Hey Guys,
My car has been sitting for years. It has robust over the counter 454 with an Edelbrock. It ran for years like a tractor. It was very reliable. I just stopped using it. So, i tried to get it going and I dumped a little bit of gas in the carb throat and it ran for 2 seconds. Repeat, repeat ... repeat. ... I put about 3 gallons of fresh gas in the tank. Same thing. I pulled the fuel line off the carb and its pumping.

What do you think I should do? Crank and squirt carb cleaner or take the carb off and disassemble and clean? Its got antique plates and I just want to get it going and drive it a little bit.

 

you will get ten different answers to this but for what it's worth this is mine.

First get a fire extinguisher and keep it handy if you haven't already...
Fiberglass lights easy and burns pretty good...

1 check and make sure you have gas in your car ( sorry I had to put that in there)

* you can try lightly tapping with a Rubber mallet on the side of the carburetor as sometimes the needle and seat will stick together (doubtful)


2. Disconnect the power to the distributor ( eliminates possible errant sparks from old plug wires) gas spilled = gas vapor + spark = fire = a corvette owner with hurt feelings

3. Disconnect the fuel feed line at the carburetor and attach a small container to catch the possible fuel discharge of the fuel pump.

4. Have a buddy spin the engine over and see if you get any fuel. I you do get fuel, you know everything upstream is ok ( which it should be, you never know though)

5. If you get no fuel and you did step (1)
at this point I am assuming that you are getting fuel If not I will save the rest for a later reply.

6. If you have fuel in your catch can. The carb has got to come off
go buy a kit for your carb, some chemical to soak it in and set an afternoon set aside to go through it.



Good luck, Jim

 

WOW ! Hey Jim ... thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time.

Well, I did put a couple gallons in the tank and I did pull the hose off the carb and I did get some fuel out when I cranked it over. (I totally skipped the safety part ... in my haste. So, I got to the bottom line, ok. The carb has to come off. Darn. I'm a shopper. I get my stuff online and it will take a week to get a kit. I was hoping to get it going sooner than that. Well, thanks so much for confirming. I've been doing fuel injections a lot and havent looked at a carb for quite a while.

(I always try to follow these basic rules - Dont fix it unless its broken and - Fix it until it is broken.)

 

Good Luck with the rebuild!


Jim

 

Hello Jim,
I vac'd the fuel line on top of the engine and sucked out some really discolored fuel. it wouldnt burn when i poured a little in the carb. But, i got to a point where it was discolored and looked more like fuel and it burned. I took off the top of the carb (carter adb type) and cleaned some sand/whatever out of the floatbowls and sprayed carb cleaner and air through the jets and it seemed to be ok (such as it is). I replaced the filter and fuel line and put in 5 gal of fresh gas.

I hate to crank the starter too much so i poured some gas in and it ran pretty well but only for 10-15 seconds and then died. I would wait for an epiphony (sp?) but none came so i cranked again and it would start and run for a 10 sec and die. I would be in a state of wonderment for a minute or so and poured a little fresh gas in the top and same thing; it would run for 10-15 sec and die. This happened about 10 times. And when I say 10-15 sec, what i mean is ... i am counting while it runs to see if anything changes. so, its pretty consistant in that it stops running after 10-15 seconds. is that how much fuel is in the float bowl?

I have an electric choke on it but I dont think its ever worked right. But, it idles with no misfires; just a nice fast idle and then it quits.

Is there anything obvious you can think of? I thought 5 gal would be enough but the car is sitting on a slight incline and who knows maybe its sucking air and it just runs the fuel out of the float bowls. i dont know. i dont know if there is residual pressure created by the mechanical fuel pump so gas keeps flowing into the float bowls after the engine stops.

I was going to pull the carb again and check measure the floats and try to figure out if the choke is working at all. I put all the linkages back on exactly where they were. This is an antique and there are no smog devices on it other than sucking air from the valve cover. So, i dont think there is a vacuum leak from a broken hose.

Thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it.

Tim

 

I found out its an upstream fuel delivery problem. Its not in the carb. I pulled the hose off the carb and finally found someone to turn the key while I looked at the fuel flow out of the hose (to the carb) and it initially pumps and then stops - not even a trickle. So, there is an obstruction somewhere. And, I noticed that if I wait a minute and then crank again, I get an intial flow and then nothing so it seems to track well with how it was running. When I turned the key and then looked at the container, I saw fuel so I thought it was ok but it wasnt.
-Tim