I was up and ready to get going on either fixing the carburetor or calling for a replacement. I had the writeup in the maintenance manual to refer to and how hard could it be anyway? I uninstalled the carb and put it on a makeshift workbench – a blanket on our dining table – taking lots of photos of everything before I started. I took more photos at each stage of disassembly. You really are supposed to use compressed air to clean out passages but, since I didn’t have any handy, I used an aerosol can of carburetor cleaner I had with me instead.
It took me less than 2 hours from start to finish including cleanup – not bad for an old guy. Carol was amazed but I kept telling her that I had the manual so no problem. It was actually pretty interesting. Another skill to add to my on the road repair repertoire.
After I figured out that cleaning out the carburetor actually fixed the problem we headed out on our way to Penn. We made it to Elizabethtown, Kentucky – about half way across the state the long way. This is my first time in Kentucky – I’ll bet that there aren’t many of the 50 states I have not been to now. Just before we got here we crossed into the Eastern Time Zone. Doing the time change gradually like this makes it a lot easier. Tomorrow we plan to be in West Virginia.
GMC content: When I figured out that the carburetor had a definite problem I called Frank Condos, a quadrajet kind of guy. Frank has given seminars at GMC rallies on quadrajets and I asked him for advice. He told me that taking the ‘air horn’ (the entire top) off the carburetor and cleaning out the inside was probably my only choice besides ordering a rebuilt. He told me that the maintenance manual – I have a copy on my computer – has instructions.
The maintenance manual instructions assume a lot of knowledge of terminology but at least but they are not hard to follow if you can read between the lines. I arranged my camera, my computer, and the carburetor and in no time I had it apart, cleaned it, and reassembled. I only had to refer to my photos twice. I reinstalled it and it started right up and ran great.
My biggest problem yesterday was that I was chasing what I thought was a vacuum problem but that turned out to be a symptom rather than the cause. The engine not running well can be fuel or ignition related and it is very difficult to tell the problems apart – the symptoms are the same most times.
Oh man, ain’t life good. Just getting caught up with you and I see our buddy Larry hanging around your blog. No group like our GMC group for sure. Larry stops by to see us when he can also.
Glad to see everything worked out with the carb. Whew, I knida “sweated” that part after we finally narrowed down things. If you had contacted a real mechanic you might have been rolling a bit faster but things worked out. Was so glad to hear yall were in Elizabethtown yesterday with no problems. In this kind of heat no telling what might “pop” on one of our GMC rigs.
Thanks for making us a part of your life again. We love GMC folks stopping by.
Dan
PS
Yall didn’t even get wet on that parasailing ride, unbelievable.