Won't start

[414TATA]

No mechanic here so I can use some help.  41 Buick 248 CI straight eight with compound carbs.  

Some background info. The car has been parked in the garage for almost four months. When I parked it I made sure the gas  was very low as I don't like to leave with a lot of gas in the tank.  When I returned to start the car.. no luck.  Thinking maybe what little gas was in the tank had evaporated,  I now I have about 5 gallons in the tank.     The car will start for maybe 7 seconds when I shoot the carbs with starter fluid, but dies and wont start again with extended cranking. Seems to be starved for fuel. The fuel pump has about 8K miles from new and is about 6 years old. Ideas please.  Sure would like to get her going and enjoy a few drives in this Spring weather.

Thanks

Wayne

 

[Guest]

If you have ethanol in your gasoline it is possible that it is bad or that it has destroyed the diaphragm in your fuel pump.  Obviously the engine is not getting fuel.  All it is running on is the starting fluid.  I personally would fill the float chambers with fresh gasoline and try to start the engine.  If it starts it may run long enough to suck gas from the tank.  If it only runs until the fuel in the carb is gone then your problem is between the tank and the carb.  If you disconnect the fuel line at the pump you could blow back through the line to see if it was plugged.  You could disconnect the line on the carb side of the pump and crank the engine over but this is/could be dangerous.  You could have a fire in seconds.

Back in 1960 I took a whole day to start a 53 special that had set for only three months (and that was when we had real gasoline).

Good luck.

[Mark Shaw]

I suggest you disconnect the fuel line at the carb. and attach a rubber hose to collect the bad gas in a suitable container. 

 

Then, blow low pressure air (a leaf blower on low, or regulated compressed air) into the tank filler until the bad gas is gone.

[Kenneth Carr]

Regarding the suggestion to fill the float chamber: I have to do this any time the car sits for 4 days or more. I pull the little float level screw on the side of the bowl (careful ... if you drop that ..may want to put a rag under the area to catch it). I then use one of those little squeeze bulbs that are used to clean out ear wax (get this at your pharmacy). It has a slightly curved tip and works great.

 

A friend of mine also recommended putting a second ground strap from the battery directly to one of the mounting screws for the starter. He says you can be sure of getting maximum crank strength that way. I may do that this summer.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Roadmaster71 (see edit history)

[Kenneth Carr]

I solved my own problem of hard starting after the car sat for a while. My first solution (see above) was to prime the float bowl. That worked but did not solve the problem, whatever it was.

Then one day I started the car with the hood open. Immediately I noticed that the upper radiator hose was wet. I turned off the car and inspected the hose. It was wet with gasoline. Just below and slightly to the rear from the hose is the fuel line. At that point there is a junction where I noticed a 4" piece of flexible fuel hose joining two ends of the metal fuel line. It was swollen and fuel was leaking out of both ends. I replaced it with a new piece of tubing. Now the car starts up right away regardless of how long it has been standing.

I suspect that in the past the fuel slowly drained out of the carb through this imperfect flexible joint.

[FLYER15015]

 We just woke up the "Baby" in order to drive to the first show of the season at the ABBY in Canon City, Colorado last Saturday. Got a nice new jacket for 1st place in the 40-49 restored or original class.

Anyway she was stored in her trailer with a full tank of gas-o-haul and the proper amount of "Stabil".

Turned on the electric pump till it settled down, turned the key off, hit the gas pedal twice, turned the key back on and hit the gas again, and wala she fired right off, without even a burp.

Cleaned the plugs and set the points when we put her to bed last November, and have not looked in the trailer since then.

Buick........what a car !!!!!!

 

 

Mike in colorado