Ode to Choke...

[VTEC_Inside]

My Accord, unlike CJ's :P, continues to be relatively trouble free some 20yrs and 425,000kms since new.

In warm weather you'd never know anything might be wrong with it. However as the cold returned the automatic choke had become a pain in my ass once again.

Much like the rest of the vacuum nightmare under the hood of this car, the choke is a seemingly overcomplicated device incorporating a vacuum operated puller and a heated bi-metallic spring, as well as a component of the fast idle "system".

Fortunately the whole assembly can be removed from the carb via 5 screws. Unfortunately I haven't come across a source for replacement units apart from a whole carb. Regardless I have accumulated about 5 of them from various trips to the bone yard.

Now this thing has given me grief in various forms over the past couple years, but this year it hit with a double whammy. The choke spring failed to open as it should, heat would eventually unwind the spring anyway, but until then it would run horribly. It was also running like a complete bag of shit, fuel practically pouring out the tailpipe, right after a cold start.

The thought of rigging up a manual choke had crossed my mind several times here.

I replaced the spring a couple weeks ago which solved my warm running problem, but I still had the cold start rough running issue. This of course left the puller as the problem. The catch is that it appeared to be working properly, yet just a shade more opening of the choke would smooth out the cold running.

I removed the choke puller this past Saturday and disassembled it. After cleaning the components, I started to inspect them. I almost missed it at first, but there it was, a hole in the diaphragm. This diaphragm is a mesh impregnated with rubber, and the rubber had started to separate in a small area. A little more cleaning and some high temp sealant later and it was almost as good as new.

I decided to check the other pullers I had and EVERY one of them had a similar failure. I've cleaned and fixed them all just in case.

In any event, the repaired puller is back on the car and working perfectly once again. The added bonus of the repaired vacuum leak is that the engine is running better as well.

There are no reasons other than sentimental to keep this car on the road. To that end you'd think I'd retire it from further abuse of road salt, but there is that aspect of enjoyment that I get from being able to keep it running when many others like it would have long since been in the bone yard for me to pick from.

[S204STi]

Nice work tracking down the fault and repairing it.  Good to know that such an issue exists with those cars.

I'm so glad that the only vehicle with a carb in my possession is my bike.