Here is my latest find. 89 Estate Wagon comes in with Service Engine Soon light on, and a blown ECM IGN fuse. Checked every item on that circuit and the short was INSIDE the carburetor. Of course, this is one of those fancy computer assisted qjets with electrical connections on both sides. The only place that I can find that sells a mixture control solenoid is Mark at Qjet Power. And it’s $90. So I ordered it and paid for uber fast shipping. He got it to me in 2 days…thanks Mark! I pulled the carb apart and found this…when it was assembled, they pinched the power wire in between the air horn and carb body, eventually causing a short to ground. I have NO IDEA how this car didn’t go up in flames.
Would be interesting to know why GM put the throttle body injection in 89 pickup and electronic Qjet in Buick; must be tied to divisions or early emissions decision based on platform?!? Also, the earlier (85) Riviera's had both sequential fuel injection on V6, electronic Qjet (307 v8) and dual TBIs on 84 Vette. Just surprised they carried this design on as long as they did in the 80's. Scary wiring in fuel area is never good.
Most of the cars that got carbs and throttle bodies after ‘83 or so were supposed to be dead already. I imagine GM’s willingness to do much more than the bare necessity R&D-wise for El Caminos, Estate Wagons, Caprice Classics and Cadillac Broughams was limited to headlights and radios. Patrick
…And Rochester was more careful building carbs than some assembly line rebuilder south of the border. My ‘85 El Camino still has its original feedback Qjet, rebuilt once by a GM tech, and runs quite well. Patrick
This was a rebuilt carb that had a nice even coat of cast iron color spray paint on it….every part of it. So it’s not a factory screwup, but I don’t know where it came from. It was on the car when my client bought it.
Q-jets in the pick a parts are a rare sight nowadays. Only buy ones that are complete, and pre - feedback (pre '81) for inventory stock as rebuildable cores. Have only sold one feedback carb in over twenty years. Just no demand.
I don't care where it came from. It was a major liability, and we are lucky it didn't burn the car to the ground.
Mark “Carmantx” has hundreds of Q jet cores. I’m sure he has any year or make a person may want for a numbers matching setup.
He doesn't typically sell a core outright, but will build it for you. His lead time is pretty far out right now...like 20 weeks.
