QuestionDick
I have 64 Pontiac with a 230 straight 6.
First question: The choke keeps sticking although I have cleaned the carb up.
I can find the two idle screws,but how do I set the choke? In the morning,even if hot out, it is closed and has to warm up.
I see the choke flap is attached to a rod that goes into a little metal box,in which I think is a spring.Is this the problem,and if so what is it called,can I buy a new one?
Second question: The headlights went out the other night.This was after I noticed sparks coming from the dimmer switch.I replaced that,but they stil wont come on(they arent burnt out).I also saw sparks from the light switch.Should I replace that.Why do you think this happened and why didnt they just put fusesfor the headlights back then? Thanks!
AnswerRe: The choke. The box with the bi-metallic spring in it is OK if the flap automatically closes by itself overnight. If it isn't doing that, investigate the spring - but don't bend anything! If it is broken, yes, the NAPA store probably can get you a new one, but if it is not broken, it is OK, although it may need adjustment.
It may be adjusted for winter use, which gives you too much choke for summertime. There is an adjustment on the device - without looking at it myself, I can't specifically point you to it, but if you examine the box with the spring in it you'll see an adjustment - it will be labeled summer-winter, or rich-lean or something like that. If, on the other hand, the flap is sticking shut in the top of the carburetor, (and you can't tell unless you have someone holding the gas pedal down - they all stick if you don't check it that way), investigate to see what it is hanging up on. Usually it is just crud in the moving parts, but it could be a warped top housing of the carburetor, if someone has overtightened the air cleaner hold-down screw.
Sparks from the dimmer switch!? What did you find when you investigated? Bare wires? Switch came apart? How could you see that, isn't it under the carpet? How did you see sparks from the headlight switch? - it's behind the dashboard. I'm having trouble understanding what your problem is.
There is a circuit breaker built into the headlight switch - they did not use fuses because if a fuse blew, the driver would be left without any lights at all. With a circuit breaker, there is still intermittent (blinking) light available, so that the car can be parked safely - it's actually a good design, one used in all cars since the 30s.
As for why you don't have any lights now, my guess is that there is a wiring error or a bare wire at the dimmer switch, and this might have damaged the headlight switch.
The dimmer switch has 3 terminals. One is connected to the headlight switch all the time, and has 12 volts on it when the headlight switch is turned on. The other two terminals go to the high beam and low beam headlights, respectively. If this is not wired right, you would get one or the other set of headlights on one position of the dimmer switch, but nothing on the other position. But you won't get "sparks" unless there is a bare wire somewhere.
The tail lights are on a separate circuit and are not affected by the dimmer switch problems, they should be coming on normally. If they are not, there is a problem in the wiring to the healight switch, or it has failed.
I think you'd better spend some time examining the wires to see if you can find where the sparks are coming from - else you may lose the car in a fire.
Dick
