- This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 1 month ago by
.
-
Topic
-
Me with my 1984 Honda Accord 1.8L again. Still pinning down the poor idle problem that’s been evading me for over a year now.
Recently, per the advice of Eric himself in his 2/15/17 live questions video (I was the first question) and checked the carburetor adjustments. Initially I thought there was only one fuel bowl “window” to check the float level, however there’s a second one hidden behind some hoses that I didn’t see before. What I found was strange, at least to me – one fuel level is right where it should be, yet the other appears too low.
The one on the right is the one that’s too low. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with working on cabruetors, this is the original Honda Keihin 3BBL carburetor. It was rebuilt last June when it was found to have a leaking power valve.
The car is hard to start when below 70F outside, and stumbles/hesitates when accelerating from a stop like it’s going to stall but then catches and accelerates normally. Weird odor also comes from catalytic converter when running, tail pipe is completely black and oxygen sensors keep getting carbon-fouled.
Should I get the carb checked out again or what? What would cause a low fuel level in one of the float bowls like this, and is this the source of my driveability issues?
-
Replies
-
Usually I would expect a too-low float bowl to be caused by a misadjusted float. But given your extreme rich condition, maybe the jet from that bowl is too large or leaking. Is the level stable when the car is not running? Is it the same when running and not?
Did you rebuild the carb? Was it having the same sympyoms before the rebuild?
For super-rich conditions, the choke is often a good place to look.The float may have developed a leak, so it’s now filled with gas, instead of floating.
This is some excellent info on the Honda Keihin carbs
https://crxsi.com/info/driveability-diagnostics-emissions/HONDA-KEIHIN-CARBURETOR-REPAIR.htm[quote=”relative4″ post=186136]Usually I would expect a too-low float bowl to be caused by a misadjusted float. But given your extreme rich condition, maybe the jet from that bowl is too large or leaking. Is the level stable when the car is not running? Is it the same when running and not?
Did you rebuild the carb? Was it having the same sympyoms before the rebuild?
For super-rich conditions, the choke is often a good place to look.[/quote]The fuel level in fuel bowl #1 is constant, but I don’t know for #2 yet – that was the first time I noticed that window there on the carburetor. I’m off work the next couple of days so I’ll be checking on it regularly and get back to you on that.
I didn’t rebuild the carb myself, I took it to a professional carburetor service shop north of me. I’m going to call the guy back tomorrow. The symptoms were similar (hesitation when accelerating from a stop, being worse the colder it is outside) but the car had other problems at the time like vacuum leaks and distributor problems, making it hard to tell what caused which symptoms. I fixed those shortly after the carburetor was rebuilt last June. I noticed this problem coming back around September after replacing the timing belt (it had broken but miraculously with no damage to engine). I also noticed that the rubber insulator gasket that sits between the top of the carburetor and bottom of the air cleaner went missing, I assume a mechanic had taken it off and forgot to put it back in. I haven’t been able to find a replacement for it since then though.
[quote=”Bonnieman” post=186139]The float may have developed a leak, so it’s now filled with gas, instead of floating.
This is some excellent info on the Honda Keihin carbs
https://crxsi.com/info/driveability-diagnostics-emissions/HONDA-KEIHIN-CARBURETOR-REPAIR.htm%5B/quote%5DI’ve had that page bookmarked for a while already 😛
What you say certainly sounds possible, however. I’ll get back to you both shortly with more information on the fuel level in fuel bowl #2.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.