Engine Mismanagement System working perfectly? Check!

[jiho]

Best bet for the OP is to search junkyards and collect spare emission parts.

Not a lot of yards in the area. A few of these motors do pop up here and there, but never the right year for this particular part. Must be either an '82 or the California-version '83. Right now there's an '83 Monte a couple hundred miles south, but it has the Chevy V6 not the Buick.

 

[84 W40]

Maybe y'all oughta go dig up that book you haven't seen in 30 years.

I may have a copy of it right here in front of me: "1981 to 1985 Carbureted Drivability and Emissions Diagnostics," a GM Expertec book published in 1988. Could that be it? No "bi metal valve" was used in any of the EFE systems, that's why I put in in quotes. TVS was used in some without ECM control.

You may be confusing EFE with the ThermAC air cleaner. That used a bi-metal valve to operate a butterfly door in the air snorkel.

What catches my eye in that book is the zillion and a half different variations on several different themes they managed to spew forth in just a few short years for a system (CCC) that never should have been manufactured to begin with.

Not looking to get into any flame wars here. This thread is MY rant, not yours.

I know its your rant, I just tying too help. That book you have is the same book I received in 1986 at the GM Tech school. It wasn't published in 1988 and not confused with ThermAC air cleaner.
Do you have this picture in your book

 

[jiho]

No, nothing like it. In particular, no thermostat and no "To Air" branch. But notice --- you DO have a check valve, between the carburetor and the solenoid. That's where my check valve is.

In my book, EFE is covered in Sub-Section C9, with pages and figures numbered C9-*.

What book is that in, and what motor is that for?

 

[84 W40]

No, nothing like it. In particular, no thermostat and no "To Air" branch. But notice --- you DO have a check valve, between the carburetor and the solenoid. That's where my check valve is.

In my book, EFE is covered in Sub-Section C9, with pages and figures numbered C9-*.

What book is that in, and what motor is that for?

That book you have is one out of four books they gave us during GM training in 1986 and it was never part of the training course and never used. Information in that book is same info you would see in a service manual but what GM did to make it simple for the mechanics at the dealer is dump all carburetor drivability issue for all carburetor engines into one book instead of having 10 different service manuals.
The picture I posted was in a GM CCC emissions book and was used during the training course and goes into depth about emissions, EGR, EFE, CCC carb and anything that the ecm controlled. A lot of information you won't find in a service manual.
Any California emissions car or engine would have the EFE setup just like the picture I posted with a solenoid and the bi metal valve according to the book have but I do remember just seeing this setup on the 3.8 buick non turbo engines, I can't remember the other engines.

 

[jiho]

I'm more curious than ever about the book that figure is from. Could you give me info so I can try to find a copy, like the full title? Maybe a shot of the cover?

 

[jiho]

The one way I see that there could possibly be a thermostat for my EFE, is if one is somehow built into the solenoid that my EGR was hooked up to. This occurs to me because of the "To Air" branch in your diagram, and the odd air bleed behavior I mentioned of that solenoid on my car.

But your diagram shows the "To Air" branch and the thermostat as separate parts spliced into the hose, not part of the solenoid. There are no separate parts (other than a check valve) on the car, in the vacuum hose routing diagram on the emissions label on the fan shroud, in the shop manual, in the parts catalog, or in this GM Expertec book I have.

In addition, both of my solenoids are N.O. (Normally Open), but the info I have says the EFE solenoid is supposed to be N.C. (Normally Closed). Your diagram doesn't say which.

If a thermostat is somehow built into this solenoid, that would certainly validate your claim to info that was left out of other books.

Anyway it makes NO sense to me from a functional point of view, but that doesn't mean it isn't so.

 

[jiho]

Meanwhile, might as well turn the check valve back around "right," tee in a vacuum gauge, and start the car. If it holds no vacuum at any time, at least it's that much better for smogcheck. If EFE mysteriously starts working right, so much the better still.

 

[jiho]

If it holds no vacuum at any time, at least it's that much better for smogcheck.

Oops. In that case the air bleed would just be a vacuum leak, like a disconnected hose. That wouldn't be better for anything, lol.

Anyway, haven't tested this yet ....

 

[jiho]

In addition to factory shop manuals and parts catalogs, this is what I have. Not from any training session, bought at books4cars several years ago.

 

[jiho]

That book you have is one out of four books they gave us during GM training in 1986 and it was never part of the training course and never used. Information in that book is same info you would see in a service manual but what GM did to make it simple for the mechanics at the dealer is dump all carburetor drivability issue for all carburetor engines into one book instead of having 10 different service manuals.

In every case I've seen, all functional details are shown and at least briefly described. This would be a first.