YACT: sometimes my car seems to idle very high (for the whole of a 20 min drive), doesn't do it regularly...

[dug777]

meh, it sounds like its idling at well over a 1000 rpm (no tacho), fvcks with my engine braking in 2nd and 3rd it's idling so high

Any ideas you car buffs out there?

It's a carbied 1.6L Mazda 323 running on 98 RON unleaded if that helps...

 

[skyking]

it sounds like the throttle shaft base assembly.
We had a carbureted '84 GLC, the predecessor to your car. We drove it 250k miles.
At 160k or so, that sucker started running away on the freeway!

The throttle shaft was in a cast iron base below the bowl assembly. the shaft had worn into the cast iron till it started to stick. Check the shaft for excessive play by wiggling it from side to side at the linkage end. if it moves more than a 1/16th" or so, it is likely getting too worn.

 

[dug777]

anyone else?

 

[TwoBills]

Did you check to see if the choke is opening up all the way?

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: TwoBills
Did you check to see if the choke is opening up all the way?

i'm not that technically proficient that i'd know where to look

i'm just puzzled because it only happens every now and then, with no apparent pattern (although it usually seems to happen when you start from cold which made me think it might be the choke (which i have no control over))...

 

[Heisenberg]

I'm amazed that cars ran at all using carbureters. They seem like such Rube Goldberg contraptions compared to modern EFI.

 

[TwoBills]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: TwoBills
Did you check to see if the choke is opening up all the way?

i'm not that technically proficient that i'd know where to look

i'm just puzzled because it only happens every now and then, with no apparent pattern (although it usually seems to happen when you start from cold which made me think it might be the choke (which i have no control over))...

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Pull the air cleaner on top of the engine. You'll see the throat of the carb. There's a "flap" in there. That's the choke. It should be closed when the engine is cold. Let the engine warm up. Goose the throttle a couple of times while it's warming. You should see that little flap open as the engine warms.

Check out what skyking said. That sounds like a possibility, also.

 

[radioouman]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
I'm amazed that cars ran at all using carbureters. They seem like such Rube Goldberg contraptions compared to modern EFI.

For 80 years, cars ran with carbs.

I still prefer throttle body injected cars to the complex multi-point injection stuff.