QuestionI have a 1973 Plymouth Satellite with a recently rebuilt carburetor. On a cold start, the car will run for about two minutes and shut off. After that, I must keep my foot on the accelerator to keep the car running. If I take my foot off the gas, the car dies and I can hear an electrical whining noise come from the engine. I am at a loss for what to do, so any advice you give will help.
AnswerI always advise people to avoid "professionally" rebuilt carburetors, as they are usually worse than when they were sent in for rebuild. There are a few exceptions, of course, but your experience is typical.
It is possible that your carburetor is simply mis-adjusted, so before you spend the money to buy a new one, you should have it adjusted by someone who knows how to do it. My guess is that the fast idle is not staying on long enough, and that the curb idle is set too low.
The first problem is due to a misadjustment of the automatic choke, and the second is simply a need to turn in the curb idle screw a few turns until it brings the warm idle up to 650 RPM or so. If you are not familiar with these adjustments yourself, find a mechanic who is, and ask him to adjust it for you.
Since you didn't describe your engine size, number of barrels on the carburetor or the transmission, I can't recommend the best new carburetor for you, but if you gather that information and then contact either a NAPA store, or Summit Racing, or Performance Automotive Warehouse with the information, they will advise you which carburetor to buy.
1973 and 1974 US built cars are the absolute worst cars to keep running when they are cold, due to the early attempts at meeting the EPA rules, and of those, the Chrysler corp cars are the worst of the worst!
Good luck with it - you'll need it.
Dick
