First off.....

 

Car: '87 Standard Hatch, 4WD s/r 4 speed, hitachi, no a/c, no power anything, not even carpet. The car is from Denver and has altitude compensation equip.

 

Ok, when I first got my Hatch it was semi warm and even though the idle was a little high I was getting around 25mpg highway/city, but once the temp started to drop around 40 or we had any amount of rain (no matter the temp) that went out the window. It seems that during these times my choke is sticking on, so the car idles around 1500rpm or more, enough to make the heat sheild on the cats rattle at a stop light. Not only is it slightly embarassing it's killing my mileage, this last tank I got 18mpg, less slightly less than 200 miles on a tank. Not only does it geat bad mileage it runs like crap, it acts like it's gonna die when you've got the throttle at crusing position.

 

When the choke isn't on the car runs like a champ, idles well, best running EA81 I've ever owned.

 

There doesn't seem to be an adjustment screw for the choke... just a stop, so can I just disable the choke on this thing? If so how?

 

I looked at it, there's an electrical connection that goes to it (bolts on like a wire to the coil) and there are also two vaccum pots there to, so I'm not sure what to disconnect.

 

Thanks for the help!

you should be able to ajust the main choke shaft to where it wont close all the way. you can ajust it to make it stay wide open all the time. if not unscrew the butterfly plate:)

if I'm not mistaken your choke pulloff is an electric heating coil.

check continuity of the coil

check for power to the coil

if I'm not mistaken your choke pulloff is an electric heating coil.

check continuity of the coil

check for power to the coil

 

Yep, that Hitatch should have the bi-metalic spring. However, the cover is riveted on, so it is difficult to get to to the spring mechanism.

 

You could drill out the rivets and clean out/replace the coil. Don't worry about the drilled out rivets - you'll be able to thread regular metric screws into the housing.

 

Another option is to buy a manual choke conversion kit. I did this on an old Datsun, (with the same Hitatchi carb) and it worked very well on those cold mornings.

 

good luck, John

I have a manual choke and have no problems with it starting or running. With this set up you know when its open or closed. Knob pulled out closed knob pushed in open.

I had a chance to play with the choke over the weekend.

 

When the car is not running the choke is off, as soon as you start it the choke goes half on. I disconnected the electric going to it with no effect. So I decided to pull off the butterfly, which had virtually no effect on the high idle. After prodding around a little more I found a rod that goes from the choke down to the throttle linkage, it was this that was keeping the throttle hung open, so I disconnected it. The car idles like it should now and runs great, although I do think I need to adjust the throttle cable.... the gas pedal does pretty much nothing unless it's more than half way down now. I guess I'll just fiddle with it until I can do a Webber swap.

 

Best of all, I averaged 30mpg on my last tank.... big step up from the 18 I was getting on the tank before!

good work!

When you adjust the slack on your throttle cable, check for frayed ends. If it's that stretched, it could also be frayed. You do want a little slack in it, but not much. It's also best to do it after you've ran the engine so the cable itself is up to temp. I've adjusted them cold before just to have them tighten up after the engine heats up. If you adjust all the slack out and there's still too much, you can bend the cable bracket a bit too. It may be best just to replace it. NAPA shows one for $8 or $9, I'm sure they would have to order it............

Also, air your tires up to 40 psi, and clean out your pcv system. I just did that and I picked up 3 more mpg and I was still driving like a knob! Oh, and the pcv hose was completly clogged!