Topic: 22r running bad

[skyscraper]

Hey guys.  I have an 84 pickup, and cant figure out what the problem is.  All of the sudden the other morning I went out to start my truck and it hardly idled, and sounded like it was running on straight header...Pulled it in the garage, checked the timing, it was dead on.  Checked spark, all 4 have spark.  Pulled the airbox, and the choke looks like it is working.  So I've been driving it for a week now.  When it is cold, it runs fine.  But once it warms up, it smells really rich, and idles like it has a huge cam in it, and hesitates off the line.  Once I rev it up to about 2000 rpm, it runs normal, sounds normal and has normal power.  It sounds as if all 4 cyl.'s are firing at the same time when its idling.  Also, the battery wont hold a charge, but takes like 2 days to drain enough to where it wont crank over.  The alternator is only about 2 months old, and the battery is a year old.  Could this be related or a completely seperate problem?  Searched around, and couldnt find any threads where the person had the same symptons I do.  Thanks.

[jimbo74]

i bet the alternator is crap.... is it a parts store alternator?

[skyscraper [OP]]

ya, napa.  How can I check the alternator with a multimeter???  Looked in the FSM, but it confused me.

[skyscraper [OP]]

Drove the truck to work this afternoon, and it ran perfectly fine.  No problems at all.  Then driving it home was back to the same old stuff.  I'm at a loss here. 

[skyscraper [OP]]

alright guys, I cant figure it out.  Pulled all the plugs again, they were all a little wet.  Pulled the valve cover, cam looks fine, all the lobes look fine.  I went through a tank of gas in a week, only driving like 40-50 miles.  Its running extremely rich.  Checked the aap, and its fine.  I rebuilt the carb a year ago, so all the diaphrams and stuff are new.  The float is in the normal position, at least the fuel is in the middle of the sight glass on the float bowl.  My guess is its something carb related.  What about the idle silenoid?  Choke was opening fine when I had the filter off...  Any suggestions before I tear into it tomorow?

[RynothealbinO]

Sounds like your choke is not opening up.  I'm assuming you are running an automatic Choke?  Mine does the same, it will start fine and run well for a minute, and then for the next 1-4 minutes it runs like crap and I have to fight with it to keep it alive.  After that the thermo valve (right term?) starts to work right and then it runs right.  I just picked up a manual conversion kit so hopefully that will go in next week.

[RynothealbinO]

Also chech all of your vacuum hoses, I had one come off the other day and that was a huge problem.