crw41

On a cold start this morning I ran onto the following:

1. Cold start in the garage
2. I may have pump the gas pedal 2 or 3 extra times prior to turning the key
3. The car started and I went to close the gararge door
4. I noticed a drip under the car
5. I opened the hood and found a puddle of fuel in the crevice between the intake manifold and valve covers all the way around

I wiped things up until dry and then ran the engine with no recurrance of this.

What happened:

1. Did the float stick?
2. Did the bowl overflow?

Obviosly, I would like to avoid this again.

67vetteal

Seeing as you say the problem cleared itself up my instincts tell me it came from the side tube that delivers fuel to the rear bowl. Easy enough to put new "O" rings in. Another possibility is that one of the floats was temporarily stuck and fuel purged out the vent. I really do not think it could be the accelerator pump diaphram as it would not repair itself. Al W.

toddalin

I was getting puddling from my 600 dp and thought is was fuel lines. Turned out to be leaking at the gasket on the float adjustment nuts. You may want to check these.

67L36Driver

Holleys! Too many places to leak. Love my Q-Jet.

Trophy Blue

This happened to me as well. It turned out that the rear float was stuck. I unscrewed the sight plug and moved it with a small flat screwdriver. Haven't had a problem since.

Plasticman

Love my AFB's!

There are indeed too many locations to leak on a Holley (for us to diagnose from afar!). Could be any one of the various gaskets, seals, or O-rings. But the float sticking can also occur.

Recommend keeping an eye on it, and hope it does not happen again (but be prepared to see from where, if it does). Most leaks do not fix themselves!

Plasticman

crw41

Strange:

Wiped the mess up. I ran the car for 30+ minutes with no recurrance of the problem.

A few days ago I put some Stabil (may have been old) into the last fill up. I wonder if the Stabil could have caused the float to stick?

sting ry

Exact thing happened to me on a 396 with a holley carb, except when I turned around, flames were shooting out from under the hood!!!! I would keep a fire extinguisher handy until you find the problem and get it fixed.
Cheers
Steve

67vetteal

Answer to yopur question is "NO". Stabil would not be expected to cause this as it has no properties that would cause a float malfunction. BTW, these products are for the most part a waste of money. It is true that the Ethanol additive fuels we suffer with today do dissipate octane ratings more rapidly than the older compounds we used years ago. The normal length of winter layup does not warrant an additive. It is useful to start up and let run up to operating temperature at least once a month. Store with a topped off fuel tank of a high octane rating and a fresh oil change. JMHO Al W.

JohnZ

Unless you actually take the car out and drive it for ten miles or so to get the oil temperature up, just starting it and letting it run does more harm than good; starting it just generates another condensation cycle on cool-down, and the oil doesn't get hot enough at idle to boil off the condensation and blow-by contaminants from another rich-mixture start cycle - that makes the crankcase more acidic and tends to form sludge. Just change the oil (hot) before you put it away for the winter and leave it alone with nice fresh oil in it until spring.

Plasticman

Having suffered a 50 gal. tank of gas (in a boat) converting itself into orange jello, I would beg to differ. Was laid up in Sept., and refired in the following April. Have used Stabil ever since, with no issues. Better safe than sorry (as my granny use to say).

Plasticman

gonefishn

Love Q-jets too but those nasty casting plugs can leak gas into the manifold too.

John