I've got a serious cold-start problem. After letting the car idle for 14 minutes, the temp. was up to 220* and still idling at 2000 RPMs. I removed the air filter assembly to check out the carb and throttle linkage. No matter what I did I couldn't get the car to idle down. When I decided to give up, I turned off the engine. The engine wanted to keep going, but when it stopped, white smoke shot out from my carb. It looked like I had just purged nitrous!!! So what's up? Is the carb dead? Any thoughts? I don't know that much about carbs anyway. Any help would be greatly, GREATLY appreciated.

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1984 Z-28, 305HO 4bbl, t-tops, K&N, Flowmaster 80 Series with 3" tips. Planning a massive modfest. It's gonna be one gangsta of a street demon.

 

The smoke you seen is vapourized fuel.
Fuel has to vapourize and mix with air in order to burn. Liquid fuel won't burn.
Check the choke vacuum break diaphrams on the passenger side of the carb. If they don't work the choke won't kick off.
check the choke and secondary lockout linkage for bent or binded up parts.
If your car hits 220+ deg while idleing
at this time of year, something in your cooling systen isn't up to snuff. I could see that on a very hot day in traffic. but not in November. Rad core, thermostat, water pump, none factory fan or pulleys, missing rad shroud or internal leak. A failing cooling system really can shorten the life of your transmission.

 

Thanks for your help. I thought that 220* was the standard operating temp. I could be wrong. I probly need to go ahead and replace the radiator. I know the fan is working though, and water is flowing through the engine. Now, after letting the car sit for about 1/2 hour, it started to idle at 1000, I gave it some gas, and it went down to where it should be. It sure did scare the crap out of me. I don't think I'll be driving the car much now, unless I'm taking it to the shop to get it check out/fixed. Again, thanks for your help. Any more comments/suggestions are welcome.

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1984 Z-28, 305HO 4bbl, t-tops, K&N, Flowmaster 80 Series with 3" tips. Planning a massive modfest. It's gonna be one gangsta of a street demon.

 

Dauntless,

F-Bird covered it pretty well. Since it finally idled down, you may have a problem with the high idle cam. You could try to clean and lightly lubricate the linkages and cam pivot on the right side of the carb.

You were probably running pretty lean once the engine warmed up and was idling at that RPM, so it isn't surprising that you got a little warm. If you are still using a stock thermostat and electric fan, the 220°F mark is pretty normal. If you have a clutch fan, the clutch thermostat should start allowing more oil flow in the hub at about 140°F (air temperature behind the radiator).

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Later,
Vader
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If you want to beat the World, it might reach up and pull you down...
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I know im not an expert but its just an idea. Timing, higher temp and still running(dieseling),idling strange. Just my $.02