seemed just to weak for the position of the gas pedal).

Now my mechanic told me it might be the choke. Here I have read of similar problem where they had to take out the gas tank (which I'd like toavoid ). No this noobs question is basically where do I find the choke and how do I check whether it is the cause?
And have you other ideas as to what the problem might be?

 

Take off your air cleaner. The top of the carb, toward the front, has a "tower" with a flap (butterfly) in it. That's the choke. It is operated by linkage that goes to the right (passenger) side of the carb. There will be a round, black plastic cover on the far right side. It should have a wire connected to it. That's the choke thermostat, often called the electric choke. When the engine is cold before you start it, the choke may be open until you open the throttle slightly. Then the choke should snap closed.

There is also a vacuum mechanism connected to the choke linkage. Most often it is on the front passenger corner of the carb, sometimes it's at the rear of the carb (or it could have both). When the engine first starts, this mechanism is supposed to open the choke butterfly slightly. Then, as the engine warms up, the electric power to the choke has been warming the choke thermostat so it slowly opens the choke all the way.

Most likely your problem lies in one of these areas.

 

Thanks for the pointer. I will try to have a look at that this weekend.

 

I have removed the air cleaner but I'm not quite sure if I pinpointed the mentioned parts correctly.

The flap in the front is the joke you say? When the engine is turned off that thing is wide open, right? I will try to locate the thermostat the next time (I had little time that last time and I also checked whether or not my distributer might be the cause...) I work on the car.

On the passengers side there is a little rod connecting the lids behind the chocke to some sort of device that moves back and forth. Can you tell me what that is?