Automatic Choke: "Get Ready to Pay"

[Joe Flanagan]

That's what the guy at Antique Auto Parts Cellar just told me. He says they don't carry them and they're very hard to come by and I should be prepared to pay $200 at least. True? I'd be thrilled if I could use my original but it's pretty corroded. How durable are these things? Could it conceivably work if I clean it up? It's a bimetallic coil, some other little bits, what else? Maybe bimetallic fork is more accurate. I don't know that it uses a coil. The cut-away diagram in the manual has to be leaving something out. It looks like abstract art. I've read some of the past threads and know that you can energize the system and listen for it to click, but at the moment I don't have electrical in the car. I'm wondering if I could hook it up to a 6v charger or something.

[randroid]

Joe,

If it's bimetallic there's precious little that can go wrong with it other than the metallic strips separating or the linkage going south. Hook a 6 volt source to it and watch to see what it does; if it's cold it should slowly 'uncurl' as it warms, in which case it's working, but other than occasional noises from heat expansion don't bother listening for 'clicks' because they don't make them.

My '67 VW Bug has a fuel cutoff valve in the carb that clicks when juice is turned on-or-off and I've known folks who though that was the choke kicking in because they're on the same circuit. Rather than listen for a noise, touch the coil; if it burns the bejeezes out of your finger you can be fairly certain it's working, with the added benefit of you now being qualified to accept a sign from Bill Engvall.

Although this might be considered by some to be nit picking, if it's a coil it probably isn't bimetallic. Bimetallic actuators are usually flat strips that curl when heated, but since all metals expand when heated coils don't need to be bimetallic, thereby greatly reducing cost while increasing reliability.

Hope this has been helpful without being too long-winded; I'm down to working two days\week and sometimes become verbose.

-Randy

(Who doesn't touch the hot coil.)

[PatS....]

Try Stacy

[Joe Flanagan]

Ha ha. Point taken. I will investigate and keep my fingers out of it.

[Joe Flanagan]

Thank you, Shel. I will see what I can do with mine. It looks pretty basic. There apparently is a special gasket to insulate the choke from excessive heat from the manifold. Any idea what that material might be?

[Young Ed]

it was probably asbestos back when. You'll obviously need to find an appropriate substitute. I think someone had sourced something from Napa-hopefully I'm right and that person will chime in with their find

[desoto1939]

Do a search on Dodge Ply choke

The old NOS gaskets goe for around 8-10 dollars

Rich Hartung

[dezeldoc]

I have a very nice one for 20.00.

[claybill]

time for ROBERTS or andy B.

bill

[desoto1939]

I have a very nice one for 20.00.

This is for the 49 and up since the lever is on the right side. The 48 and back to 38 have the lever on the left side of the body. The one that dezeldoc has a picture of is for the later model cars since the lever is on the right side of the body.

Rich Hartung

[Joe Flanagan]

I just went out in the garage and retrieved mine. Caked with some grime and rusty on the outside and bottom but fairly clean inside. I was just gettin ready to take it apart and clean it up. Is the only way to test this with a 6v car battery? Since I don't have one at the moment I was wondering if I could use some other energy source.

[Joe Flanagan]

So am I just listening for a click or should I see if it will move the linkage arm?

[dezeldoc]

This is for the 49 and up since the lever is on the right side. The 48 and back to 38 have the lever on the left side of the body. The one that dezeldoc has a picture of is for the later model cars since the lever is on the right side of the body.

Rich Hartung

yes it is off my 50, i did not know they changed sides on the earlier ones!

[Joe Flanagan]

Shel,

In that second picture you posted, is that the actual location for that little spring? I took mine apart tonight and I'm not sure how that spring is supposed to sit. It looks like one of the tangs should brace against the body of the unit and the other goes against one of the butterfly type things mounted on the shaft. Does that sound right? My spring is very rusty, has almost no tension in it, and doesn't catch anything. The mechanism rotates and goes right past the spring. The tang that's supposed to brace against the rotating piece doesn't even contact it. Don't know if I'm explaining it clearly but there it is.

Otherwise, my choke looks pretty good. I guess I could get a new spring at Lowe's. It already moves a lot more freely than it did when I started playing with it.

[Normspeed]

Joe, for your test run, you really can get by without a choke. Just be ready to flutter the gas pedal a bit while it's dead cold. I run with no chokes and even in freezing temps it fires right up and runs. Just needs a couple minutes of warmup before hitting the streets in cold weather.

[Joe Flanagan]

Norm, I'm just finding indoor things to do while the weather is crappy. Lots of times, if it's dark out or it's cold or raining, I'll bring little projects inside and try to keep things going. Next is the carburetor, which I rebuilt a bunch of years ago and stored in a plastic bag. I just need to make sure I got everything right.

[Joe Flanagan]

Thanks, Shel. That's exactly what I needed to know. How'd you get those parts so clean? I have a small sandblasting gun that would clean things up nicely but I don't know about getting sand around that electomagnetic contraption. What I normally do with small parts is hold them with a pair of pliers and blast them for a few seconds. My automatic choke is disassambled at the moment and I could de-rust all the pieces.

[RobertKB]

Joe, take the metal parts and soak them in vinegar for a day or two. This is OK with parts that have some thickness to them but really thin stuff might not be alright. Looking at the picture from Shel, I would say anything in there would be OK in vinegar. Take it out after 24 hours or so and run over things with an old tootbrush. If any rust does not come off, give it a little longer in the vinegar. Once your part is clean give it a good rinse in water and dry. I often set my parts on my house furnace when it is running and this dries them very quickly. If you don't rinse them after sitting in vinegar, they get a slight yellowish colour on them. Not rust but some kind of reaction. A good rinse works wonders. I have cleaned up countless parts this way.

[Joe Flanagan]

Was it you who suggested vinegar when I was trying to get my vent windows out of their frames? It worked. It took a few days of soaking but it worked. What I've heard about acid and small parts like springs, etc. is that the part will become brittle. But that is phosphoric acid and I'm sure it depends on the strength of the solution and the amount of exposure. I actually have some small pieces I want to blast so I may do them all in a bunch. I have to do my road draft tube, the head on my crankcase breather, and a few other little items.

[BobT-47P15]

How about the electrolysis process on a small scale??

Should be past threads about it.

[p24-1953]

mine clicks but dosent seem to have the umph to close the choke all the time. even if i have the throttle half open. what could be causing this?

[Joe Flanagan]

After playing around with mine for a while, the first thing I'd look for is something binding. There are several moving parts and pivot points and it doesn't look like it would take much grit and grime to foul them up.

[desoto1939]

mine clicks but dosent seem to have the umph to close the choke all the time. even if i have the throttle half open. what could be causing this?

P24:

Did you adjust the choke inthe proper manner. On the side that does not have the lever there is a pivot rod that sticks out of the body. When you move the lever you should notice a small hole in the rod. This should then align up with a slot inthe base of the unit. Run a small thin metal rod, a bicyle spoke will work just fine. The choke is then set to close the butterfly.

Adjust the butterfly acording to the manual and then lock the nut and the unit should work properly.

rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

[p24-1953]

desoto1939

yep set it according to the manual. it works really well about 50% of the time the other times it only closes it down 60%

so , i just hooked up the manual choke untill i can figure it out.

[p24-1953]

its a new one that i just installed. its like the magnet dosent have enought strength to force the arm up. it seems to be in a bind. i probaly should disasemble it and clean it all up.