I bet some of you are thinking “Oh Lord, here he comes again. Wonder what off the wall thing has he run into now?” I don’t blame you. This on my Ford Crestliner again, and for the record, it was running great. Cooling fantastically and I was getting ready to drive it to our club meeting tonight. So I fired it up, intending to put a little heat into it…and then… Historical intermission: The motor is a 1965 Chevy 396 and I am running a Holley 4150. 650 double pumper, Manual choke and manual secondaries. The carb has been on the car since 1996 and it worked fine. Then I let the car set for 4-5 years. Summer of 2020 I wanted to get it running again so I put a kit in the carb. The car would run, but gas overflowed out of the carb. Ah, but a simple float adjustment cured that. I’ve had it running to get to operating temps for all those cooling leak tests, probably 10 to 20 times of 20-40 minutes at a time. Last Saturday I drove it around the area- likely 15 miles or so and then parked it and didn’t try to crank it until last night….story resumes…. So it’s sitting there running at about 1500rpm…and all of a sudden (like someone flipped a switch) the motor starter missing, sputtering, popping and generally running like junk. I played with the gas pedal enough to keep the rpms up for maybe 5 minutes – saw the temp gauge start to move and shut her off. The hood was already up and the breather was off, so I went around to look at the motor…it was covered in gas. JUST like it did when the floats were not set right. BUT IT WAS WORKING JUST FINE. What tha??? Seems to me to be only a couple of solutions – the float stuck open or some trash got under the needle seat and held it open. Either way, I must take the bowls off. So, does anyone have any hints to keep this from happening again? I’m thinking this car hates me….
A good fuel filter never hurt anything, but if your car hates you, that won't fix it. Clean out the carb, replace or install a fuel filter, give her a gentile pat on the dash. See what happens.
Maybe replace the needles and seats with some good quality ones. Put a little dab of Vaseline on the O ring on the needle and seat assembly when you install them.
Sounds like you were just short of an insurance claim... Pull the fuel bowls off and clean/replace needle and seats. Change the fuel filter and clean all the rust and corrosion from your carb.... The biggest thing that I've seen in the last five years is corrosion from alcohol in the fuel. Both plugging jets and holding them open.
What kit did you use? I always used Holley parts when I ran Holley carbs, they were good for 5 years or so. Tell us about the fuel filter(s) you have on it. And the pump.
you don't have to remove the float bowl on a holley to change the needle and seat. sounds like a dirt problem, replace the fuel filter, clean the needle and seats and re adjust the float levels
With the addition of unwanted additives to what is called gasoline today filtering and the inspection of carb internals are way more important. I personally like and use a glass bowel AC filter just before the carburetor; they seem to catch everything and you can keep an eye out for sediment. I’m also guessing when your car sat for so long any rubber you had in the fuel line did not fare well. The only non metal on a fuel system should be from the steel line to the fuel pump which would be about 6-8”. From reading your story I’m assuming you have a Chevrolet engine in a Ford and the Fords fuel line is on the opposite side of the car if you kept the original line. If true I would be replacing it. If none of this is true I’ll delete the response. Good luck. Todays fuels can be very frustrating.
Filter ahead of the fuel pump, and another ahead of the carb is what I do after a car has sat for years. Once it's run enough to ensure all the crud is gone or caught in the filters, then I switch to just one filter.
Whenever I run into stubborn, keep comin' back like a bad penny stuff I try to back up a bit. Way back. Just for safety sake alone, check the fuel pump output pressure first thing. Is this an electric pump or mechanical? Either way a static test is all that's required, no "T" connections needed or contortions involved here. Connect a mechanic's vacuum gauge to the fuel pump output and crank the engine over for a second or two while ignition is disabled. Could be wrong, but when you get right down to it, it sort of looks to me the only thing that keeps major flooding from happening at any time is that tiny viton needle tip and seat, and some of the import fuel pumps are real Texas gushers.
650 " double pumper " ? Do you mean 2 ( primary &secondary) accelerator pumps ? Or do you mean " dual feed" as in a separate fuel line to each bowl with 1 accelerator pump ?
How were the bores for the needle and seat? Left over build up from today gas and or pitting will have you adjusting needle and seat to no end.
Just because the symptoms are similar to “last time” doesn’t mean you have the same problem. Check you accelerator pump(s) too.
Agree with the other posts on here, replace the needle and seats, clean the carb, and run a good filter. I would also look at replacing any rubber fuel lines you have on the car if they are more than a year or two old. Modern fuel is pretty bad and in some parts of the country it can be downright terrible. I've seen the ethenol blended fuels ruin the inside of rubber fuel lines in a few years and the result is small rubber particles plugging up your filter, or if your not running a filter, it can be worse than that. Can't say this was the reason but I know of one guy who tried to start a car that had been sitting for a few months, couldn't get it started so he went in the house for a few minutes, and he came outside to find his garage and car in flames. That would be enough to make any gearhead cry. On my own car I went so far as to replace all my fuel lines with teflon lined hose, its impervious to any fuel. I used a product from TechAFX but there are several companies selling it. Good luck with getting it resolved.
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