Electric Q Jet questions

[Packratt]

I'm working on an 83 Grand Prix that has been sitting for over eight years. It has a Q-jet carb with wires running to the front of the carb in two locations. One on the passenger side top at the front and the other in the lower front on the drivers side. I am assuming these are part of the emissions system but do not know what they control.

I got the car running yesterday and he even drove it around his property but it suddenly shut off like you turned the switch off. It has good spark but seem to not be getting fuel. It is getting fuel to the carb,I checked that first. I'm hoping somthing passed through the lines and plugged the carb filter but had to wait until he gets a filter. Any ideas on what to check for when I go back out there next time?

I'm doing this as a favor to a friend of my wife so no money is involved. The guy is disabled and can't do his own work anymore so he really needed some help. The car was his dads and has a lot of sentemental value to him. The look on his face when it fired off and the smile when he drove it was worth more that any money.

[bobsmc]

the top connector goes to the mixture control soloniod and the one on the side is the tps.

get a book or you will pull your hair out tring to figure them out.

bob

[Mike 57]

I would doubt that the TPS or the mixture control soleniod would cause it to quit running. They will cause big time drive ability issues and throw trouble codes.

[wallaby]

To some of here it may be obvious, not so for others. I'm talking about the crazy fuel line fitting and filter arangement on the Q-jets. If you dive in to change that filter, make sure you use TWO wrenches! Use a 1" wrench to keep the big nut still, and a fitting wrench to undo the fuel line. Once the fuel line is off you can unscrew the big nut on the carb to access the filter...but be aware that the carb is only potmetal and the threads are very fine; they have a habit of stripping or crossthreading.

It's pretty straight-forward, just don't skip any steps. I tried to do a favor for a friend years ago and learned this lesson the hard way. It was an expensive lesson, and that was back when replacement carbs were easy to get.

 

As for the shutting off, it sounds like it could be ignition related. Most of the time fuel starvation makes the engine lurch or kinda gradualy slow down & die. An instant shutdown sounds like you described: the ignition being shut off. If you still have gas in the carb afterward, I'd search elsewhere for the problem.

HEI is a little tricky...how do you know you have spark? The distributor module and the rotor are prone to give these symptoms.

[Packratt]

I put an inline tester in two of the wires and had a good spark on both. i cracked the fuel line at the filter and there is plenty of fuel there but the filter had a bunch of junk in it. I changed it when I changed the fuel pump so it was clean on the first crank. It doesn't seem to be spraying fuel in the carb so we will try again when he gets a filter and I get time.

[montefrazer]

I put an inline tester in two of the wires and had a good spark on both. i cracked the fuel line at the filter and there is plenty of fuel there but the filter had a bunch of junk in it. I changed it when I changed the fuel pump so it was clean on the first crank. It doesn't seem to be spraying fuel in the carb so we will try again when he gets a filter and I get time.

 

Have him pick up more than one. Since it plugged up one that fast, it will probably plug up more.

[Packratt]

Lol, I think he ordered five!

[wallaby]

And there are two types of filter: there is a pleated paper type and a sintered-bronze type. The paper kind are less prone to clogging. They filter about the same, but the paper has more capacity.