carb problems

[rockittsled]

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So, when I bought my truck, it had the original holley on it, List 6947, on it. During the effort to get it running, I borrowed a known "good" carb to eliminate the crusty carb as a variable. That helped me narrow down to a leak from the spacer under it and bad diaphragm in the distributer. Before I put the original back on, I choose to rebuild it, and found massive corrosion/dust from the baseplate screws as I removed them out of the throttle body. I then chose to purchase a Holley 65-1850S to get it going for now. Got everything going and running decent. This was about a year ago, now for the problems. About 3 months ago, it started taking its own sweet time starting, I figured with the cold and the ethanol gas, it would be better after it warmed up here in FL. Then about a month and a half ago, I had a backfire that was heard 7 townhomes away, since then it has been very difficult to start, but will eventually start. Last night while I was reading Turbohunter's article on manifold/port vacuum, ( http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/13...nts-issue.html ) I decided to go check where mine was drawing from, which is ported, as set on the original List 6947. I pulled the cap off of the manifold port at the baseplate and had gas dribble out of the vacuum port. Did I blow the power valve on a carb that is supposed to have a blowproof valve or is this something else?

[cjshaker]

It sounds to me like you may have blown it. Even with the valve they can rupture with a good backfire.

Do you pump it a couple times before trying to start it and have you verified that your accelerator pump is working ok? Holleys do sometimes have problems with good machine work on all their machined surfaces, which can show up over time as heat tends to shrink the gaskets and make the problems worse. Fuel being drained or siphoned out of the bowls often causes hard starting also.

[Grbmaverickmo]

It sounds like you blew the power valve. Thats a easy fix. I have also seen the ethanol eat the metal on the metering block in a new silver zinc coated holleys.

[turbohunter]

Try this rockitt.
While idling, (if it will) turn your idle screws all the way in.
If it dies then your valve is not blown.
If it still runs, bingo.

[rockittsled]

I got it fixed..... eventually

Ok, this is funny  so I made sure the wiring on the solenoid was correct, thanks for the double check, Turbohunter. Still would not fire, so I did a quick tighten on everything that I had already messed with and push on all the spark plug and coil wires, then hit the key one last time before I pulled the carb.......................IT BLOODY STARTS, ALMOST BEFORE I TOUCH THE BLOODY KEY!!!!!!


 After it ran for a while, I shut it down and tried again.......IT BLOODY STARTS, ALMOST BEFORE I TOUCH THE BLOODY KEY!!!!!!

 Time to walk away for a little while........ So today I decided to do the idle screw check and it passed, died with the screws all the way in. So no blown power valve, still idles at 18in

 What I figure happened is the starter solenoid failed in a unique way. I realized that when I tried to start it, it only started after I released the key. Sometimes it would kick back and pop a couple of times backwards. I pulled a plug wire and checked for spark with a screwdriver to the valve cover using my remote starter with no spark noted, tried it again and no spark noted until after I released the trigger, it kicked back and the wire popped three times. In other words, no spark in "START", but there is spark in "RUN". Once I replaced the solenoid and everything was tight, everything works and it runs. Thank you for your help and "VIRTUAL REPS" to Turbohunter