Hi all,

Just curious....I was driving through the mountains of Alabama (ok they are hills) but I noticed two things. One was a general lack of power and less than nominal fuel consumption (I will pull the cap and rotor when I get somewhere I can and also check for leaks...could be vacuum but I don't hear any eradict dole and it feels like its running good) and the other was something interesting that happened with my temp gauge.

Outside of talladega I was running at te same temp I had been since leaving Toledo, on the upper side of gauge about 3/5 or so, sometimes higher. A guy I boosted at the Walmart commented that it felt hot, at that time it was in idle and had been for about 15min. Temp gauge then was over the 3/4 mark.

Then suddenly while chugging along I looked Dow and my gauge was down at 1/8 marker. And it has been floating below 1/2 ever since.

Sorry for the long write up.

Can I assume that my thermostat was sticky and finally gave? Or is there another possible reason for something like that?

Could this also be why my plugs look like they are burning ht as per the diagram in the back of my Haynes?

Cheers...Alabama is beautiful country!

Thermo sticking is a good possibility, I had nothing but trouble with the auto parts stores cheap thermo's and finally ended up getting a performance one from Summit which actually works.

If the plugs are burning hot it's most likely either to lean a fuel mix or to hot of a plug or both and not the coolant temp. It needs to be corrected right away, if it's bad enough it could destroy the engine.

Ok thanks for that...I am running an edelbrock 1406 carb...can I change the mix without changing jets? I will be changing the plugs out asap

Yuck. Edelbrock carbs are junk. Get a Holley. Either a 4160 or a spreadbore(can't remember the number). I have heard the Summit brand Holley equivalent is good too. Never had good luck with the Edelbrock carb. Intakes are nice though.

The Temp gauge has a one wire temp sender. It costs about 5 bucks at AZ.

When mine went bad, it instantly went from it's normal half gauge reading to less than 1/4, and never went above a 1/3 even climbing a 7 degree grade for miles and miles.



But the sender will not cause lack of power or worse fuel consumption.

I'm not throwing any WAG's out at that issue

+1 on checking the sending unit and thermostat, -1 on the "Edelbrocks are junk." I really like Edelbrock Performer carbs. Very easy to tune and very hard to make leak. Which is just about the opposite of Holley carbs. If you really like to tinker and fine tune a carb and have the patience for it, Holleys can be made to function very well. However, for a daily driver that it pretty near set and forget, it is hard to beat and Edelbrock Performer. I have played around with Holleys and with Edelbrocks, and I will pick an Edelbrock over a Holley four barrel every single time.

Changing the jets on the Edelbrock is very easy. You can leave the carb on the van, but the float bowl will likely drain while you swap out the jets.

The Edelbrock 1406 owner's manual with instructions on how to change out jets,springs, and metering rods can be downloaded/viewed HERE

I have the Edelbrock too and like Reed said tuning is very easy. The metering rods are child's play. For the main jets be sure you have a proper fitting hollow ground screw driver as they're made of brass and an ordinary V shaped tip screw driver will chew them up. First thing to be sure of is that you do have the proper plugs for your engine though.

The Eddy is great for ease of use. I like to ability to fine tune the Holley to an extent far beyond what you can do on the Edelbrock. When it comes to dialing in the perfect mix or performance and economy its hard to beat the old 4160. However, after dealing with port fuel injection will probably never go back to carbs. Didn't mean to ruffle anyone's feathers. Everyone has their personal preferrences. Just voicing my opinion on the matter.

I actually agree. The Holleys are fine for people who have the desire and skills to tinker, but the Edelbrock is a better choice for most people who want minimal fuss in setting up their carb. I also am switching to only fuel injected vehicles. Fuel injection is just so much BETTER than a carb.

This sounds pretty spot on...is there a way i can check it before buying a new one?

Power issues is solved, timing was very retarded...fuel...still checking but am running rich from the smells of it.

With the help of a piece of paper I can see that I have a cylinder that isn't firing correctly (over the exhaust)..

and the wires (I replaced the cao, rotor and plugs but the wires have less than 4000k on them and looked fine...however on the passenger side 3 show ohm resistance of 1.3 to 1.48 and one shows a resistance of an even one. What is the proper resistance to look for?

Thanks again guys! I'm loving the scenery and the people down here!!