choke problem
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Senior User
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 198
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From: no
choke problem
When I first got my truck the choke worked fine. As of recently, whenever I start my 351m the electronic choke has not been opening up and it just runs at normal idle. It really sucks because on those cold mornings, I have to push down on the peddle a little bit to keep it running long enough to heat up. I use to just start it up and the choke would keep it at a higher rpm untill I kicked it back down. Can I just buy a new electronic choke for it or do I have to buy a whole new carb?
More Turbo
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 566
Likes: 5
From: SC
Have you looked at it yet? They're not electronic, they're just a coil spring looking thing inside the black cover that expands as it is heated. The old ones were heated by air from the exhaust, later ones used electricity and exhaust air, and the last ones commonly just used the one electric wire.
Sometimes the coil itself will break off where it hooks into the linkage. I've had luck just bending the broken end of the coil to match the part that broke off and slapping it back together.
These are easy to test once off. Put the connector on the positive battery post and use a jumper to the metal edge pieces (the choke is grounded by being clamped to the carburetor, sometimes the ground isn't good. Another thing to check) When you've connected the coil correctly, you should be able to watch it start to "unwind" after about 10 seconds. After you disconnect it, it should slowly return to it's initial position.
There is a "fast idle" adjustment that works in conjunction with the choke coil. If the coil isn't working, neither will your fast idle which seems to be what's really bothering you. It's easy to adjust the fast idle higher if you like. Once you find the adjusting screw. It's behind the choke assembly and down low on the same side of the carb. You have to almost stand on your head sometimes to find it. Once spotted it's no trouble to get a smallish flathead screwdriver (on some carbs you'll need a 1/4"nutdriver) on it. Crank it in (tighten) to raise the fast idle. Best to do all choke related adjusting with the engine as cold as possible as none of this stuff is supposed to be in effect after the engine warms up. Good luck.
Sometimes the coil itself will break off where it hooks into the linkage. I've had luck just bending the broken end of the coil to match the part that broke off and slapping it back together.
These are easy to test once off. Put the connector on the positive battery post and use a jumper to the metal edge pieces (the choke is grounded by being clamped to the carburetor, sometimes the ground isn't good. Another thing to check) When you've connected the coil correctly, you should be able to watch it start to "unwind" after about 10 seconds. After you disconnect it, it should slowly return to it's initial position.
There is a "fast idle" adjustment that works in conjunction with the choke coil. If the coil isn't working, neither will your fast idle which seems to be what's really bothering you. It's easy to adjust the fast idle higher if you like. Once you find the adjusting screw. It's behind the choke assembly and down low on the same side of the carb. You have to almost stand on your head sometimes to find it. Once spotted it's no trouble to get a smallish flathead screwdriver (on some carbs you'll need a 1/4"nutdriver) on it. Crank it in (tighten) to raise the fast idle. Best to do all choke related adjusting with the engine as cold as possible as none of this stuff is supposed to be in effect after the engine warms up. Good luck.
