kcarlasc

So.. got gas the other day. Pulled out onto the road gave it a little gas and it died, restarted died, restarted got a little ways down the road died, restarted and all seemed fine after that...

Its a 76 and it still has the original tank, etc.. thinking I kicked up some crud and sent it through the lines.. its a new filter and did not see any large debris in it.

Can anyone thing of anything else?

roadblock69

I would suspect that you may have gotten a little water with your last fill of fuel. That is not common with the ethanol blends, but not as uncommon as you would think otherwise.

johnt365

I agree, signs point to water or gas quality as well. Especially if you have fuel at the carb and spark at the plugs. Are you able to restart it now and if so can you keep it running by working the throttle? You may try to tshoot with a shot of starting fluid.

kcarlasc

Good point.. I never thought about water.. I may have some in the tank too, was going to replace it this winter anyways...

Thanks!!!

johnt365

Odd though that it would happen 3 times in a row like that and then go away. Seems like a bad fuel issue would have persisted.

roadblock69

Water does not support combustion. When water gets into the carb then passes into the intake, it kills the engine. On the restart, it gets some fuel and fires. When more water makes it to the carb same situation arises. With each occurance it move water from the fuel system into the engine causing the engine to die. Along with that, more water is removed from the system each time.
There continues to be a risk of issues until the water is all removed. The easiest way to remove water is add methanol alcohol to the fuel system. If the contamination is significant, it may be necessay to flush the fuel tank to remove all the water.
Water is heavier than fuel. It will settle at the bottom of the tank near the fuel pick up point. That is the likely reason that the car died shortly after leaving the station.

Crepitus

"Got Gas Car Died" Wow thats knarly gas, Deviled eggs or Kimchie will do that to me. Sorry bout your car

sly vette

Hard for me to imagine that any gas you got or debris in your tank would affect your engine in the short distance from the gas pump to where you pulled onto the road. Unless of course the car idled for a while at the pump. That would mean that all the fuel in the line(I'm guessing a pint or so)from the tank to the carb,plus the fuel in the carb,would have been used in a very short distance. I know some of these cars get horrific fuel mileage but.......

roadblock69

The only volume that needs to be considered is the length of 3/8" line from the tank to the carb. Since the carb is not emptied before fuel is added, that volume is considered static.
Once the water has gotten to the pick-up in the tank it makes it way quite quickly to the carbuerator. Since the water is heavier than fuel, it falls to the bottom of the float bowl. There is where the problems arise. I hope that this clears it up.

noonie

Get yourself a few feet or 3/8" hose, you can even use cheap pvc clear tubing.
Let the car sit at least overnite to separate the water and gas as best possible.
Remove the rubber hose to the fuel pump at the frame rail.
Attach the longer hos or tubing and if it doesn't start draining on it's own, put a few pounds air pressure into the tank thru the gas filler.
Let it syphon out to your satisfaction.
You will get any dirt particles plus all the water at the bottom out.
On old tanks without liners, I do that for every gas filter change. Amazed at how much crude etc accumulates.

It's not that uncommon to get a slug of water at gas stations these days.