Can anyone tell me what the fix would be for a choke light staying on and the idle rpm's a bit high. When a put it in drive (auto) the rear end sits down fairly hard. I am thinking it might be because of the idle rpm's which are around 950. I was told that there is a relay that measures the temp of the oil and sends it to the choke to open or close. Is that true and if so, what exactly is it called so I can find one.

This will be my first C3 and my wife will be driving that. I have a C4, 6-speed which for some reason I never got around to showing her how to drive.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

I assume this is a later model c3, since i believe the earlier ones had non-electric chokes (may be wrong about that but it shouldn't matter in terms of the solution)
The choke light staying on means that you've lost voltage at the choke heater, and therefore the choke isn't opening. Similar in principle to the gen light coming on to indicate that the alternator is no longer charging.
This could well be why the idle is a bit high.

Is it a stock carb? And what year is she? (The car, not the wife) I'm really sorry, I typed that question, read it back and I couldn't resist, please don't take that the wrong way )

Give us a bit more info on the car and I can point you towards the choke relay. On the later models, the relay is in the centre console, and you get at it by taking the carpet panel off. You'll also need to check at the choke itself, to make sure the wire hasn't come loose. There is also a fuse to check, which is dedicated to the choke. Don't know if you've seen a c3 fuse box yet, it ain't fun to get at! Half an hour with a multimeter and you should be able to sort it.

Cheers
Theo

 

Thanks for your imput so far. All i know is that the guy told me that the carberator is a Rochester 4BBL. I don't have the car in my posession yet but i will hopefully the weekend. I need to purchase a book on 81 vettes to look up the locations of fuse boxes and such.

 

Sounds stock for an 81, by this time they were using the E4ME electronically controlled unit. Kind of a wierd offspring of regular electronic injection and a traditional carb.
I have to confess I don't know if the wiring for the choke is the same for this year as for earlier, as it may now be controlled by the ECM. If no-one else responds beforehand, I have some info in my 1980 shop manual about the system (although it's from 1980, the california cars for this year used the system that was used across the board the following year) so I'll have a quick look through that this evening.
There's a fella here by the name of UKPaul who runs an 81, with the stock electronic carb system, hopefully he'll notice this thread and wade in...

 

If this is a 1981, I would check the electronic connection on the carb first before I go tearing into anything else. Take your air breather off. Watch how you disconnect all the hoses. Go around to the passenger side of the car and look for a green wire that connects to the carb. The connector used really sucks and it will slip on and off really easy and if you don't put it on correctly, just by replacing the breather you can knock it off and the "choke light" will stay on. Mine would even buzz! Drove me nuts until I figured out how that thing connected to the carb. I would suggest buying both the Shop and Assemply manuals for your car, you will need em.

 

Also, certainly on the '81, check the alternator o/p. If it's low/gone then the choke light stays on.
Car dropping down could be due to the high rpms. Also, I started mine up a few days ago after it had stood all winter. For some reason the fibreglass rear spring seems to lift the rear of the car slowly over time. It did it last year & it's done it this year. When I put it in "D" the rear of the car dropped so fast it felt like the tires had rolled into a hole (idle speed of 550rpm). Normally there's only a small "squatting" when I put it in gear, but this one was dramatic. Had the car been standing for any time before you started it? Don't know if this raising of the rear is peculiar to just mine, or if it's a common thing. After a short drive the rear ride height is back to normal.