Topic: toby's truck still idles like crap

[toby]

Okay so after the head gasket change and head. re head on a r block. I fixed all the vacuum leaks checked and quadruple checked the cam timing and ignition timing. My truck 87 pick up, with 22r (carbed) still won't idle. At start up when it is cold it will idle pretty good, once the choke opens it has a severe miss. Could I have a carb issue?? or possibly the egr system. I haven't tried blocking it off yet. Does anyone have any other suggestions on stuff to try to fix the idle? It seems like it is running lean if I spray carb cleaner in the carb idle smooths out. It also idles between 1500 to 1800 rpms, any lower sounds like it would die. It also has low , low end power, and occasionally when pulling up to stop signs it will also die.

[79coyotefrg]

stock toy carb  ?? 

[jimbo74]

is the cam lined up to the crank?

[toby [OP]]

yes stock toy carb, yes the dowel on the cam is 12:00, when #1 is at TDC.

[toby [OP]]

awww man, does anybody have any suggestions???

[toby [OP]]

ok I adjusted the timing down to around 800 - 1000 rpms, it will just barely run at this idle speed. I drove it down the block it has decent bottom end power and at about 2000 - 3000 rpms it seems to even out decntly, but when I roll up to a stop it dies. Could I have something as simple as a bad plug wire? Anybody know what resistance range my wires should be in? Or do any of you have any other ideas??? Thanks, toby

[toby [OP]]

I pulled plug wires one at a time while idleing, it actually idled better sometimes on 3 cylinders than 4. Some of the wires were arcing at the cap boots. put new wires... didn't help. anymore suggestions please.

[Twisted Minis]

Dude, I just got done fixing this problem! Toyota carbs are kind of hit or miss. I got a batch of bad gas and had to drain the tank and replace the fuel pump (stopped putting out pressure after the bad gas and wouldn't fill the bowl) and after that it idled like and blew a little black smoke. Ran like it had a miss. So I rebuilt the carb again, same deal. Traced vacuum lines for days, rebuilt the cabr again. Ran it off a gas can thinking I had something wrong with the lines. It smoothed out at higher RPMs, and while the choke was on, but would either die flat or run rough around 1K RPM.

Anyways, to the point, the fix was the most simple thing ever. A friend of mine that has these troubles with Edelbrock carbs on his Mustangs ran the idea past me, and it worked! Basically what you do, is let the motor cool down enough for the choke to operate (mine is a coolant choke with a vacuum pull, 20R and early 22R thing). Anyways, the idle needs to be up so you can get out and go to the engine bay. Pull the air cleaner off so you can operate the throttle by hand. Now, rev that sumbitch up to 4 grand or so, and cover half of the carb (the choke side) with your hand and hold it there until it sounds like it will die. Do it 2-3 times, then wait for it to come down to idle and see what happens. It should idle alright. What this does is create a huge amount of vacuum inside the carb, and it will suck out anything that is clogged presently. After doing this my truck has idled fine since. Give that shot, can't hurt anything and its free.

[toby [OP]]

I will try the carb idea, another thing I may have come up with is this. I pulled the pick up generator out of it at one point, thinking it may have been bad when I had the fuel lines backwards. Reading through my manuals they say the air gap is not adjustable on 87 & 88 motors, if they are not in spec the dist needs to be replaced? Seems to me like maybe it has a weak spark?? I will try the carb thing, if that doesn't work I will try to borrow a distributor and see if that helps it?