VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1916-1922 - Model 490 Gas mystry

I start my 1916 490 every couple of months and let it run a bit. Iturned the gas shut off on the bottom of the tank on. The car acted as if it wasent getting gas, I checked the tank and it was empty, bone dry. I was shocked where did the gas go? Just on a whym I smeled the oil in the crank case,it smelled like gas! How is this possable. Car still wont fire after I put gas in the tank. Getting gas down to the carb. Could float be stuck? I will have to change the oil but dont want the same thing to happen again. I cant figure this out! Any ideas on what could have happened? This car always starts right up! How could gas get into the oil?

I would not run the engine if you know there is gas in the oil. Change the oil first. That mixture could be fairly combustible.

My “best guess” is that either the tank outlet shutoff has failed or was not closed completely. And as you noted, the float probably failed to shut off the needle valve. So whatever gas was in the tank flowed through the intake into the engine and past the rings into the crankcase.

You realize this is an up draft carb ,would the gas flow up the intake to the cylinders?

Thanks for that reminder. I was not thinking of that. You are correct that it would be a very unusual situation for fuel to flow that high into the engine.

Just a couple thoughts, if it is getting too much gas it may get into the crankcase, if the oil level is going up it could be gas. I would check the spark plugs to see if they are wet or heavy with carbon.