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I'll have videos to share later, but the old carb is now in the basement awaiting a post-mortem, and the new carb has already taken the car around the block a couple times. RPMs are really high with the choke on, and the engine has a tendency to stall while coasting to a stop. Hopefully a couple adjustments will take care of those things. Other than that, it works great. I am pretty freaking pleased with the result.
Currently, my '82 is non-op because of a carb failure.
Had to buy a '92 Toyota Corolla as a "temporary" replacement. At least I have a working A/C but am working through a few gremlins otherwise. Hope to have the Honda back on the road in September...
I'll have at least one more vid showing installation. I had hoped to do a video on adjustment and another on the post-mortem of the carb I've taken of in this above video, but I had a lot of technical issues, and I'm not sure I'll have decent footage to show.
Here's an update on my carburetor.
The car is running and I'm able to drive it. I even did an initial adjustment. But there are still some issues I need to address:
- The car starts and idles just fine when cold or cold-ish.
- When preparing to stop, decelerating down a hill with the clutch pedal down, the engine will stall. Only happens going down hill. Almost every time, hot or cold. Idles fine when at a stop or uphill, or level.
- When hot starting, I sometimes have to push the gas pedal to get it going.
- It has developed a hesitation halfway through the throttle that wasn't there when I first installed the carburetor.
- At full throttle up hill, the engine loses a lot of power, but not all, and runs unevenly until backed down to say, 3/4 throttle.
Would partially clogged jets explain these issues? Or maybe the jets on this non-original carburetor are too small? Intuitively, I think the engine isn't getting enough fuel during high demand. Which is frustrating as the fuel line is double filtered, and the pressure is perfect. Fuel is definitely getting to the carburetor. Not sure though why it would stall while decelerating down a hill without the transmission engaged. Float adjustment? Maybe I'm wrong, and there is too much fuel? Perhaps this is an opportunity to make an on-car float adjustment video...
Anyway, before I get into it, I'd like to hear your opinions. I'm thinking clean the jets, do a float adjustment, redo the idle mix adjustment, and see what happens.
Hey folks! Well I waited a couple years for you guys to give suggestions, but now I've decided to go ahead and do stuff anyway. LOL, just kidding, I've actually been busy with other stuff. In fact, if I haven't already done so, I'd like to thank everyone who has commented on my posts. I really appreciate it!
So a while back, I did open up the carb and clean out the jets and readjust the float levels. I also did some other tinkering that I can't quite remember now. Lately, I had this leaky head gasket issue, which you can read all about in my other thread.
The stalling problem is gone now. The extra cleaning seems to have worked, or it flushed itself out.
I discovered a work-around for the difficulty hot-starting. I must remember not to push on the accelerator before starting the engine hot, like I do when the engine is cold. Perhaps that reengages the choke? I don't remember this being an issue before, but since I've stopped pressing the accelerator, it starts up easy every time when hot.
The hesitations at half way and full throttle have gone. I'm not sure if it was something I did, but maybe it was linked to the leaky head gasket? I'm just happy it works now. Of course, being a little engine, it doesn't perform like a race car or anything, but for what it is, it works quite well.
The other reason for this update, was that I've been organizing and compiling the info I've gathered over the years about how to rebuild and adjust these carburetors. I want to share in case it becomes useful to one of the other 5 people on the planet who still have 3bbl carbs, LOL. Here is the dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mirupy0y2x...0Info.zip?dl=0
When I did my video series, I had hoped to make one of adjusting the carburetor on the car. Now that it seems to be running good, it may be time to get around to that...
Well I'm sure those 5 people will be very thankful for your videos and this thread. I gave up the on the effort of a rebuild and just got a Weber 32/36. It worked fine for a little bit then some jetting issue happened, so I just threw the entire engine away and spent a ridiculous amount of money for a modern engine swap.
I have a 1984 Honda Accord with Keihin carburator CB92B. I found a used carburator CB91B which looked identical, except that my CB92B does not have ports A,B,G (firewall side), and C in the front. The question I have is if I use the CB91B, can I cancel/plug those ports? or connect them in some way? Any help will be appreciated
I don't know if I can be much help. My best guess is that just plugging the unused vacuum hoses would probably be fine. But I can't be sure, because I don't actually know what all the hoses do. I have a vacuum port on the driver side of my second carburetor that my car has no hose for. It's plugged with no problem, and has been since I replaced the original carb probably 20 years ago now. I have three vacuum lines in the back, one has something to do with the throttle, and another adjusts the idle speed to compensate for when the A/C is on. There is one in the back middle though, on the throttle body, that I don't know what it's for.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge that me can be more help.
