Hello, I put a new Carter W-1 carburetor on my '38 Chev today, got a new rebuilt one from the Carburetor shop. I pulled top of of float bowl and used a very small eye-dropper type bottle filled with gasoline and probably put about one-half of the eye bottle of gas in the bowl. Not sure if that was enough. Carb install was easy and car fired right up. However after running about 10 seconds (which it hasn't done in 10 years), it died, and I wasn't able to get it re-started. I think I might have flooded the carburetor; but not sure. Another VCCA member Mike Deeter coming by tomorrow to help me troubleshoot. Really happy with the VCCA membership; couldn't get my old car running without the friends and knowledge base out there. I tested the fuel pump, and it is pumping a lot of fuel. I hooked the vacuum line up that ran to my distributor advance. Now I am recharging my new 6V battery overnight to try again tomorrow. If ya'll have any ideas I do appreciate them! Thanks everyone
If it was/is flooded the gas will evaporate and should start right up tommorow. My normal starting proceedure is (after settting all night) pull out the choke all the way. give the gas pedal one pump. Put the choke abut 1/2 way in as soon as it starts and slowly (keep un-choking the enging for the first 10 minutes).then depress the starter and it should run but may not idle so I would pull out the throttle so it idles a little faster
I think you may have shown me one of the problems. I have not connected my throttle cable yet. I used the set screw on the carb to keep the throttle arm a little higher than at the bottom (I may not be using the correct terms; I am talking about the long vertical arm that rises and falls as you pump the accelerator pedal). Also I did NOT release the choke during the 10 second run; I thought I needed to keep it engaged fully for about 30 seconds or more. I will try your method tomorrow morning. Thanks a bunch
Not releasing the choke may have been the problem. Like Gene stated, if flooded, it will dry out, and should start tomorrow. When it starts, immediately push the choke in about half-way.
Thanks. My friend and I pulled the fuel line off again and watched it sputter gas as we cranked the engine. The gas is really stained bad. We are wondering if the fuel tank had such crud in it that when I filled the tank up with new fuel, it is weakening the fuel perhaps, we don't know. I will immediately push the choke in half-way after it starts, Jon. Thanks. Funny, the car ran for about 15 seconds when we had the fuel line disconnected, and it ran really smooth - I suppose it burned off all the fuel in the bowl. Another thought we have is my fuel pump may not be pushing enough fuel through - it may be too weak. So we plan to replace the fuel pump with a spare my friend has next Saturday, and we'll see if it goes then. And I may go ahead and drain the tank and re-fill it with fresh fuel (again), in an effort to flush out any crud that may be in there. I may not have mentioned, but the fuel tank sat empty for about 10 years. Thanks again everyone
An afterthought ... since the engine ran really well when it burned out the fuel in the bowl, perhaps the gasoline is fine, it just needs to have enough supply from the pump to keep the engine going.
Jon, I looked at the link and I didn't remove anything shown on the PDF. All I did was remove the screw that holds the black cover over the float assembly area, and then tried to insert fuel down the female end where the screw was. Today my friend showed me where that screw bottoms out; no fuel went into the bowl at all. I remember you told me about using a mustard bottle or something of that nature and "squirting" the fuel into the bowl, but I don't know where to put the fuel into the bowl. Can you show me which part to remove to insert the squeeze bottle? Thank you
To fill the fuel bowl turn engine over with the starter. Should take less that a minute. After it has fill give te gas pedal two pumps and engine should start. To speed up the process youcan dump an ounce or two into the air horn before trying to start.
Thanks guys. My car ran about 20 seconds, and I put it in gear and it rolled about an inch or two. Woo hoo!!! I am very excited. It does keep dying, but the time it runs is longer and longer. Could this be just due to the amount of time the engine sat up without running? The 20 second run got the exhaust manifold hot. Thanks everyone! I am just going to keep being patient unless I hear otherwise from ya'll. Thanks again
When the engine is cold it needs to idle faster or it will die. If your hand trottle is not working set the idle speed up by the idle speed screw. You can see the screw on the driver side (left side) of the engine , the screw head will be looking at you and is on the linkage at the bottom of the carburetor. Start by giving it one turn in the clock wise direction.
A follow up. Today, I disconnected the fuel pump inlet line. I put a small hand pump on it, in an effort to determine if the fuel line has blockage. The hand pump pulled a great deal of suction, and very little fuel. This made me think there might be blockage in my fuel line upstream of my fuel pump.
Next I disconnected the fuel line from the fuel tank at the rear of my car. Strange, I wonder why the fuel line exiting the tank is about 3 inches or so above the bottom? Why is that? Well, only a small amount of fuel trickled out of the tank. I had put 5 gallons in the dry tank, and I am wondering if this only filled the tank to just above the fuel exit line. Looking at the volume below the tank discharge line, I can see 4 to 5 gallons below the exit line.
I put 5 more gallons of fuel in the tank and reconnected everything. Now my fuel pump bowl is only 1/4 to 1/3 full, and I can't seem to get the level to raise. I tried re-tightening the fuel pump connections, and still can't get the level to change. I am going to let the car settle and try again next weekend. I am wondering if the fuel pump is my problem; it is just too weak. We are going to replace it next Saturday and see if everything works. I am so close to driving my beautiful car!
The hand pump pulled a great deal of suction, and very little fuel.
Sure sounds like a blockage to me. Like Gene suggest, blow air in the fuel line where disconnected at the fuel pump. Then blow air in the tank fill and watch what comes out at the pump end. Probably crud in the tank.
If the compressor unclogs the line and the car then runs fine, it will happen again. Seems to me that you need to drop the tank and clean it out really well. Typical problem on cars that have sat for a long time.
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You really don’t need much of an air compressor if any at all. You can easily tell if it is blocked just by blowing into a rubber hose you push over the end of the steel line. You will either hear bubbles through the fuel filler or you won’t.
Quick update! I disconnected the fuel line between the pump and the tank, and used a small air compressor and blew the line clear. It was clear to begin with; no problem with it. Then I put the air compressor end on the fuel tank output line (after removing the gas cap), and the air compressor ran up several psi (I couldn't see how much); I could hear the air compressor struggling to push air. I held the line on the end for at least a half a minute, and then put a suction pump on the end to see if whatever was in there cleared out. It must have, because gasoline started running out so quick that I had to quickly shut the pump off and connect everything. I went to start the car, and the fuel pump filled up QUICKLY. I mean, in less than 15 seconds it was full of gasoline. The car started up, and I drove it around our subdivision several times. Runs wonderfully! So very happy to be behind the wheel. What a head-turning experience; everyone stares at my wonderful car. Very very happy, thanks everyone for the great suggestions! And thanks to Mike Deeter for coming over and helping!
Good to know you found the problem but unless whatever plugged the outlet is removed it may happen again. I would get the tank professionally cleaned so you don't find yourself stuck on the road. The tow bill could be higher than the cost of having the tank cleaned.
I completely agree that whatever "fix" you achieved will probably be short term.
As far as cleaning a tank and maybe even sealing it goes, our posts about that are all over the place with no conclusive answer.
My personal situation is that I have spent more time and money cleaning my tank twice than a new one would cost. How stupid is that? Plus it is a real PITA getting the tank in and out of a '37 coupe.
The only thing that is saving me is that I have an inline Fram G2 filter right at the tank outlet. I can see when it is filling up with fine rust particles and change it before it gets blocked.
Both of you guys in New Hampshire and Iowa are spot on correct! My beauty died a few blocks from the house, and my friend Mike Deeter came with his '40 Special Deluxe and towed me back to the house. I siphoned about 5 gallons of my 10 gallons out of the tank, and plan to drop the tank tomorrow and start the "cleaning process". I understand the plastic tank will work, but good grief I know it is a PITA but I really want to keep my '38 a '38 .... not stupid at all! An inline filter is a good idea.
Tomorrow I will see how far I get with swishing around the tank and cleaning it.
Stay tuned - with my '38, there is always "more to come". Thanks everyone
I had a similar experience with my ”˜41. I dropped the tank and found rust on the fuel sender. I replaced the sender, shook and flushed my tank. Then I my idle jet was clogged from that crap. Lastly my float bowl was full of crap. Hopefully you haven’t introduced too much crap into your new carb I realized with fuel you need to start at the source and work your way forward
Caution! This photo may be disturbing! I pulled my fuel tank and found where the upper unit of the fuel tank body was full of perforations. Rotted. And this photo is just the first crud that came out when I tapped the fill line onto a metal pan. I can't save the fuel tank; I didn't know how bad it was rotted until I pulled it. Looks like I will have to order a plastic replacement.
My guess is that is your main problem the next is how far down the pipe did the rest of the crud go? It may well be near the fuel pump so I would put lots of air pressure down the pipe making sure the ends arent connected to anywhere you dont want the crud. Tony
Thanks Rusty Heaps and Modiol and everyone! My Tanks inc tank just came in this weekend. Decided to get steel not poly. Still waiting on new sending unit. May be able to install this Thanksgiving weekend.
Thanks for the update. Make sure you check the sending unit before you install it. Connect the sending unit wire to it and ground it to the chassis. Move the float arm through the full range and watch the gauge.
And make sure the unit is grounded when it is in the installed tank. Chevy always depended upon sending unit grounding to the tank and the tank grounding to the body or frame to complete the circuit. These steps will reduce the frustration factor! Don't ask how I know!
Also, I will be interested in your assessment of how well the replacement tank matches the old tank and fits into the car. I have had mixed experiences.
