1985 AMC Jeep Grand Wagoneer
 Carburetor Vent Solenoid Rebuild


The  Motorcraft 2150 carburetor on the AMC 360 has three fuel bowl vents.  Two vertical vents into the aircleaner housing and  an external vent to collect vapor when the engine is not running.  A solenoid activated valve keeps the external vent line shut when the engine is running.  Well, it is supposed to, but often when examined the tip of the valve stem is missing.  Where did it go?  Your carburetor bowl. :(    Why?  Probably extended exposure to heat and compenents of gasoline, especially today's reformulated fuels eventually caused the rubber(?) to disintegrate.  Unfortunately, this part, like the vapor canister, is not readily available new.  So, its repair time.
This is NOT a quick or easy repair.   Hopefuly this write-up will make it a little easier and let you hunt for tools and materials before you start in.
 >Also recomended is  How-to: Rebuild your fuel bowl vent solenoid 
by "iroc86" on the IFSJA forum.

1. Solenoid valve before dissassembly.
 Test valve for operation by turning ignition to "run".  Engine does not need to be running. This will power the solenoid and the plunger will extend.  If the tip survives, then no air can go through (will hold a vacuum).  If the tip is gone, look inside to see the metal plunger.  Turn ignition off and the plunger is no longer visible.

Note the orientation of the inlet and outlet to the solenoid itself.

Vent Solenoid.
2. Open up crimp.
This is an excercise in patience and care.  I found the best tools I had handy for this operation were a very sharp and thin punch and light hammer.  After getting enough of the crimp open, the small screw driver and channel-locks were also useful.


decrimp
3. Inside of Valve.
 Notice the charcoal  bits along with other dirt that hadn't yet made it to the carb bowl.  Charcoal bits? Where's that from?  The Vapor Canister.  You can read about rebuilding that here.

The crimp itself does not do any sealing.  There is a o-ring that seals the actuator to the base.  It can be seen  more clearly in the next photo.
Inside
4. The valve seat has an i.d. of  5/16".  Therefore the original tip either went into the seat or  was wider than 5/16".  I tried two approaches, one starting with hardwood dowel about 11/32" and the other with a nylon "button".  The button may have been a form of wall anchor for picture hanging.   You'll need to get creative here.  What you choose probably will depend on the materials and machinery you have access to.  A small lathe or milling maching opens up possibilities.  The drawing at the bottom of this page has measurements which should prove helpful. 

The valve stem itself has a groove to help retain the tip.  Again I believe a hard rubber was the original material.



Nylon used as plunger tip
5. Cleaned the valve with Goop.  Not sure what chems would be safe so I was conservative.  Honestly, carb cleaner would probably be OK on thehard white plastic ( nylon?).  Keep it away from the o-ring.
cleaned
6. Slide the two parts together and orient as it was originally.  Orientation is probably not super critical.
assembled
7. Test and recrimp.  I used channel locks.
recrimp
8. Added some self bonding tape to wrap it up.
tape




Cutaway Assembly Drawing of Solenoid Valve 5300 0848
Measurements were made with machinists scale and  drill bit shanks.   You should verify!Measurements of internals

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rev. 3 Feb 3 Jan 2015