Hello Mike,
Thanks for your reply. I've reviewed the printed materials you uploaded and watched the videos, I am really thankful for making such useful materials available. So, I am making progress with the CB91B and I will post about my experience, but for now I have a question related to the automatic chock that couldn't find an answer in your posts. My question is actually on the car side, not the carb side. I measured the voltage across the two wires in the harness that connect to the choke, expecting to read 12V with the key on, but it only reads 0.6V. Do you know how to test the electric power source to the choke? Thanks again, Mike.
I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be 12V. It looks like the choke heater is powered from the blue/white wire (at least on the diagram), from the voltage regulator, and is grounded through a thermo-switch and resistor. My best guess is that there's a corroded connector on one of these parts, or maybe one of the parts has gone bad. I'd have guessed maybe a bad fuse connection, but there doesn't seem to be a fuse in this circuit. I vaguely remember that the voltage regulator is on the passenger side of the engine compartment somewhere. Not on the alternator like modern cars. Unfortunately, I have no idea where the thermo-switch and resistor would be.
You could try checking the voltage from the positive that goes to the choke directly to ground. Like to the engine or negative terminal of the battery. If you still don't have good voltage, you can probably rule out the switch and resistor.
Unfortunately, the carburetor is about the only thing I know how to fix on my car. I learned mainly because all the mechanics who could fix it for me have either died or retired in my area. I hope this all does you some good.
Hello Mike. I've made a lot of progress since the last post, but I am stuck in the current state. I thought about describing the situation to you, hopefully you can point me in the right direction.
So the carburetor works very smooth, it idles properly and delivers air/fuel just fine when driving on the highway. In the morning when the engine is cold, the engine starts right away, choke controls the butterfly flap just fine, I can have it running for 1/2 hour, shut down the engine, and all sounds good. But if I walk away for 1/2 hour or more (while the engine is still warm), the engine does not start. It makes the sound of engine firing, but only lasts 1-2 seconds, then dies, no matter what I do with the pedal. If I wait till the next day, the engine will fire normal. I am very confused, any ideas on what to check? Once again I thank-you for your videos and documents, very informative materials.
RebelriderMike,
First let me qualify my self. I was a Honda tech for almost 30 years, dealerships and independent shops. Retired in early 2000's.
This a heck of a thread about what some consider a mystery machine. Just think of it as two carbs in one casting.
Let me say, you didn't mention one important fact. If that silver 4dr. hatchback is what you're working on, it's not a US car! I worked for awhile in CA, but most of those years in CO. I have only seen one of that body style in all those years. All of our 4drs were sedans, yours is probably Canadian. OK back to the subject.
In the shop we would have never done as extensive a tear down. But, we didn't have a 40 year old entity! The only diaphragm we would have dealt with was the accelerator pump.
Unfortunately no one makes a few tools. The main tools were a couple of plexiglass float gauges, one for '75 and the other for '76 and later. The float gauges allow accurate adjustment with the engine running.
The other just made your life easier during adjustment, a tool that fits over the main A/F mixture screw. Meaning you don't need to search for and maintain the screwdriver with the screw slot.
Too bad there is little market for sales or they could be reproduced. BTW, I still have mine. I believe these tools are shown in OEM manuals.
Pedroasio, I recognize the situation you have. I've had it both with my car, and other carbureted engines. If I remember right, the idle mixture is just a bit off. On the rich side I think. The good news is that it's probably not unique to our weird carbs. I'll look around and see if I can find out exactly how I fixed mine. Here's what I wrote about it last year:
Originally Posted by RebelriderMike
I discovered a work-around for the difficulty hot-starting. I must remember not to push on the accelerator before starting the engine hot, like I do when the engine is cold. Perhaps that reengages the choke? I don't remember this being an issue before, but since I've stopped pressing the accelerator, it starts up easy every time when hot.
It's also possible that a tiny bit of debris got in the main jets or float needle seats during reassembly. I had to pop the top of my carb a couple of times after I installed it on the car to clean and readjust stuff. Fortunately, you can take the top of the carb off without having to remove the whole thing.
Kevsky5, Great to hear from a real technician with experience with these things! I've always had to scrape what info I could off the internet, and do my best to guess my way through what I couldn't find.
I can't speak for other cars, but I know that mine came by barge directly to Columbia Basin Imports, in Washington. Maybe this style is more common here? I've seen two or three other wagons of the same style in my state too. Though some of them had rectangular headlights and not my round ones.
I've seen pictures of the special tools you mentioned, but part of my research included how to do all the work without specialized tools since they're not available. And after 40 years, any of the diaphragms could be rotten, LOL. Someone even came up with a way to adjust the Lambda linkage if it were ever to get out of sync. Fortunately, I've never had to do that!
