Holley secondaries won't open

I haven't rebuilt the pod. The same guy that said bend the con. rod told me I shouldn't open the diaphragm when I was cleaning it. I've put the carb underload while it was running and they didn't move. Is there anyway to tell what's wrong without driving it? I've heard about the paperclip trick but the car can't be driven right now. Should I just replace the whole vacuum pod? Or would some sort of vacuum leak cause a problem if they open from vacuum? If I had the money I'd just buy a carb with mechanical secondaries, they seem more straight forward.