Carb Needed Random Adjustment

Was driving home the other day. Driving at normal speed with no problems. Got to the stop sign right before my house.

Jeep was barely idling. Had to feather it to keep it from dying.

Pulled into the garage.. gave it a look over. couldn't see anything obvious that was wrong.

Adjusted the idle screw on the carb 3/4 of a turn or so, and its running fine now.

What on earth could cause me to need this adjustment out of the blue?

 

You get some gunk in it somehow?

Loose choke?

 

Crud or more especially water and corrosion products from ethanol fuel.

I use a little SeaFoam on a regular basis and it helps.

 

Sticky throttle return maybe??
Or the return spring tension has weakened.
I had to adjust my idle screw too.

 

It’s not the return. Messed with the carb tonight and I couldn’t get it idle well under 1200rpm. :/

 

Try taking the idle mixture screws completely out and then reinstall. It that doesn’t correct the issue, take the top cover off the carb and look to see if there’s sediment in the bottom.

 

Are you spitting fuel out of the exhaust when you try to idle at normal RPM? If so, you prolly gunked up the air side of things and it's gasping for air. Prolly wanna clean things up in there. If you're not spitting gas, and it's falling on it's face, yeah something is messed up with the idle mixer or choke or something fuel side.

 

Also could be a vacuum leak. Check all hoses for tightness and make sure mounting bolts are sung to intake (not super tight).

 

Does it need choke to idle?

 

Did the timing change at all?

 

Timing didn't change.

New gas, hadn’t been sitting more then a couple days. 10-20 miles

 

Yeah. I was getting maybe 15-16 at a high idle

 

Start checking for a vacuum leak. Especially s you are unsure as to when the last throttle overhaul was.

 

Hey Rick, I've been emailing you about this for the last couple days. The carb came from you in October of 2016.

 

yeah it's tight.

 

what were the weather conditions?
Entirely possible that you had a carburator icing condition.

 

Warm night. But it’s been sitting now a few days and still doing it