The car does start, after a lot of trying. I know it takes awhile but it tries my patience each time.

It turns over without firing off for the longest time. Then I hear a small dull knock. It’s not like a normal engine knock that is the sound of doom for an engine. I know what that sounds like and it isn’t that.

Then it will try to barely fire off once. Then nothing. Then it will try to fire off again. Then it will backfire through the carb. I saw flames shoot an inch to two inches out of the carb! I was glad I removed the air filter! Then nothing, it fired off once. Then it superted for two more tries, then it fired off and was good.

I shut it off and then I started it right up with just a turn of the key. I did this twice.

Yesterday it took me awhile to get it started. Same as above. And once I got it started I could hear a vacuum leak while the engine was running. A couple of times when I pressed the accelerator linkage down I could hear air being shot into the carb in place of gas. After about 2 minutes of idling it cleared up and ran just fine, still with the vacuum leak.

Anybody know any possible culprits that could cause this and how to fix it?

 

Yep, sounds like a vacuum leak.....fixing that may fix the whole thing.

 

On the off chance that you may be a young guy you need to pump the accelerator pedal to the floor one time to set the choke and give the engine a shot of fuel. Take your foot off the pedal and turn the key. If the choke is adjusted properly it should start right up.

No offense meant but a lot of young guys now a days have never driven a car with a carburetor before. Carburetors and fuel injection start differently.

BigBlockk

Later.....

 

My last vehicle, my first one, was a 1977 stepside Dodge pick-up. I know about carbs, the hard way. I had to adjust the beast every time the temperature change was greater than 10 degrees in the span of 12 hours or more!


I recently rebuilt the carb and flooded the carb when I put it back on and went to start it up. It's a stock '74 Q-jet, without a choke plate or linkage. I don't know what happened to it, other than one word. BUBBA!

 

You say it doesn't have a choke plate on it and you wonder why it is so hard to start. This would be a good place to start.

BigBlockk

Later.....

 

With a 74 you need the choke and all parts go slow read all you can and listen to forum members.

 

I know I should have them but I can't exactly get them right now. I have had the car for a few months and it starts just fine without the parts. Yeah I know what your thinking. There is no way. But trust me. It doesn't seem to effect it any.

I'll check the vacuum lines tomorrow and see what that does.

Bigblock, I am not asking about the choke plate, I know that this isn't the problem. It ran without it, it's going to run without again just as easy.

 

Huh? You say the engine starts fine without the choke but you start a thread about how hard it is to start.

I was under the impression that the choke system was there to make the engine easier to start when it is cold. I've only worked on cars for 36 years so I may be wrong about that.

BigBlockk

Later.....

 

I was starting to think Scotty had beamed me to a different thread.

Your hard starting issues are all classic symptons of a missing choke.

 

Well....Arizona in the summer = no choke necessary.........I think the engine cools down after you start it!!! LOL........(mine does have the choke plate....it makes it start so much better) Sorry, I always forget some people live in cold country!

 

Check the EGR valve too (If you still have one). If the EGR valve sticks open the car will be very hard to start, especially if there's no choke either.

You'll need to remove it to check. The ports on the bottom should be closed.

 

Thank you for the tip Zimo, I will check that along with all the hoses.

Now, BigBlock, I have had the car since February, I am currently living in North Carolina. It snowed two weeks before I got the car. The weather temps remained in the 30 and 40s when I got the car now its in the 50s, in the morning. The car has been missing the choke since I owned it and it's just now acting up. I think it would have acted up in those cold mornings when I first had it then now when the temp is about double. What do you think?

The car will probably start easier with a choke plate but the fact remains that I use the car as a daily driver, every single day and it is just now being hard to start. So I highly doubt it is because of the way it has been for months.

New problem means something else broke, right?

Oh and the last few times i have started it, it was in the middle of the day! When its anywhere from 75* to 95* I don't think the engine is cold.

I am not trying to be disrespectful but it is irritating. I know I need to put a choke on it, for it run 'properly' and I also know it will run without a choke. My logic tells me it might be the choke with the combination of something new. Or some new problem by itself, and I am trying to figure out what that new something is. I KNOW THE CHOKE NEEDS TO BE FIXED.

Sorry I am just getting frustrated. I would rather have straight answers/advice/tips than sarcasm. Yeah I may be young in years but that doesn't mean I can't read something the first time and understand it.

Have a good day sir.

Thank you for the tips gentlemen. I will see if it fixes anything.

 

Is the timing set right? Have you tried turning the distributor at all to change advance? Does your dist have vacuum advance? Just trying to get some more info.

 

I haven't checked the timing, I don't have a gun at the moment. All my tools are back in Texas.

I haven't turned the distributor.

I believe it has a vacuum advance. It has a vacuum line that hooks up to the distributor at its base.

I replaced the plugs, and distributor cap and rotor, it started up fine after that and then the next day was when all these problems started happening. I will triple check the wires but I highly doubt I have a wire out of place. Once it starts up, it runs like just fine.

 

Ok, when you try to turn it over, does it spin fast or does it sound like it is having a hard time spinning/cranking over? Does it sputter at all when cranking or just a lot of spinning with no firing?

 

It spins like it normally use to. It doesn't seem to be under any kind of strain or load to turn. It just simply won't fire off. After a few tries it sputters, then it won't fire off, then it sputters again for a long period. Then it fires off and I coax it to life with alot of gas and get the rpm's up and then I ease off of it and it settles down into about a 7-8 idle.

 

I've got a '82 Chevy C10 truck with an inline 6 (that badly needs to be rebuilt!) and I have to steadily pump the gas for about 20 seconds while turning the key a few times just to finally get her to start but after that she runs just fine. I do have to sit there pumping in the gas until it finally can idle. Keep trying things though, like disconnecting vacuum lines, etc - to take variables out of the equation. Good luck with your vette!

 

Does it have points or a HEI?

 

Thank you for your help.

It has points.

I just tried starting it.

I noticed that I could hear a sucking sound over the engine as it was turning over and that when I pressed the gas pedal the sucking sound went away. Is this normal?

All the spark plug wires are in their correct spot. The PCV valve is still good. And I didn't see any visible holes in any of the vacuum lines. One line that comes out of the front of the carb is plugged with a screw. I don't see it's other half but their is a vacuum operated device that is bolted to the intake manifold that has no vacuum hose hooked up to it.

 

Now it isn't turning over very fast at all. Almost like it is under great strain or load to turn over. Wouldn't be that the starter is going bad on me, is it?