TK3295

Interesting maybe there is something floating around in the tank, I plan on fixing the float soon so I suppose I'd check when I get to that. The gas is good no water in it thankfully

She fired up, I added about 3 fresh gallons of gas. I looked at the lines too. Im guessing she had at least two or so gallons in the tank, but I agree the more the better. (I have to fix my gauge as the float must be stuck it always reads E) Also, I left the gas cap slightly open when I turned the car on just because I realized I must've stopped the vacuum in the line when I opened the bowl for cleaning. (I closed the cap up afterwards) All I did was put a bit of gas in the carb again and after a few sputters and giving the pedal some more pumps than normal while sputtery at first the car began to run. I will say I had to hold a low rev for about 10-15 seconds because the car would've stalled if I hadn't, but afterward the car remained running. I let her warm for about 10 mins (Oil Pressure read about 45psi and the temp was about 140-150F or so) I can assume the fuel pump is working A OK now because it ran perfectly -- I took her on a drive, albeit only a few mins, but it was most certainly doing its job. At the end of the drive I even turned the car off and back on and it came right to -- all seems well. As this really is a learning process for me I wanted to ask if the delivery of fuel could be affected by the rather cold temperatures my area has been experiencing lately. The day the car turned off it was clear, sunny, but about 26F the car ran noticeably colder than usual before when it turned off. I do of course know the car prefers warmer temperatures on startup as she will fire right up when its about 45-90F but it becomes a bit of a battle to get the car started in the low 40s and below. (And maybe STAY running in cold temps? That aspect is what i am wondering about.) Once again thank you all for your tips and advice. Have a great day/night -Evan

These are all great aids thank you very much, I'll work my way down the list and try each one of these-- I'll also order those parts also right away.

About 2 weeks ago I was driving my 1938 Buick special series 40 when I was driving -- I got small bursts of power and then the car began to coast. At first I thought this may have been the condenser. This sort of thing had happened to me in the past and the forum helped me solve it! After being on the side of the road for a few mins, a fellow classic driver came by and kindly gave me another condeser as I believed this to be the problem. I quickly changed out the condenser and went to turn the car back on at least I tried to no avail. I then went to check for a spark which the car had and still does(attached below). I then put little more gas in the tank nothing. Upon pouring a little bit of gas into the carburetor, the car sputtered for a moment or so before going silent once again. I noticed that whenever depressing the pedal no gasoline would be squirted into the carb(attached below) The pump's bowl wasn't really filling with much of any gas either. Unfortunately, I had to call triple a and have the car towed back to whete I store it. Today I went to the car and looked at the bowl and carb -- I cleaned the bowl which only had a dribble of gas in it and some small bubbles slowly flowing in after I had pressed the pedal a good deal of times a few mins prior. After having cleaned the bowl, and the little bit of sediment, I went looking at the carb. When I came back around about 15 mins later the bowl was nearly full (attached below); however, once again, whenever the pedal was pressed no gas was squirted into the carb. Because of this, I think its safe to say the carb went, but I am wondering if the fuel pump has gone bad or if there is a line issue. I'll send some photos here. However, I took videos as well (too big to send here) I do know gas is going from the tank to the pump and is filling the bowl at the very least (although it might be slow). In the coming days, I'm going to decouple the lines ahead of the pump to see if there is a blockage in there. The most likely scenario is the carb went out and needs to be replaced/ repaired. I just wanted to post this here because everyone on this board is always so helpful and kind with their responses and I wanted to see if others had similar problems. Thanks so much! -Evan

Yeah, expecting a ton of snow where I am so I gotta wait to drive her, but I lubed the cable decently well w/ white lithium. We'll see how it works soon enough.

Yeah i bought myself some lithium grease today and pulled the cable out of the sleeve wiping and the adding the lube. I was just wondering how long is the cable as I pulled quite a length out and lubricated it -- I don't know where it ends. Nevertheless, with the added lubrication I'll take her for a spin tomorrow and see how she sounds -- if it persists more lithium on the rest of the cable i guess lol. Goodnight all and thank you

Thanks so much!

I have a new noise coming from my good old Buick. It is nothing concerning as it comes from the speedometer. It is just odd and I'm wondering if it comes down to the spedometer cable being worn-- or maybe a gear in the actual instrument cluster wore out. Whenever I take the Buick past about 40 or 45 miles per hour I get a loud grinding sound from the speedometer. The gauges start to fluctuate a bit, such as the oil pressure, power, and gas jump around. However, the speedometer just keeps going. The speedometer even though I'm not accelerating, I'm moving with traffic and know what 40-50mph looks like, the gauge begins to rapidly show an increase in speed. The speedometer will emit a loud grinding sound and then climbs -- 60, 70,80,90, etc. It'll even go past the 120 max on the gauge and then stop in about the 5 oclock position! It's just a tad bit loud which renders a normally quiet car cabin far less so. Nevertheless, I think a gear or something broke inside of the speedo, but I'm not entirely sure. It only happens when I get around that speed and once I slow down the noise subsides and then ceases. It will not occur at low speed only when i approach 40ish. Anyone have any theories as to what this may come down to? I'm going to check out the panel today and maybe see if I can figure out the culprit. Thanks all, also Happy Late New Year!!!

