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KE55 IDLING ISSUE


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Hi all, 

I'm pretty new to this, thanks in advance for bearing with me. 

I've just bought my first corolla, beautiful 1981 ke55. It drove the two hour trip home without too much hassle. One issue though: with the choke on, it idles just fine (high of course). But no matter how warm she is, as soon as I back the choke off, she shakes and stalls. Also backfires when I take off the choke, and will stall with the clutch in without choke on even at highway speeds. 

Having a search on rollaclub, people suggested it could be an unplugged fuel solenoid causing the issue. Looking at my carb, it seems like the wire on the end of the solenoid has been cut, and the corresponding green plug in the engine bay isn't plugged into anything. Should I be looking at the solenoid at this point? 

 Thanks for having me, looking forward to getting her running nicely, and learning the basics. 

cheers 

Edited by Wingsforwheels
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Hi Jasper,

                  As Altezzaclub has advised above, this is very easy to check, as he has described.  However, if your solenoid power wire has been chopped, that may seem to be a problem.

I can think of only two reasons, why someone would cut off the solenoid wire.

The engine was removed from another car at some time at a wreckers.  (They commonly just cut off any wires leading to, or attached to the engine).

The solenoid was found to be faulty & U/S, and someone cut the power wire close to the solenoid itself, so it couldn't be used again.

Anyway, who knows; that's my best guess ?

However, not is all lost.

It just so happens I have a 4K carby in bits on the bench, that I was about to reassemble this afternoon.

First you must remove the solenoid from the carby.  It simply screws in, like a bolts, so turn it carefully, anticlockwise.  Be care to not lose the small copper washer between the solenoid & carby body.

If there even a few mm if wire sticking out of the black "moulding", at the end of the solenoid, then strip it back, so you have a connection.

Lay the body of the solenoid on the negative terminal of the car's battery, & run a wire from the positive terminal of the battery, to the wire you have just stripped.  If it clicks when powered, then it is probably OK.

If there is a few mm of wire showing, a new wire could be soldered to this, & put a piece of heat-shrink over the soldered joint.

If there is no wiring at all protruding from the black moulding at the end of the solenoid, then not all is lost. Take a shark knife & cut off the plastic seal that has been placed over the termination point at the end of the solenoid, within the moulding.  See picture below.  Clean this terminal up, with a small wire or brass brush, & solder a new wire to it.  If the solenoid is good, then you are good to go, & that should solve the problem you had, as the symptoms you described, are from my experience, exactly what happens when the solenoid is not powered or working.

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Let us know how you go.

P.S.  If all fails & the solenoid doesn't click, and is dead, let us know.  I'm pretty sure you can buy a new one on line, though probably pretty expensive. One of us, here on Rollaclub, will have a old carby lying around, which will have a working solenoid thereon.

Cheers Banjo

Edited by Banjo
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If you end up doing as Banjo said, once you have a new wire soldered on stand the unit up in a vice and run masking tape around the circumference of the metal so it stands up as a circular dam.

Then fill it with epoxy. You should end up with a solid plug of epoxy 5-10mm deep holding the wires in place and stopping the soldered joint taking any stress. I had to do exactly all of this to a temp sensor where the wire fractured off flush with the plastic housing.

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Hi Jasper,

                  I was going to add what Altezzaclub has just mentioned, to my previous posting, but my post, was getting a bit long winded, as it was. (which is quite normal)

The bit of expoxy I suggested cutting off with a knife, is not actually part of the black moulding on the end of the solenoid.  During manufacturing, the solenoid was simply stood on its end, as in my last pic. above, & a big dob of black expoxy dropped over the bare terminal, to insulate it. You can see from the last pic. that strain relief was achieved by the wire entering the moulding, then doing a tight U turn, up through the terminal/ferrule, where it was soldered.  By soldering a new wire to the ferrule, you will lose the anchoring effect of the original wire, so Altezzaclub's suggestion, is a very good one.  So many electrical gremlins, in these olde cars are caused by poor of bad connections.  Lets not add to them !

Cheers Banjo

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Thanks for the replies Banjo and Altezza. I stripped the remaining 1 cm or so of the solenoid connecting wire, and connected it to the battery positive terminal while the solenoid was still attached to the carb (I assume this has the same effect given this is where the solenoid is supposed to function, and the engine is negatively grounded). I did it there because it was quite stubbornly in place screwed into the carb

Is there anything else worth trying before changing the solenoid? 

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I'd be tempted to disable it and try it, so it flows fuel all the time.

Cut the front nose off would be one idea, so it can't seal. Another would be to disable the spring that holds it forward to seal, open up the back where the wire goes in. ...or space the body backwards with more washers so it can't stick forward far enough to seal.

That would tell you what it does when you turn the motor off (maybe you won't even notice if it isn't working at all) and tell you if the solenoid is the idle problem.

Ultimately, find another one. We'll have them in the Woolshed somewhere if you're desperate.

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Hi Jasper,

                  Definitely, unscrew the solenoid from the carby body, using a 12mm OE spanner. It will come off.  Then place the body of the solenoid on the negative battery terminal like I previously suggested, & connect battery +ve to the power wire of the solenoid.  This test eliminates any possible earthing problems that may exist between the battery -ve & the engine/carby itself.

With the solenoid out, give the bass protruding fitting, a good blast with some carby & throttle cleaner, in case it is seized from "gunk" build up, inside the working parts of the solenoid.

When it "clicks", you should also be able to see the little "shiny" pin moving up & down, through the small holes in the brass barrel.

I'm not saying these solenoids can't fail, but from my experience, they are very reliable, & I've never had one fail altogether.

Cheers Banjo 

 

Edited by Banjo
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Now that I've removed the solenoid I can see why there is no click, etc--looks like a past owner has disabled it like Altezza has suggested. I guess one option is to replace the solenoid, but if it has been cut all along would that suggest that it's not the cause of the idling issue? 

CheersWIN_20171016_14_28_25_Pro.jpg.6e043b1bf9a5f1f4368e00f58b9a6535.jpg

Edited by Wingsforwheels
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Well well, maybe the previous guy was chasing the same problem.

Get a 10ml plastic syringe from a chemist, you don't need a needle, and use it to pump 5ml petrol into the hole the solenoid was in. Then take out the idle screw and do the same.  Really you should tke the carb off and pull the jets out so you can hose out all the jets and their passageways. You can buy a can of carb cleaner to do the same, I just use syringes because they're always lying aound here.

Of course none of this may be necessary, you might just have to re-set the idle speed...  You could try that first-  put the solenoid back in, warm it up and just screw in the idle speed screw at the throttle stop. Wind the idle mixture in half a turn and out a turn to see if that makes a difference too.

If it runs better then prepare to set the tappets, set the points, set the timing and re-set the mixture. Then you know its all as good as can be.   If it still backfires and runs badly then you can assume there is something blocking the idle circuit that needs to be flushed out.

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Very likely !  Sucking in extra air at idling, makes the mixture very lean.  You can but some little plastic "caps", to close these off at SCA.  Alternatively, get a foot of 3mm rubber hose, cut short lengths & saw up a 6" nail and plug the "ports" that way.  Always works for me.

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Cheers Banjo.

 

 

Edited by Banjo
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