Hi All,
I have a '84 Chevy Celebrity wagon with a Rochester E2SE computer controlled carb in it. The carb has never been rebuilt and has the original mixture control solenoid in it. About 2 months ago the car started having problems with surging, backfiring, etc. at part throttle. I replaced the usual tune up stuff, plug wires, cap and rotor, and it seemed to fix it, then a couple weeks later it started acting up again. After more tearing my hair out running tests from the service manual which all came up fine, I pulled the MC solenoid and found that the viton tip had fallen off and was jammed in the solenoid.
I was fortunately able to find another MC solenoid in a wrecking yard for $10 that had an intact tip, and replaced it and everything is fine again.
The problem is that the replacement was the same as the one I have - it's using that damn rubber tip. Since it too is 20 years old I'm quite sure that it's going to break off same as the other one and I'm going to have the same problem all over again.
The research I've done tells me that apparently the aftermarket replacement solenoids now have a steel tip that doesen't have this problem. However, a new one from NAPA is $170.00!!!
Now, when I was in the parts store talking to the guy he said that he happened to have a tip repair kit on the shelf for these solenoids. He said that it was a special order years ago and was never picked up, and the company that makes them quit making them, and he wouldn't guarentee it would even work.
My question to the group is have you ever used one of these and do they work? It doesen't seems as though the MC solenoid can come apart to get at the tip to replace the end on it.
Thanks, Ted