1960s 60 Dashpot

[60eldo]

Just wondering if its a good thing to have vacumn line connected to the dashpot as it really serves no purpose, unless ur about to stall, which never happens. Can u just leave the hose disconnected and plug the line. Unless Im missing something. Same with the line that goes to E brake and neutral saftey switch.

[gkhashem]

The dashpot prevents the car from stalling when decelerating. I thought it was needed.

A carburetor dashpot prevents the engine from decelerating too quickly. It is composed of a cylinder, spring and a shaft that is attached to the throttle. When a driver depresses the gas pedal, the spring applies pressure to the shaft, causing it to close the throttle lever slowly. This movement allows the vehicle to return to idle smoothly and prevents the emission of high levels of carbon monoxide. Without the dashpot, the throttle lever would close abruptly, possibly causing the engine to stall due to an abrupt decrease in speed.

The e-brake if no vacuum on the pedal would need to be manually released to disengage the emergency brake. I would think that line would need to be capped or you have a vacuum leak.

[60eldo]

 So from the time I start my car vacumn pulls and  that lil button gets sucked in  and now has no control over idle speed. Shut car off button comes out, so that doesnt matter. The car is off. I still dont get it.

[Gabe Davis]

When I had my Carter AFB rebuilt by Daytona Parts Company I spoke with the gentleman that runs the place about the dashpot. He explained that they were needed on these cars because the idle is so low. For my non AC '59 it is 450RPM while in gear.

Because the idle is so low if you quickly get off of the accelerator the engine can stall. I watched it in action and it certainly helped more slowly bring the RPM down to idle.

[gkhashem]

Exactly as I stated above.

[Jon S]

For the life of me I do not understand why people would change or bypass a well engineered and tested device. The dashpot could save your life. If you decelerate too quickly without the dashpot, your car could stall and your vacuum reserve only gives you 3 pumps of power assist to your brakes. As to the vacuum release for the parking brake, why would you want to bypass that?  Cadillac spent millions of dollars refining these fine automobiles - you think you know better???

[60eldo]

Dont yell at me,,,LOL,,,so how do you set this up. With engine off the button is out, should it just be toughing the bolt? Or in a bit?

[Jon S]

Dont yell at me,,,LOL,,,so how do you set this up. With engine off the button is out, should it just be toughing the bolt? Or in a bit?

Dash pots come pre-adjusted. If you Turn the plunger bold it will break

[60eldo]

No, it has a bolt conected to a nut

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Most all the dashpots I have seen are a fixed plunger, with a pressure release built in, so that when the throttle lever is let off fast, the lever rides on the end of the shaft, and the shaft slowly sinks back into the round piece.

If one presses the plunder hard, and hold it, one will notice that the plunger slowly moves back, but hit the plunger lightly, the plunger will go back normally, as if it wasn't restrained.

The idea of it is to allow normal operation, but stop the throttle lever from going back too fast when it is lowered tee fast.

Now, the Dashpot is not to be mistaken with the electronic anti-dieseling valve which only releases the throttle lever to close the throttle plates when the ignition is turned off, to stop the engine from running on.   These were only fitted to engines when anti-pollution controls came into being in the early '70's.

Bruce.  

[cadman59]

Dont yell at me,,,LOL,,,so how do you set this up. With engine off the button is out, should it just be toughing the bolt? Or in a bit?

It is descriped exactly in the Factory Shop Manual. 

[Clewisiii]

1961 parts. I just love pictures to talk around. This one has the adjustment on the bracket. But I know some have a threaded tip on the vacuum pot.

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

With all due respects, this sounds like it might be an idle speed up actuator.  With all the vacuum lines connected and the engine running what happens when you shift from drive to neutral (again with ALL the vacuum lines correcty installed?
Greg Surfas

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I agree.

A proper Dashpot has no external connections.   Just relies on internally opening the valve when the throttle return pressure is soft.

Bruce.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Have a look in the various shop manuals. From memory: when the engine is running normally at idle, the tip is retracted by the action of the vacuum. By releasing the gaz pedal quickly, the engine may turn too slowly, alomst in a stall condition, reducing the amount of vacuum. This event allow the tip of the dashpot to extend, avoiding the engine to stall.

[Jon S]

Have a look in the various shop manuals. From memory: when the engine is running normally at idle, the tip is retracted by the action of the vacuum. By releasing the gaz pedal quickly, the engine may turn too slowly, alomst in a stall condition, reducing the amount of vacuum. This event allow the tip of the dashpot to extend, avoiding the engine to stall.

Exactly!

[dadscad]

Roger is correct.  My 63 has a vacuum operated anti-stall actuator.  The 64 had one that operated like Bruce described.

[dadscad]

You can see the vacuum line going to the actuator behind the throttle linkage on my 63.

[dn010]

You could save yourself and others a lot of time and frustration by just opening up the shop manual first - all of the answers to your questions are in there. It will tell you what it is, why it's there and how to adjust it without someone else having to look and requote it here. Page 10-25 (20D - throttle check adjustment) of the 1959 shop manual, here it is if you don't have yours handy:
https://cadillac.oldcarmanualproject.com/manuals/1959/1959%20Shop%20Manual/10-Engine%20Fuel%20and%20Exhaust/image25.html

Dont yell at me,,,LOL,,,so how do you set this up. With engine off the button is out, should it just be toughing the bolt? Or in a bit?

[60eldo]

 Dan , when I opened your link I got SPYWARE. Had to shut my PC down.