On Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:42:47 -0500, wrote:

My next truck is going to have a carb, no matter how old it is.
You can have it. Carburetor rebuilds - leaky floats, sticky and leaky
needle valves, bad accellerator pumps, sticky and malfunctioning
chokes, bad fuel mileage and high exhaust emissions, perculation when
hot - all the problems that have been virtually eliminated by fuel
injection

My 89 Caprice has lots of miles and I've never had any carb problems,
aside from the choke being a little touchy. I cant complain about the
gas milage either.

When this car dont want to start (occasionally), it's because the engine
is still warm, weather is cold, and if the choke is closed too much, the
engine will flood. I pop the air cleaner cover, stick a tool in to hold
the choke open and it starts right up. This takes me one minute to fix.
(No starting problems at all in warm weather).

When my F.I. F-150 refuses to start in the same conditions, (partly warm
engine, which was shut off for a few minutes), there is nothing I can
do, other than sit there for 20 minutes or more, or start walking.

That's what I hate about F.I. if it dont start, or some other problem,
there is nothing you can do. If a carb engine dont start, you can
ususlly screw around with it and at least get home, if not fix the
problem. I've taken the tops off carbs on the shoulder of the road
because of a stuck float, and was driving again in no time.

On top of that, when a carb screws up, a $20 carb kit will fix it right
up. When a F.I. engine screws up, it's off to a mechanic, a tow truck,
and to the bank to get a loan for hundreds of dollars to get it running
again.

I've never worked as a mechanic, but I've done almost all my own auto
repairs since I started driving around 44 years ago. I rarely went to a
mechanic with the old cars. I've spent more to have F.I vehicles
repaired at a mechanic in the last 8 or 9 years (since I got my first
F.I vehicle), than I spent on parts the first 35ish years of driving.
And I've still done all the other repairs myself such as brakes,
u-joints, hoses, radiators, belts, tires, etc.....

I'm not impressed by F.I in the least. It's complicated, costly to
repair, leaves drivers stranded, less reliable, and most of the engine
work can only be done by the pros. The backyard mechanic/owner is
pretty much dead these days, at least for engine work.