Won't idle without choking

[LC_rover]

My Series III, overnight, stopped wanting to idle.
She was running like a top, and then the next morning I took it out, and it was sputtering and not wanting to idle unless I pulled the choke all the way out. May have even been backfiring a little on deceleration.

Tune up time?

[mongoswede]

My Series III, overnight, stopped wanting to idle.
She was running like a top, and then the next morning I took it out, and it was sputtering and not wanting to idle unless I pulled the choke all the way out. May have even been backfiring a little on deceleration.

Tune up time?

Choking the carb enrichens it. So you may have an air leak somewhere that is leaning out the mixture or one of your jets could be clogged. If you have not done plugs and ignition components in a while that certainely won't hurt.

[LC_rover]

Do you mean like an actual air leak at the carb? Like maybe the gasket? Or do you mean a vacuum leak that would affect the timing?

[Terrys]

The backfiring suggests Clean and regap your points. Could be cr*p in the carb.

[mongoswede]

an air leak could be in a vacuum line or a fitting. The base gasket between the carb and the manifold could be bad. An easy test is to start the truck and then take a small bottle of propane with a small hose attached to it. turn the bottle on so that the gas is just flowing out and then move the end of the hose around areas of suspected leaking. If there is a vacuum leak there the propane will be drawn into the engine and the engine will rev up. If you don't have propane you might try a little carb clean or something along those lines. The propane works well and they sell kits for doing just that.

[LC_rover]

Thanks for the help, both of you.

[yorker]

What carb do you have? Weber?

[LC_rover]

Yes. I have a weber.
I was out there looking at it tonight. It looks like there was a bolt backed off on the intake manifold. Tightening that down seems to have helped a bit, but it still needs some tuning I think.

[bt1211]

if you dont have propane, just use a can of carb cleaner from FLAPS.

With the car running at idle, spray the base of the carb, if it stumbles, you found your leak. Starting fluid can be use also.

[NickDawson]

Have had the "no idle without choke" problem several times on my III. In fairness, I have a 2.5L petrol with a different carb...and some of the times that has been the cause (fuel shut off solenoid)

It sounds like you've gotten some solid trouble shooting advice. You might also check the points and everything associated with the ignition. I've had two bad condensers and a bad coil (maybe that tends suggests another problem in and of itself) that have contributed to the idle problems. Check the voltage on both ends of the coil and across the points.

Good luck!

[LC_rover]

Meh, I spoke too soon. I thought the problem had been reduced by tightening that bolt, but its still doing it. I'll have to go through the ignition system, and check for leaks as suggested.

Thanks again.