I haven't driven or started my 59 T-bird (352) in almost a year. It's in great shape and ran great the last time I took it out. I went to start it and gas came out the Holley's gaskets; I figured that was the effect of today's gas on the material the gaskets are made of and bought a kit and rebuilt the carb. Stage 2: Tried to start and it ran rough and wouldn't idle. Replaced points, plugs, condenser, rotor, wires and cap.....still no difference. Finally got it to idle long enough to see that the inline filter was just getting a little gas sloshing around the bottom ( the reason it wouldn't idle...not enough gas ??) Stage 3: replaced fuel pump and local fuel lines...still no gas in filter. Running out of ideas, thinking maybe of blowing air down fuel line in case something is blocking gas in line between tank and pump??? Put 10 gallons of fresh gas in along the way. If I pour gas down carb while running, it runs fine. Any thoughts? Thanks
take air hose and blow back into tank, 20 psi will do it and make sure the cap is removed, listen for the air p***ing as it sounds like clogged fuel line from tank
It might be clogged with debris. Also don't forget that rubber lines can appear fine visually, but can be degraded or collapsed internally and can also be ****ing air without leaking fuel.
I'd pull the line off at the tank before blowing the lines. Otherwise you'll just blow it into the sock on the tank pickup and it will come back again. If that doesn't fix it, then it's time to drop the tank and see how much debris is in there maybe blocking the pickup.
blowing into line didn't change anything. But...I did notice gas coming out of line going into fuel pump when I pulled it off. That suggests to me either the pump is bad or...could I have put the lever in wrong up to the cam eccentric?? I was carefull to make sure the lever went under the cam and I know it did because I had to apply pressure to lift the pump up to the bolt holes when installing it. Any other thoughts?
Is that when it quit running, after fuel pump change? DID you Check fuel pressure? Stick a fuel line into a gas can and see if it will run. Referably clear , That will drop obstruction out of the equation and help diagnose fuel delivery issue
"Is that when it quit running, after fuel pump change? " Actually it ran when the fuel first leaked out of the car, it just would pour fuel out while running. I'll try hooking up a can of gas to the pump and see how that goes. Thanks
Don't think you can put the fuel pump lever above the concentric, just put a 390 in my 60 T Bird and the opening is below the cam center. Stick with the fuel system, disconnect the gas line at the carb and put it in a coffee can, pull the coil wire out of the coil and have someone hit the starter you should have a steady stream. If you have good flowcheck the float settings and make sure the carb isn't the problem
Sounds terminal, I think you need to give to meeee! I always wanted one... cool car, hope you get it running correctly
did you check the fuel flow with the fuel line disconnected? if the needle and seat are stuck shut it would look like the pump isn't pumping
I'm at work now, so I can't do anything but there's two points that might make a difference: 1. the car will run fine if I slowly handpour gas into the top of the carb (holley 1460). 2. there is a clear inline filter between the pump and the carb and I can see it doesn't have any gas in it.
When you "rebuilt" the carb, did you make sure all of the tiny little idle circuit p***ages were clear?
I know what you're saying...I thought I had all that covered, but you're right. I soaked, cleaned and blewout everything, I suppose I could've missed something... but it does work when I pour gas directly into the carb. Thanks for all your help.
might be worth trying another clear filter....I just had a problem with my old backhoe and it was the darn clear filter which wasn't on very long...replaced it again and all was OK...can't trust these new parts....let alone dealing with ****py gas!!....GOOD LUCK
haven't seen all the responses but in the day we used to put a little air in tank with fuel line disconnected at pump we either used a repair valve for a truck inner tube held against filler neck they had a big round base to vulcanize to old tube or an air gun with shop rag wrapped around it enough to keep a few pounds of pressure in tank if fuel doesn't come shooting out you know the problem just need to start working back to find the cause!
All right, here goes my suggestion. This is from recent personal experience. If your inline filter is a sediment bowl type, as mine is, change the inside filter gasket. This goes between the gl*** bowl and the metal piece of the sediment bowl filter ***embly. The new gas is sooooo bad that the filter gasket actually closes up (the 4 slots) and won't allow fuel into the bowl, and obviously into the carb. I also had the same thing happen to me with the carb leaking gas out of it's gaskets. The needle gets stuck and fills the carb bowl too high and out the gaskets/vents. Try looking at the sediment bowl gasket! Got 4 of these on EBAY for about $1 a piece. My car now gets gas to the carb just fine. OH THE WONDERS OF GAS>>>>>>A>>>>>HOL!
It is best not to use ethanol, 10% or any other mix in anything with a carburetor, fuel injected engines are ok with it. Ethanol will eat gaskets and rubber stuff when the car sits. At least that has been my experience.
seen two things that kept my vehicles from starting and running..... First was 52 Olds that sat for a while...the poppet valves in the fuel pump were stuck shut...couldn't **** and wouldn't push...took it apart,cleaned it up and worked fine Other problem with a 350 4bbl in the pickup was the float was stuck to the bottom of the bowl with a gooey yellow glue which had been gasoline a few months before and the carb flooded over covering the engine with raw gas and luckily i smelled it and shut the engine down..... **** GAS which cannot sit for weeks or months in a carb.... Best way to handle it...IF storing or not driving vehicle daily... is to shut the fuel off and run engine out of gas if possible..
Yep, that yellow ****! You probably need to use some Stabil or Seafoam to keep the engines from getting this **** in them. Reminds me to get my cars started and put some more Stabil in them.
The gas never even gets up to the filter....I'm thinking I need to jack it up and see if there is a rubber hose between the tank and pump that may have swelled shut.
Alright, I'm getting a little further. I disconnected the line from the tank at the fuel pump and put a sqeeze-bulb type syphon on it and got gas easily. That eliminates a clog in the line from the tank, then I put that hose on, pulled the output (carb) side line off of the carb and sprayed starter fluid in carb...it started long enough to shoot gas in a strong stream out the line. That eliminated the bad fuel pump question. This weekend I will take the carb off and see what's up there. I suppose it's possible the screen filter in the card is clogged with varnish and I can't see it. I set the floats, replaced the metering rods, power valve and all gaskets after cleaning and blowing everything out. After that I'm lost but I at least feel the carb is the problem area.
Did you change the rubber line between the hard line from the tank + the fuel pump? I had problems with those lines on different vehicles over the years. They get porous where they won't hold vacuum + **** air
What has me baffled is why is there a good stream of gas coming out of the gas filter when I disconnect the line from the filter to the carb at the carb yet the filter never even gets gas in it when the line is back on the carb...???
There's an obstruction some please between the fuel bowl of the Carb and the inlet of the Carb. What's between those two points? Mesh screen, fuel p***age, needle and seat. That's normal operating conditions for your pump and filter if you fuel bowl was full of fuel
Did u check the filter gasket to see if those slots were swelled closed? The bowl uses the fuel pressure in conjunction with the needle and seat to fill the bowl. If those slots are swelled shut then the bowl will never fill.
The filter is one of those clear all plastic, molded, in-lines with a paper filter that is not replaceable. Tha gas pour out of it when disconnected, but doesn't even get gas on the bottom of it when it's connected and trying to run.
He's talking about the gaskets that are behind the big nut on the Carb. look here, did you change this filter? http://www.vintagemusclecarparts.com/pages/filterreplace1.html Also those clear bowl paper filters have a flow direction, is that correct?
This Holley does not have one of those bronze filters, it has a cylindrical shaped screen filter. And the clear plastic filter does have an indication of "carb" on the end that goes to the carb. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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