Hello all, I have a 305 4bbl Quad on my ‘83. I went roadkill garage on it after 10 years of sitting - it starts but fuel pouring out of the carb into the evap container, makes me think carb needs rebuilt lol… just looking for advice should I be build or buy another? If so which years work on an 83 electric choke, with the wire plugs - I never rebuilt one so very novice, thanks

They don't make new Qjets, and the factory ones for 83 Monte Carlos is computer controlled. Best option is to have your original carburetor rebuilt by a reputable rebuilder. Do not trade your orignal carb for a reman. There are two Qjet books you should read, one by Doug Roe which covers computer Qjets and a second book by Cliff Ruggles.

I use and recommend www.customrebuiltcarbs.com. I have had two E4ME carbs done by him and they were basically bolt on and go. It isn't cheap, but is worth it!! Click on my link and give him a call!!

Unfortunately I don’t have much of a budget to spend - I’m trying to shop local for one, but falling flat. Would a non computerized quad work? I’m not sure what the wire harness do and if unplugging will cause issues, but I plan on capping most vacumn lines

You can but you also need a non computer distributor and trans lockup kit and get less MPGs. It would end up costing as much as a good computer carb rebuild. Also going to a non computer carb is illegal in all 50 states for these cars. There is nothing cheap about keeping old cars alive anymore.

The top blue plug on the carb is for the air fuel mixture control solenoid. The white plug on the driver side is the throttle position sensor. The computer controls air fuel mixture, ignition timing advance and knock retard, transmission lockup, EGR valve, and other functions depending on model year. The setup is slightly different for each year.

Great info here - that sounds very complicated agreed. I’ll see if I can hunt down a computerized one. Guy has one from a 84-88 I’m assuming that should work on my 83?

You really need to stick with your original one, that one from a later SS would work as well, good luck!!

You can make it work, but they vary each year. In 86 they added an extra vacuum port at the front of the carb. So if you put a post 86 carb on a 83 car there will be an extra vacuum port to cap.

Thanks all - I managed to remove it and open it up and sprayed what I could down and reassembled. That seemed to fix the flooding, but the old problem occurs from a decade ago, when it warms up and I put it into gear, it stalls out. Will that be a throttle adjustment or should I be looking for a bad vacumn line? Or possibly something else

That sounds like it could be a problem with the torque converter lockup solenoid. It should be disengaged at idle in gear, but if it isn't, it will stall down the engine. The easiest way I know to check it, is to get the car in high gear (third for you) driving about 45mph and tap the brakes to see if converter unlocks and the engine RPMs increase a little. The RPMs should drop when you let off the brakes and the converter locks up. If you don't hear/see the RPMs going up when you press the brakes and go down when you let off the brakes, the converter is staying "locked" and there's either a wiring issue or the solenoid is bad. Sometimes you can unplug the wiring at the transmission and that will "release" or unlock the transmission, but if that happens to unlock it so it will idle OK, you'll still need to replace the solenoid. If it checks out OK, then without saying, that's not the issue.

Interesting - could I simply unplug the solenoid run it hot and see if that corrects it? And curious, if it’s a carb related, what would cause that, I feel if I could adjust the throttle manually it would correct it, but being computerized, unsure

Also, is there a manual adjustment on the computerized carbs? I noticed it does it after it warms up but In park, not sure if I can adjust the pedal position , etc like on the Holleys?

If everything is stock, then technically the factor idle adjustment shouldn't need to be adjusted and something else is more than likely "the problem". That said, the previous owner could have messed with it. The idle adjustment is manual even on these computer carbs.



Might want to see if the air filter is dirty and check/clean/replace the PCV. You really need to get the Doug Roe book Buick mentioned earlier to get an idea of how it works. Here's a link to a little preview of it.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Rochester_Carburetors/DwUMAaiyMoYC?hl=en&gbpv=1

There are several things that can cause stalling at idle in drive. Vacuum leaks, upstream exhaust leaks, retarded ignition timing, etc.

Thanks all, going to replace plugs wires and fuel filter, then adjust timing. I’m not very fluent at timing adjustment on these cars, but I’m guessing basic procedure?

You need to unplug the computer timing advance to set the base timing. Once done rrplug the computer advance and clear thd trouble code.

Here's a little more detail.
With the engine off, disconnect the large 4-wire plug coming from the distributor base (it'll be on the passenger side).
Start the engine with it unplugged - you'll note that the check engine light will come on (that's OK for now).
Set the timing - stock is 6 degrees - if you don't mind paying for premium gas, you can go up to 10 degrees for a little more pep.
Once set, and bolted back down, turn the engine off before plugging the connector back up.
Reconnect the 4-wire plug and disconnect the negative battery cable for a few minutes (this will clear the codes).
If you happen to check the ignition afterwards, the computer will pull it up to around 20 degrees.

Check out the link to the technical information of this site - there's a ton of information that might prove helpful to you.
http://montecarloss.com/technical/

Hey guys, so I messed with the timing today, and appears that I set it at a sweet spot because the 305 never one wheel peeled like that before from a stop. I’m still getting the same stalling issue though when In any gear… I can’t locate the issue, even with all the generous help here. The only hissing I hear is from the carb choke drawing in air, that’s not to say there’s a vacumn leak somewhere, but really stumped on where to look now as I’d like to get car registered and insured here soon and drive it!

Took the car out today again, and for some reason didn’t run strong as the previous day - slow response and popping at carb when I floor it. I’m going to replace the plugs and wires, but would I be wrong to rule out carb issue? I don’t get how it can go with pep one day, and the next fall flat. Any thoughts appreciated, thanks

What is your timing set at?

I advanced it about 4°

So, it's a total of 10 degrees BTDC?

I’m getting a timing light, so I’ll give you the exacts, but I guess I can’t figure out how it was popping, adjusted timing and running strong and next day popping carb again.

did you resolve the issues?

I thought I was going in the right direction, but took the car out today on a quick run and the carb started leaking gas.. so it’ll end rebuilt or replaced. Going to put a request in here for anyone who builds or perhaps has one for sale at a good price

I use and recommend www.customrebuiltcarbs.com I have had 2 E4ME carbs done there. Click on the link and give them a call!

Used quad with computer hook ups from 87 SS. What are the diffeeences between that and a 83 as far as vacumn lines, etc?

In 87, the canister purge valve was different, not sure about other vacuum changes!!

In 1986 they added an extra vacuum port to the front of the carb.