I dunno. My mechanic keeps telling me to "drive it and work out the kinks." I think I'm going to put a kink in his nuts with my boots, see how he works THAT out. I mean, my car only takes about 10 minutes or so to start working right. Warm up time, if you will. But, IMO, a 1986 with 41,000-some odd miles (66,500 to us Canadians), that was driven in regular intervals, shouldn't need that much time to "warm up." Within 10 minutes of starting it, if I put my foot down any more than...1/4 of the way, it starts to bog out. I can deal with it for now, seeing as how it WILL be coming off for a 600 CFM sooner or later...I'm just curious as to why it chokes so bad.

My experience with carbs is zip, but I do know a thing or two.. just never worked on one [FYI].

First off, you have the quadrajet [sp?] carb, correct? And it is a 4-barrel, correct? At what throttle do the 2nd two barrels open up? I'm sure more than 1/4 throttle..

1/4 throttle sounds about right where the high-speed mixture floats kick in. Which to me sounds like it just isn't properly tuned. Because you say it bogs, I am going to assume it is running rich. When you run rich with a cold engine that makes it very hard to run, because the fuel atomization is pretty shitty. IMO, it just sounds like your carb is out of tune. So, either do it yourself, or get someone who can to tune it. Somebody who has dealt with carbs.

Good luck with finding a vet mechanic..


-justin

Hahaha. Yeah. I guess I knew that much...I dunno. I DO have a veteran mechanic. The same one that'* been telling me to "let it work itself out" for 2 weeks now. I guess if he couldn't help me, I assumed the next best place to turn for help was here :p

Ouch.. that sucks man. I wish I could help ya, but I've never tuned a carb, other than the one on my weedwacker .

One thing you can try, to test my theory. Have a friend rev the engine while you are by the tail pipe. Put your hand over it, and see if your hand is wet. And compare the smell/appearance of the exhaust from when the problem is non-existant, and when it is obvious.

-justin

Hmm...another wierd twist. It only does it in gear. So unless my friend is tied to the back axle and I'm cruisin' at speed, I can't...it'* fine in neutral or park.

Hmm.. maybe it isn't a carb problem then..

Try one thing before we rule it out. Have a friend drive behind you [or tie him to the rear axle ]. Cruise a little, then stomp on it, and have him watch the exhaust. See if it'* colour changes dramatically or anything. Or of something starts dripping out of there.

Since it is only under load, this very well could be an ignition issue.


-justin

I had a thought that it might be a vacuum problem. It could also just need time to warm up, most carburated cars are like that. If you are going to get the carb tuned, take it to a place that specializes in carburators.

Hmm.. so all carbed engines run like **** for the first 10 minutes of running? If that were the case, carburaters would be non-existant. I'm sure there is a warm-up period where the carb may not perform it'* best, or whatever.. but the car should be drivable during that time. No offense to your suggestion or anything.. not like I am an expert here or whatever.

Vacuum leak is possible, but my experience with them, is that it is really only noticable at idle and lower RPMs. After that it'* usually alright. However I do not know a whole lot about how much the vacuum has to play with the carb'* runnings.. but since you say 1/4 throttle, that could fall under the 'idle and low rpm' and that the vacuum leak is the only thing keeping the engine running?

This is kinda out on a limb, but do you have an electric choke? Maybe it stays on and won't shut off until after the 10 minutes, and you have too rich a mixture, with little air to light the fire? Only thing I can think of to test this is to disconnect it. That may turn out that the choke never opens. But if you drove like that, and the problem never cleared up after 10 minutes, then you have found your problem.


-justin

What type of carb is it ? Q-jet or what ?

Craig

I don't know if you still need help or not, but I got my 1983 Bonneville Brougham about two and a half years ago now with 40,000 original miles. I had carb issues, and every mechanic has told me that sometimes sitting for so long is the hardest thing for a car to do. I highly recommend running some Heet through the thing to try to get old gas/water out of the gas lines. Also, mine hesitated when I hit the gas for awhile because of crap in the carb and the idle being set too low. Crap in the carb can be fixed by running some carb cleaner though it. You can adjust the idle fairly easily, but you'd be better off talking to one of the gearheads about that one. Have you had the car tuned up? That could be a problem, too. Change out the plugs, wires, air filter, fluids, cap, rotor, hoses (and make sure all the hoses are connected properly), etc...

I hope I've been of help, and I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner