VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 1925 chevy engine

I'm back after a brief hiatus due to work and winter. I stored my 1925 engine and frame over winter, drained the gas....left a little gas in the carburetor. It started easily with a little coaxing with engine ether and ran well. After a couple of minutes, it died, like it ran out of gas. Been doing the same ever since. I didn't want to tear apart the carb and presume I need to tweak the gas supply through the carb...something must be clogged. Any ideas for an easy fix...don't mind tearing the carb apart to remedy the situation but thought you guys might have a better idea on what is going on. Thanks in advance.
bacchus (Jim)

The carburetor bowl will contain about a minute and a half of fuel at fast idle. The vacuum tank will contain ~ 10 minutes fuel or about 4-5 miles.

I suspect that you have a fuel delivery problem possibly a blockage in the inlet or partially stuck needle/seat if you are only getting a carb bowls worth of running.

Chipper,
Thanks, will check it out....I am running on the carb bowl only at the present.

Make sure the fuel valve is open all the way. I forgot to open mine a week or so back and couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Well, nothing has worked so far. I get about 3 minutes running time and then it just seems to run out of gas. If I open up the float bowl, gas comes out. I have checked the lines from a gravity fed fuel tank, taken the carb apart and blew all the metering rods out and it just keeps doing the same thing. There must be something I'm over looking. Ideas...thanks for the comments so far.

Assuming your gas supply is correct (I still think the problem is fuel related) change the coil and condenser. The next time you run it (and does it start easily?) have a screwdriver handy to short out a spark plug to see if it is electrical or fuel related. Once that decision is made a cause can be determined.

Check the vent on the vacuum tank.

Does anybody remember a couple of years back when I had a similiar problem? Mine, a 28 engine, would run for 7 to 20 minutes and quit. It would immediately start back up and then 7 to 20 minutes later quit again.

There was quite a lengthy thread on it with many people offering suggestions. I replaced everything, electrical and fuel related, no less then 2 times and some items 4 times. JYD rebuilt my carb for me. He did an excellent job but that wasn't the problem. I replaced the vaccuum tank on it three times (one came from Gary Wallace) and still no relief. I checked fittings and replaced lines. I cleaned out the gas tank - twice. Still nothing. One day it decided to straighten up and run right. It has been running right ever since.

Prior to that though I put some clear plastic line just in front of the vaccuum tank. That allowed me to watch as it pulled fuel from the gas tank. It also allowed me to time how often it would pull fuel. I don't remember now how often that was, about once every 2-3 mionutes I think. I noticed that just when it quit it would try to pull fuel but couldn't quite do it. It didn't seem right that the vaccuum tank would be the problem if it was working the rest of the time. Besides, I had bypassed the vaccuum tank at one point and placed a temporary fuel tank on the cowl and gravity fed fuel directly to the carb and still the problem persisted. I went so far as to replace the manifold and gaskets.

This went on for months and I never did figure it out. As stated earlier one day it fixed itself. One day a few months later a gentleman gave... you read that right... gave me a vaccuum tank off his running and restored 24. He knew it worked beyond all doubt. He had others but that's beside the point. This man went above and beyond the call of helping a fellow Chevy owner as far as I'm concerned.

In any case the problem has not returned. Was it the vaccuum tank? No, I had bypassed it with a temporary fuel tank. I have no idea what the problem was other than gremlins.

My opinion is that the problem bacchus10 has is fuel related. My suggestion would be to check everything electrical and even replace it. Blow out fuel lines and double check all fittings. That vaccuum tank can be tempermental if the line from the manifold to the tank isn't just right.

If the problem still isn't found... well, I don't know. You can bet a sizeable am't of money I'll watch this thread with great interest because the problem sounds identical to the one I had and it iritates me that I never pinpointed the cause.

rbl2,
Your problem may have been related or not. There is a big difference between 1-2 minutes running and 7-20 minutes. Since your problem was fixed by the Gremlins it suggests it was more electrical and not fuel. Grounding of the distributor or condensor or ?? comes to mind. But, knowing those guys (gremlins) the way I do, they are capable of fooling the best of us.

In this case it seems to be more related to the capacity of the carburetor bowl and not the vacuum tank capacity. The failure to refill the carb bowl on a continuous basis is the most likely problem. Is it needle/seat, interference with float operation (needle/seat sticking or float hanging on the side of the carburetor center well, float sticking to the bowl or ??) or failure of the vacuum tank to provide fuel? Don't know yet but are the most likely problem.

I agree. It might be a good idea for him to clean out or replace the fuel line between the vaccuum tank and the carb while at the same time give the carb a good cleaning. If that doesn't work perhaps rebuilding the carb would.

I tried grounding my distributor. It didn't work. As stated in my other post I replaced everything at least twice and sometimes three or four times, including everything electrical.

I had a simular problem with my '27 coupe. It would run fine sometimes for hours but eventually it would buck ,snort, backfire numerious time and eventually stop. After living with the condition for an extended period and doing many of the things mentioned above by others, one day it quit and refused to run. The ignition switch was faulty and finally failed altogether. Once the switch was replaced, no more problems.

A few other things you might check are, partial blockage in the vacuum line from the inlet manifold to the vacuum tank, partial blockage in the inlet manifold (I found a wasps nest in one)the valve in the inlet manifold (under the vacuum line connection)the valves in the top of the vacuum tank (which the float hangs on) is sealing properly, the breather hole in the top/edge of the vac tank is clear, the breather hole in the side of the top fitting is clear
Unfortunately there are heaps of things that could cause this, but checking some of the above may help
Chris

Thanks for all the help. Everyone pitches in and I appreciate your suggestions. Thought I would bring everyone up to date. I have the engine on the frame, no body, no vacuum tank...just a simple on/off switch and a starter button. I have gained a little in figuring my problem out. I have a quart tank installed about a foot above the carb on the driver's side. When I started to try different things I noticed that if the little tank got below 1/2 the engine stalled. I filled the tank and it ran for ten minutes and I shut it off. I'm not sure I've solved the problem or not. I am going to install a larger tank (more fuel pressure due to gravity?) and see what happens....will let everyone know. Thanks again, really appreciated....great site!!!!

Mounting the tank higher will give more pressure. At the same height it will give only more gas capacity. With modern gas it can often take a little pressure to open the needle. Had one today that ran fine for about 15 minutes then shut off. Vacuum tank was full but carb was not. Tap on the fuel inlet (strainer cap according to Carter) and ran fine again.

Try to back blow the fuel line to the gas tank.I think there may be some varnish build up from the gas that remained when you drained it,or rust flake off in the dry tank..regards,ray