Will barely idlel

[Italchic]

Well another new mystery... after having driven for a while now the engine will barely maintain an idle. OK at speed but at a stop sign it almost dies, also a little reluctant to start.

[bradartigue]

What kind of car, what kind of fuel system (carb or FI) and is carb what kind of carburetor?

[Italchic]

1971 124 Spider 1600 with Webber carb. The only way to keep it running at a stop is to either choke it or give it throttle. Will run at speed though on highway.

[majicwrench]

Lots of things can cause that, but those carbs have chronic plugging of the idle jet. Do a search.
Keith

[Italchic]

I'm no mechanic, where is the jet and how do I go about seeing if its clogged and cleaning it?

[majicwrench]

Any carb diagram will show where it is. Or search the forum, or check my old posts. Is behind a brass screw that goes into carb just under the air horn. Can be removed /cleaned without removing or disassembling carb. Work over clean surface!
Keith

[So Cal Mark]

the primary idle jet is just above the accelerator pump cover, under a brass screw

[bradartigue]

I'm no mechanic, where is the jet and how do I go about seeing if its clogged and cleaning it?

A mechanic? This is routine maintenance on a 40 year old car.

Get a big can of carburetor cleaner.
Get a flat head screwdriver.
Take the aircleaner off of your carburetor.

Unscrew the brass screw sticking out of the side of the carburetor - in the following diagram it is #8 (and I know, you don't have a LADA but all Webers pretty much have the idle jet in the same place) - http://www.ladaniva.co.uk/baxter/resour ... da_kit.jpg

Remove the jet from its holder and spray it out (do not try to stick anything in it).
Spray out the hold from whence it was removed.
Reinstall.

Repeat for other side of carburetor.

On top of the carburetor spray everything that looks like a hole, including the two brass things you see when you look down at the carb (they are air correctors).

If none of this fixes it you'll need to remove the lid and clean out the float bowl and remove the two jets in there, one at a time, and clean as described above.

[Italchic]

Thanks to all for the advice and words of encouragement. Did as you suggested and the idle is back! Now I know this is something I need to do on a regular basis. Thanks again from this novice.

[4uall]

@brad could this be done for FI models as well?

[bradartigue]

@brad could this be done for FI models as well?

Most idle problems I've fixed on FI cars have been because the idle jet o-ring is bad and the throttle stop screw and idle air bypass screw are set wrong. The FI in my driveway right now went from idle like complete crap - dying at stop signs, hard starting cold, etc., - and with a $0.20 o-ring from an ACE hardware it was all fixed.

If you're ever mucking around with FI idle problems ALWAYS start with the air bypass and idle speed settings. Get it all clean, replace the O-ring, set correctly, and only then start looking elsewhere for issues.