starting issue when car has not run for a while.

[ljp602]

When I don't use my 64 Riviera for an extended period of time (3 or 4 days) I have a problem in starting the car. It appears that over this period the gas drains out of the carburetor and when starting the car, I have to turn it over enough for the fuel pump to get gas into the carburetor. I am likely not the first to have this problem, any suggestions on what may be wrong causing this to happen.. I suspect the carburetor is draining because i have removed the air cleaner and tried to pump gas into the manifold and nothing comes out.

[Seafoam65]

            My 69 GTO, 79 Trans Am,70 Chevelle SS and 65 Riviera all do this. The gas evaporates out of the bowl when shutting off

a hot engine. if you can't stand the problem, the solution is to install an electric fuel pump between the mechanical pump and the fuel

tank operated by a toggle switch that you can use to prime the carb before starting the car. Or you could go with an electric pump/

throttle body EFI conversion. On my cars, I crank on them till they start....been doing it for 50 years. Having alcohol in the fuel exacerbates the problem. This is part of the fun of having a carburetor vs fuel injection. When I bought my first fuel injected

car I couldn't believe how fast it started after sitting for weeks.......gets you spoiled after a while!

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by Seafoam65 (see edit history)

[DualQuadDave]

Get your choke working.  You can put an edelbrock elec choke kit on a factory afb, just need to swap some small parts over. They work great, i have done well over a dozen of them.  Fixes the problem most of the time.  Other times, fuel pump is starting to go so makes losing prime even worse.

[Seafoam65]

                       My 65 Riviera does this with an electric choke and a brand new fuel pump. Every old car

that comes into my shop that has a carb does this if it sits for a few days. It is a normal phenomenon in my

experience.

Edited July 5, 2018 by Seafoam65 (see edit history)

[Scott Mckenzie]

 Holley Mighty Mite 12-427  (4 to 7 psi) inline pump .

[carbking]

X2 on Seaform's response. Sufficiently common that I added a section on my troubleshooting article several years ago:

 

Difficult starting after sitting a few days

 

Jon.

[Jim Cannon]

I have a small electric fuel pump installed in the fuel line just under the passenger door hinges, powered by a spring loaded switch that I have to hold down to keep the fuel pump running.  Before starting the car, I run the fuel pump to fill the carb.  You can hear the tone of the fuel pump change when the carb is full and the float needle valves close.  Tap the gas pedal a few times to set the choke and turn the key. It starts right up every time.  The stock mechanical fuel pump pulls the fuel through the electric fuel pump with no problem.  I have used this setup for years.

 

HTH.

[ljp602]

Thanks for the great responses, I think I understand now what is happening. Dual Quad, I am  wondering about the choke suggestion. Is this related to stopping the evaporation of the fuel or does it relate to just the chokes function at initial start?

[first64riv]

17 minutes ago, ljp602 said:

Thanks for the great responses, I think I understand now what is happening. Dual Quad, I am  wondering about the choke suggestion. Is this related to stopping the evaporation of the fuel or does it relate to just the chokes function at initial start?

Fuel is going to evaporate when in the open so I believe he is relating the choke to initial start position.  I had a similar issue when my car sat for  a while...it's the nature of the beast.  A few cranks of the ignition and pumps of the accelerator wakes her up pretty quickly.

Edited July 5, 2018 by first64riv (see edit history)

[bodayguy]

Mine probably takes 15-20 seconds to start. Seems normal!

[arnulfo de l.a.]

I like to crank the starter several short burst not not only fill the evaporated carb but more importantly to get some oil to all the moving parts before she fires. I do this until the oil pressure light goes out during cranking , then a couple of taps on the pedal and she fires right up . 

[KongaMan]

If my car has been sitting for a couple of weeks, it takes ~30 seconds to get fuel to the carb before it fires up.  If it's been started more recently, it's a pop of the key.

 

But in general, it seems that the best solution is drive your car more often.  

 

[telriv]

To ALL,

 

  I've been using this starting method since I bought my '64 Riv. in 1964. Originally it was my daily driver. As time went on it started to become more of a pleasure driver. As more time, family, business & other responsibility's came into play it started to be longer & longer between "pleasure" drives. Of course the starting problems were always there. I  thought about electric pumps & ALL the other procedures for a more "instant" start.   The more I thought about it, it made more sense, to me anyway, to not pump the pedal to close the choke & crank it over for 15-25 secs. at a time until the oil pressure light, in my case mechanical gauge, went out/started to move. Many have said I'll wear out my starter. NO consequise to myself as I CAN re-build a starter which is a heck of a lot easier than dropping the pan to replace bearings/rings. Maybe that is one of the reasons I have over 300K. They say the MOST wear on ANY engine is the initial start which in our cases is a VERY DRY start.

  Just my thoughts on the subject.

 

Tom T.

[arnulfo de l.a.]

On July 6, 2018 at 8:30 AM, telriv said:

To ALL,

 

  I've been using this starting method since I bought my '64 Riv. in 1964. Originally it was my daily driver. As time went on it started to become more of a pleasure driver. As more time, family, business & other responsibility's came into play it started to be longer & longer between "pleasure" drives. Of course the starting problems were always there. I  thought about electric pumps & ALL the other procedures for a more "instant" start.   The more I thought about it, it made more sense, to me anyway, to not pump the pedal to close the choke & crank it over for 15-25 secs. at a time until the oil pressure light, in my case mechanical gauge, went out/started to move. Many have said I'll wear out my starter. NO consequise to myself as I CAN re-build a starter which is a heck of a lot easier than dropping the pan to replace bearings/rings. Maybe that is one of the reasons I have over 300K. They say the MOST wear on ANY engine is the initial start which in our cases is a VERY DRY start.

  Just my thoughts on the subject.

 

Tom T.

Wow 300k , thats impressive! Is that on a fresh rebuilt engine or a never rebuilt engine? 401 ? Gives me hope for mine. Have what i think is over 130 k on mine,65 gs numbers matching, ( odometer does not work) never been rebuilt or even had the heads off. Still runs great!