Guest imouttahere Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 My '22 DB starts up just fine when cold, but when I come to my first stop after driving a couple of miles, it wants to die. It will eventually re-start after a lot of cranking and run OK. It has the Stewart carburetor and a rebuilt vacuum tank. I have checked the carb and vacuum tank floats, and the valves in vacuum tank. I did have a defective valve in the top of my old vacuum tank, which caused flooding through the carb vacuum line, but I replaced the vacuum tank top and mechanicals with another set that seem to work very smoothly, and the valves in the top seem to be in good condition and closing properly.Doesn't this have to be caused by either a vacuum tank problem or a sticking carburetor air valve? How can I diagnose this? What else should I check? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 One thing at a time, it could be several things. But it' probably easy. What do you do to FIX it? Tap it, let it sit, crank it?? How long does it take before it starts? How does it run when it restarts? rough, smooth?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickBrinker Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 My 25 would vapor lock in the vacuum tank the heat was traveling out of the head through the bracket and into the the tank,see if your tank gets hot if it does i put a piece of gasket material between the tank and the bracket its worked fine ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imouttahere Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 When it dies, I let it sit for about 10 minutes and crank it intermittently, until it reluctantly starts and begins to run, and then it runs OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 That eliminates a few things. Like Rick said, there's a vent in the top of the vacuum tank that could be clogged. Did you just buy the car, could it have been sitting, how about a wasp clogging up the vent? WHile you are waiting for it to restart can you hear the carb gurgle like gas is running into it? Next time it quits can you open the drain on the carb and see if there's gas in it?? My first thought was ignition, have you done anything there? A bad condensor will run for a while, heat up and short out, then when cool will restart. These things are fun!! I wasted lots of time chaseing a backfireing problem that turned out to be a carbon track around the distributor cap. The car ran good for anywhere from 30 seconds to 15 minutes, then crossfired and belched black smoke. I'm sure there will be other suggestions too. Be very methodical and make sure you try one thing at a time. Even that way it may correct this problem but start another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwollam Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Have you checked the screen in the vacuum tank? Mine plugged up a few years ago and did the same thing. Remove the fuel line going into top of tank, unscrew the fitting into the tank and check screen. There is also a screen in the bottom of the carb float bowl.Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Arnett Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 When you have a problem like this it can be either ignition or fuel so let us not assume that it is fuel. When coils or condensers get hot they can fail and then start up after you let them cool. Here is what I would do. When it stalls pull the spark plug wire and see if you have spark. If you have a spark then go to fuel. You can check fuel easy by first disconnecting the fuel line at the carb. If you have gas then you do not have a problem with the tank, if you do not have fuel remove the line from the tank and see if you have gas. If the vac. tank is empty then you probably have a vac. tank issue. There is another potential problem and that is you can have the valve clearance two tight and when it gets hot the valves will not close. The way to check it is to use a compression tester and run a before and after test. Don't give up it is correctable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imouttahere Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Thank you very much for the good suggestions, men. I will check what you say. Don't worry; I'm NOT going to give up! I've had this car too long, and have put too much work into it, to do that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imouttahere Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 I took the '22 touring out for a drive today after not driving it for awhile due to bad weather. When I first tried to start it, it wasn't getting any fuel, so I primed the vacuum tank well. Then it started right up and ran just fine; no stalling! Yay!I think my mistake was that previously I hadn't primed the vacuum tank enough, and it just ran out of fuel on the first hill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 When I leave my '24 sit for a few days the carb leaks and empties the vacuum tank. By shutting off the gas at the bottom of the vacuum tank only the carbs empties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imouttahere Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 It sure would be nice if I could get my car running well enough to go touring with the N. Cal. DB contingent next weekend, but I am still working on this problem. The car starts and runs great for a few miles, and then when you give it lots of throttle to climb a hill, it runs out of fuel completely, dies, and then re-starts and runs OK after a few minutes.Thank you so much, Bob Scafani, for sending me TWO Stewart carb metering pins! Bob, I tried to call you to say thanks, but I no longer seem to have your correct phone number. If you would like to give it to me, you may email it to me at: retroguybilly@gmail.com Would you like me to return one of the metering pins to you? If not, rest assured that I will try to pass it on to some Dodge Brother who needs it.I just realized that the gas tank needs to be vented; otherwise the vacuum tank will pull a vacuum in the fuel line and then no more fuel will enter the vacuum tank. Come to think of it, I cut a solid piece of gasket material for the inside of the gas cap. I'm thinking that might be the problem. I'm going to poke a hole in that gasket and take a test run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 I bet it's the gas tank cap all right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imouttahere Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 It ran fine yesterday on a long drive. But I'm not going to get overconfident just yet. Murphy's law provides that "whatever CAN go wrong WILL go wrong", but with an old car even some things that CAN'T go wrong will go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imouttahere Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Well, it happened again yesterday, but on start-up this time. It was obvious that it is caused by carb flooding, not by fuel starvation, because I saw gas running out of the engine's intake area. The vacuum tank is overflowing and gas is running into the intake through the vacuum line. When I remove the vacuum line, it runs fine.Rodger "Dodger" Hartley, the early-series DB adviser with the DB Club, very kindly advised me that this was the problem, but I had convinced myself it was caused by starvation, not flooding. I should have listened to Rodger!Apparently the vacuum tank is overfilling because its float is leaking. What do the rebuilders use to seal leaking floats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryJ Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 DBBilly....Make sure the atmospheric vent on your vacuum tank is clear. This is one of the most common problems affecting vacuum tanks yeilding problems like you are experiencing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imouttahere Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Hi, Harry. I am pretty darned sure it is caused by a leaking float in the vacuum tank. The float did have quite a bit of fuel in it, and it was hard to get it all out, but I did find the tiny pinhole. I'm trying to use a gas and oil sealing product first to patch it, and if that doesn't work, I'll solder it, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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