Engine shutting down while driving

[IowaEagle]

Most of the new solenoids are made in China or Mexico, so that is not surprising.

[Nightpath]

Found something else that wasn't helping. The electric choke, which I didn't really pay attention to, has a fuse near the battery. Was poking around last night when I noticed it. Swapped it out so the choke now works.

It was allowing the butterfly to flop around, randomly closing the carb.

I might take the butterfly out and figure a way to make it a bit heavier on the larger side to ensure it doesn't want to flop closed.

[Mernsy]

Someone has wired that in themselves.

The power to the electric choke should come from the oil pressure sending unit.

[BenM]

Before you mess with the choke, the choke butterfly should not be loose. The spring in the choke housing should be securely attached to the choke, and the vacuum pull-off should be adjusted to prevent the choke from closing when vacuum is applied. (The choke is prevented from closing when the engine is running.) The choke butterfly is not controlled by weight or gravity but by spring tension.

The choke and the electric manifold heater should be controlled by the oil switch and not fused that way. If the manifold heater is not working the choke and idle jets are often set too rich to compensate resulting in problems with stalling out during warmup when the engine runs too rich. It also thins out your oil and wears out your engine faster.

[Nightpath]

Any pictures of how it should be? Making me think that the choke spring might be on backwards.

[Mernsy]

A quick search found this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JEEP-AMC-ELECTRIC-CHOKE-KIT-FOR-CARTER-BBD-2-BBL-CARBURETOR-4-2-L-6-CYL-ENGINE-/111383134547?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19eef3c153&vxp=mtr

[Nightpath]

So the arm from the butterfly connector sits in the "cup" of the choke spring correct?

[Mernsy]

Yes.

[BenM]

Here's a set of instructions in PDF form.

[Nightpath]

Any directions as to which wire the carb hooks into?

[Mernsy]

Should be a dark blue wire and a dark blue wire with a tracer in a female plug.

[Nightpath]

So the dark blue wire comes off the electrical connector that the oil pressure switch is connected to. I'll take a look at it. Seems like the old really did some great wiring jobs in the Eagle.

[Nightpath]

Does the electric choke have to be hooked up to the oil pressure switch?

I can't seem to find the wires you're talking about.

[Mernsy]

Not really. It should be because the power goes to the manifold heater after the choke.
Try following the wires from the oil pressure sender.

[BenM]

It's a drivability issue with the oil pressure switch. It prevents the electric choke from heating up until the engine has started. At the least you want an ignition circuit, one that is on only in the "run" position and never any other time. Otherwise you listen to your radio one day waiting for someone and your car won't start.

The manifold heater draws a lot of current, the oil pressure switch triggers a relay somewhere taped into the wiring harness one the firewall (that might help you find the wires). It's like a set of diesel glow plugs, and AMC didn't want it killing your battery if the alternator wasn't running to power it.

The part of the harness that controls the oil pressure switch, manifold heater, and choke heater is a sub-harness that plugs into the main harness somewhere on the passenger side.

Here's a diagram of the circuit.