Anyway, my hope is to share the most useful and accurate information as I can. So if you see any mistakes or have any other tips on how to make these things work better, I'm always happy to hear it.
I'd like to make a more detailed adjustment video with the carburetor on the engine. Unfortunately, I think I've gone and broken my head gasket. Although the engine runs great, I've got coolant leaking into the oil system. And out the exhaust I think. I'm nowhere as good at car engines as I am with carburetors, so I don't know when or if I'll be able to fix it. And I don't want to run the engine with coolant in the oil. I've heard it's bad for the bearings.
From the photo I took this to be a 4 door hatch, maybe the angle? Sorry, my mistake! My real mistake was not asking my customer(Boulder, CO) about buying theirs! I was actually working on it for a while, went to our parts dept. and walking back, seeing it from a distance, I realized that this was not an ordinary 4 door.
I've owned a couple of '80 wagons, that's the year to own of the '80-'83 series. One look under the hood of an '80 and an '83, you'll understand why a mechanic would have this opinion.
Hello RebelriderMike and Kevsky5. Thanks for your replies, indeed is very nice to bring the high level of experience to these threads. I will work on the carburetor in the next couple of days and update soon. Quick question, I tested the idle solenoid to confirm it actuates when energized, but could it be possible that this solenoid stops working when the engine warms up?
To my knowledge it shouldn't. It's on the circuit that runs all the other electrical stuff when the key is on. Both solenoids should be open until the key is turned off.
Hi RebelriderMike. Thanks for the post. I couldn't find much information on Keihin 3BBL for my 83 civic wagon. I tried testing them by turning the key to on while the engine is off, and looking at the solenoids. Both seem to be in the off position. The problem with my car is that. I bought it about 2 years ago, and it was idling rough and low. The car wouldn't idle when cold. It only starts to idle after I drive it for just a minute. One day about 2 months ago, the car would idle and stalled while in the middle of driving. Then it would have that issue always. Once in awhile, it would idle very, very low that seemed like it would stall. I tried to find replacement solenoid online but it's only for 77-79 years on ebay. Is the solenoid fixable, where can I find replacement parts?
Hi RebelriderMike. Thanks for the post. I couldn't find much information on Keihin 3BBL for my 83 civic wagon. I tried testing them by turning the key to on while the engine is off, and looking at the solenoids. Both seem to be in the off position. The problem with my car is that. I bought it about 2 years ago, and it was idling rough and low. The car wouldn't idle when cold. It only starts to idle after I drive it for just a minute. One day about 2 months ago, the car would idle and stalled while in the middle of driving. Then it would have that issue always. Once in awhile, it would idle very, very low that seemed like it would stall. I tried to find replacement solenoid online but it's only for 77-79 years on ebay. Is the solenoid fixable, where can I find replacement parts?
Can you relate this issue to higher ambient temperature? What region do you live in? High altitude, low altitude? CVCC's had a huge issue with flooding, especially on hot restarts. The issue was serious enough that I would install a fuel pump cut-off on my own cars and select customer cars. Also, there was an issue of fuel leaking into the carb floats. Those problems could have always happened but, in about 1980 Honda went to hollow floats, that's about, for whichever cause, that's about when the poop hit the fan!
If you have an issue with any(3) of the cut-off solenoids, I don't think that they would "heal" them selves. You can easily see the main/aux. solenoid operation when you are checking the condition of the floats. To check the idle solenoid just put you finger on it at the moment it's energized. If any click or retract, you're in good shape!
I should also mention that there are plenty of vacuum activated emissions devices, any vacuum leak may relate to your issues. If I remember, your year/model also has an EGR valve. A sticky valve would causes issues. I know that I'm giving you a long laundry list, but first let me know whether whether you can relate this to higher temps.
One more thing, when adjusting aux. valves, you must use an extremely light touch(no drag), too tight and will have problems. OK that's enough for now, get back to me.
I've had my floats sink on me too. But not for a long time. Unfortunately, about the only source I know of for any kind of carburetor parts is eBay. If you can't find the individual part you want, try looking for an incomplete or broken carburetor that you might be able to get some good parts off of.
So, I am pretty sure my carb needs a rebuild. When I give it gas, it'll rev to ~4000rpm and cut out like its out of gas, or itll hang at 4000rpm with minor popping coming from what seems like the throat of the carb. Other times, itll rev, hang at 4000rpm momentarily, then continue up to the redline--6000rpm.
All the vacuum lines appear to be intact and the fuel levels are correct when viewing through the two windows. Thoughts? What are some things I should checK?
04-27-2018, 01:50 PM
Re: 3bbl Keihin repair/rebuild/adjust
Re: 3bbl Keihin repair/rebuild/adjust