Awesome thank you all so much!

Hey all, I have seen previous discussions on the forum about specific oil weights, but I wanted to ask everyone for myself. I live in Long Island, NY, and I usually run SAE 30 nonsynth oil -- I found this is perfect for the summer and fall. However, as winter approaches, I am thinking of changing oils. Long Island will get down to 20-30 degrees in no time (or less!) so I was wondering what would be an ideal non-synthetic oil for these temps. Thanks so much!

Ill try this out in the next few days-- nevertheless took her out for a spin yesterday if anyone wants to see a picture or two thanks again all

Awesome thanks so much sorry for the late reply

I am not at the car right now so I had to find a reference online. The fuse "holder" which I circled in the image is different than mine as theirs seems to be some kind of fabric material (asbestos?) -- but mine is thin metal which is all rusted and flaking apart. I was planning on using some brass to replace this little sheath. With the fuse in place the red fuse lock cap can then slot in tightly again. The fuses I got my hands on are 2.5A 32V while the car's shop manual said 2A unspecified voltage. I was reluctant to run the fuses I just got. However, the fuse I took out of the clock which was in there for who knows how long was a 6A.

Sorry for the late reply, it must be this small type size otherwise the little red lock piece on the rear will not fit back on.

Hey all, I was just wondering what fuse I should use in the auto winding glovebox clock -- is this the right one? 2Amp is what I saw but the size seems a tad bit hard to come by. I've been wanting to fix the clock so I pulled the fuse out that was in there and to no surprise it was corroded. The small little "jacket" that cradles the fuse was also very rusty and flaking -- I was thinking of just pulling that out and using some cut down bullet brass as the new jacket for the fuse to sit. Thanks so much!

Hey all I replaced the Condenser, Distributor, Distributor rotor, and the Coil. (Found the shop manual I had) I tried to start her again-- there was just the normal turn of the crank by power. I then took off the air filter and put alittle gas into the carb while my buddy held the starter and she roared to life. Let it run for awhile, turned it off and let her sit a good deal then just turned her on normally (put on the air filter) and she came right to life. Today, a day afterwards, I turned her on and she came right to it. Everything was running well-- ill take it for a longer spin in a few days but all is well so far. Thank you all so much for your help!!!

Thank you! I'll be trying to fix the car when I can will send updates when able to.

Also, I remembered shortly before the car turned off (3-5mins)-- a guy cut in front of the car forcing me stop short. I really doubt this, but could this quick stop have knocked the distributor cap loose or caused something else to shift.

Would this be easier than the volt meter you think?

I do have a hand held volt ohm meter

So any old condenser would work from NAPA? Also, this may be a dumb question, but how would I go about checking if the breaker plate was grounded? Thanks so much

I do have the factory shop manual-- I just have to find it. (Shouldnt be hard.) Where do you think I should look in it?

The car cranks but no sputter is heard its just the battery power turning the crank. I took off the air filter and checked down the carb and saw it squirted gas whenever I pushed the pedal. Would this would rule out the fuel pump? Im thinking this might be a spark issue now. Sorry for the unclear message before, im not great at explaining this.

I have been driving my 1938 Buick Special this summer and all has been well -- that was until today. With only 4 miles left of my drive, 25 miles total of just 30-40mph cruising, the gas pedal began to almost lose pressure and rapidly went dead. I was very confused as I was in third gear driving along and it was almost like it lost pressure. I had a few more "spurts" of power when easing the gas, but then there was nothing. The engine turned off in gear but the car was still coasting. I heard no bad transmission noises nevertheless I quickly put her in neutral coasting down the quiet road before pulling off. I immediately assumed the gas line failed; however, there were no visible leaks (at least from the outside nothing seemed awry with the pump either). The pedal felt less resistance when being pushed, but the arm that connects to the carb still moved. I was under the car for a bit, yet I couldn't track the problem. I tried to start her a handful of times, but the gas was not getting pushed in the car all that was heard was the "whirr" of the starter and no following engine roar. Luckily, I wasn't far from home and a tow place I know well helped me out and brought her back. Once off the bed, before pushing her in, I attempted one final start. It actually sputtered for a short while and sounded as though she tried to turn over then nothing. I assume this is from how the gas was pushed around because of the angle the car it had been on as we rolled it off the lift. (I was weary to keep trying though as I don't want to flood the car) I can send photos in the near future. Unfortunately, as a college student, I don't always get the most time with her. I'm assuming this is a problem with either the fuel pump or the pedals connector to the carb. I honestly haven't an idea. Sorry for this long chunk of text -- I just haven't had any maintenance issues like this that I couldn't figure out so far. Any ideas? Thanks a million!