If Chris is right, do you have manifold vacuum hooked to the distributor? That will cause a very high idle in some cases. Pull and plug the vacuum hose to see what happens.

Also, be sure to check the "high (cold) idle speed" setting. Maybe your starting the engine cold so the choke is closed and therefore idle cam is on the "high speed" lobe/setting. This adjustment screw is on the opposite of the carb from the idle speed screw.

Although that should not be such a high speed as to concern you (under correct adjustment) but if the high speed screw was run all the way in it would have the engine running very fast.

Very true. Could easily be the problem. And the fast idle doesn't go off until you blip the throttle.

yes the linkage is lined up and setting good on the screw

Then turn the screw back to reduce the idle speed. Does it respond to this or does the screw just back up and leave the throttle? If it does, take the gas pedal linkage off. Does it fall back to the screw and reduce the idle with the gas pedal linkage off?

Sorry, been a fews days since I could get to the truck, been pouring the rain, anyways, truck is still in same condition but i have a few small updates.


I checked the fast idle which is behind the choke, the screw is at about halfway in, or out.... the linkage lines up nice with the throttle cable but when attached it still runs at a high rpm, not as high as b4 but around 2500 rpms,

if started without the throttle cable it still runs under idle and dies, I noticed that I have a small fuel leak at the pump where the line from tank comes into the pump, it was raining so i didnt want to get into pulling the power steering pump back off to tighten the fuel line. will update more on that asap.

now the fast idle screw behind the choke, should i turn that all the way out or in? I noticed that when the choke is closed/cold the cam is not touching the FIS at all, and when the choke opens it seems to do very little, the cam looks to be in good shape, no sighs of being wore down or broken.

The carb still seems to be getting to much fuel at times, and not enough at other times

When the throttle cable is hooked up, and the engine is started i can let it run at high idle and it seems to be getting enough gas to keep it runing, but without the cable attached it seems to be getting to little fuel. Again I have not found any vacuum leaks at all.

The floats are both just under the sight hole, when I puch the linkage it squirts 2 nice shots of fuel into the chambers, the idle screw on the linkage is all the way out, and the FIS on the choke side is a halfway in.

Am I missing anything else that could cause this?

I called Holley support and he said the secondary plates should be compleatly closed, is that right?

I am reallly confused because I have never had a problem like this one b4 and I cant make sense of it at all lol Thanks in advance again guys.

You are not getting it yet. Leave the fast idle screw on the choke side alone for now. It does nothing until the choke is activated. That's the only time you adjust it, when the choke is activated.

Before you get it going again, look on the driver's side of the carb. There should be a screw there that the throttle rests against. This is the screw you want to adjust.

TAKE THE THROTTLE LINKAGE OFF. From what you are describing, this will let the throttle fall back till it hits the screw on the driver's side, and then engine will stall. LEAVE THE THROTTLE LINKAGE OFF. Turn this screw in till the throttle lever on the carb starts moving open. Go around and re-start the truck. If it quits and is idling too slow let it die, go out and turn the screw on the driver's side in some more. Try it again. You should be able to turn this screw till the engine will run by itself.

Once it runs by itself, go out and tweak the idle speed to what you want it to be. Turn it down fairly slow and then you can tweak the idle mixture screws. If you have it running too fast, the idle screws won't work.

Once you get it running smoothly and at a decent rpm, turn the truck off and figure out what you are going to do about the throttle linkage. If you try to hook it back up, you will probably be idling at 2500 rpm again. You need to fix that.

OK, thanks,

Today, I tightened the small fuel leak at the pump intake, the throttle cable is disconnected, and the fast idle screw on the passenger side has not been touched at this point.

with the throttle cable removed and the engine cold, I started the truck, started up as expected, idle was around 1800 to 2200, the linkage idle screw is backed out as far as it will go, engine remained running.

the electric choke began to open and at about 1/4 way open the engine began to idle down to about 1200, then sputters and dies. I turned the driver side idle screw in until the linkage began to move and started it again, it started up just fine at maybe 800 to 1100 rpm and died

Turned the drivers side idle screw about 1/4 turn raising the linkage a bit more with same results after starting, once more turned the idle screw about 1/4 turn and the engine started at about 1500 rpm and died.

Still have not touched the fast idle screw on the passengers side, mixture screws are at 1 1/2 out,

If the engine is idling at 1500rpm and is dying, you have another problem. When it's right, the engine should idle comfortably at 800 rpm or so.

Double check for a vacuum leak somewhere. Just for a experiment, how far out are the idle mixture screws? They are the ones on the front on each side of the square part of the carb if you have a holley.

The idle mixture screws are at 1 1/2 turns out , Where could I find vacuum leaks? their is no vacuum to the distributor, its electronic,

Can I upload a video to here or link a youtube video of my truck on cold start?

Wait a minute. What do you mean by the dist is electronic? What is controlling the dist? Where is the timing set at?

I asked about that in Post #15 but he never responded....

Now you see why I'm sitting on the sidelines. We aren't getting answers to important questions. (Plus, I can't use my laptop on FTE at present, and the iPhone makes it painful.)