Today's journey great start - home on a flatbed

[JPSmit]

So, today was an adventure.

Started by having to preach in Listowel - about 40 min away. decided this was a good shakedown cruise for Ms Triss. Of course I had a few errands to run - namely dropping off an "over the stove" microwave, 4 cases of pop, a big bag of munchies all to the camp my daughter works at and then on to Goderich to drop off some books.

https://tinyurl.com/qufdax

This is prime Amish country so there are even lower tech vehicles than mine. Had a lovely drive and got to the church, but looks like rain. Lie down the microwave (it's in the passenger seat) and slip the tonneau over both.

After church and after lunch, I made my way to the camp (B). Stop for gas in Wingham and pull up behind a magnificent 65 Corvair convertible. According the guy at the garage, the owner won't even let others put fuel in the tank of her car. Got to the camp, parked, shut off the car and had the loudest backfire I had ever head - talk about making an entrance. Moved to near the main lodge to unload the microwave - went to move the car and it wouldn't start. Which, wouldn't be a problem except a week's worth of campers were about to come to that precise spot. Rolled the car a little out of the way. Assume it is vapour lock and just leave the car to cool. Actually had to get one of our other "daughters" car to work. (my wife is mother hen to a number of young women) As expected, it was moisture in the tank and I had brought additive for the tank - problem solved.

Car started again - slightly reluctantly - so I went to Goderich - dropped of the books and carried on home. Even in Goderich, the car was starting to hesitate a little. By Seaforth it was getting bad and in town, backfiring in the exhaust. Half way to Mitchell she slowed and slowed and chugged and chugged until finally I pulled over. She would idle but would run out of gas when I accelerated. There was almost no gas in the filter, as I accelerated, I noticed air bubbles coming into the filter. Ah says I, vapour lock again, the gas is boiling. Waited 1/2 an hour - nursed the car another 1/3 of a mile and called CAA.

While I did have to wait 1 1/2 hours - 45 min for the driver to come and 45 min for him to get his flatbed (he knew he needed it but had to pass by my location to get to it) I was at an ice cream parlour so I had a bowl of moose droppings and a snooze on the front porch and watched the world go by.

Anyway, by the time the truck comes the car is cool - start it again - no change - hmmm not vapour then.

Get the car dropped off, I try again and same thing. But, says the driver, try the choke - then it ran and we pulled into the garage and I went for a beer. Thank goodness for CAA.

 

[JPSmit]

So what then is the problem?

to recap

1. For the first time I had an extremely loud backfire - in the exhaust not the carb.

2. It would not start at the camp. waited 1/2 an hour and she started though a little reluctantly

3. As I drove, she started to hesitate and backfire (still in the exhaust)

4. She got slower and slower - could not keep the revs up.

5. Pulled over, she would idle fine but not accelerate - you could hear her suck air. almost no gas in the filter (filter is between mechanical pump and carb) as you accelerated, you could see gas come into the filter and many air bubbles.

6. #5 above did not change when the car was cold.

7. When I did get home I could drive into the garage with the choke on - there was good acceleration. with the choke off she starved.

8. The gas cap is well vented and I tried things with the cap off

My tow truck guy thinks it is possibly a fuel pump or air in the line issue. To me it seems to be a fuel delivery issue before the carb.

Any thoughts or wisdom?

thanks all.

BTW, all in it was a 10 hour day

 

[tao724]

I can't help with knowledge or advice, but I'm here waiting for insight with you!

 

[jvandyke]

Electric pump? I'd guess junk in gas plugging up filters. Pull line off carb and turn on and check flow. Did your tank get refreshed during the build? Maybe some compressed air shot backward to blow crud off the pickup? Replace all other filters if suspect. Maybe?

 

[jlaird]

Bah, adjust the points. The small screw was not tight and they worked closed on ya.

Go for it JP.

I drove Miss Agatha with a very large American held by 10 year old grandson. Never saw such a big smile on anyone.

 

[JPSmit]

New tank
New Sender
New soft lines
Electronic ignition - no points

 

[JPSmit]

someone remind me, what should the flow of the pump be? (and it is a mechanical pump)

 

[SilentUnicorn]

check your manifolds for leaks.


mark

 

[jvandyke]

someone remind me, what should the flow of the pump be? (and it is a mechanical pump)

I don't know for sure but anything above 12 gph should be fine I'd imagine. (let it flow into a container for a minute and do the math but since yours is mechanical! Don't know how you'd measure that.

 

[Dominic_Uliano]

I had this exact problem with my 1500 about 22 years ago. Loud backfire, then the car wont start when its warm, but will start when cool. It was the electronic ignition. It was the original Lucas type. I replaced it with a points ignition, again standard Lucas type and it has worked well ever since. Knock on wood.

 

[tomshobby]

Basics, fuel, spark, compression.

Pull a plug and reconnect it. Lay it on a grounded spot and have someone turn the engine over. Watch for spark.

Pull fuel line and place small container under the end of the line. There should be a good stream every time the pump cycles.

Compression. hold thumb over cyl that has spark plug removed. It should force your thumb off the hole if the compression is good.

That should isolate the system that is causing the problem.

Simple yes, but I once found that the fulcrum pin in my fuel pump had worked its way out by making these simple tests along the roadside. It was a new pump and I was not happy but it only took a few minutes to diagnose.

 

[aeronca65t]

Remove your fuel line and pump some fuel into a container. If you can get a least a pint in a minute, you're probably OK.

Look at the fuel...does it have water or other junk in it?

Assuming this is OK, unscrew your float bowl top (you have an SU...right?) and see if there's any crap in the bottom of the bowl.
Clean out the float bowl anyway, since it's open.

At this point (the float is still uncovered, so this is easy), remove the damper and carefully blow down into the main jet with carb cleaner (or even WD-40) using the "straw tip".
You should see a jet of fluid come out of the open float bowl (watch your eyes). This may clean out any gunck in the passage from the float chamber to the main jet.

That's what I'd do first.

There's lots of other things if that doesn't work.

 

[JPSmit]

update: replaced the fuel pump - thanks blackjokr!!! she started and ran strong strong strong. took her for a spin - got about 5 miles out and it started again. this was a little different in that she started bucking badly but still revving freely with no load. I managed to get her going - kind of smoothly - though misfiring till I got about 23 way home. Then she wouldn't rev about 3k - and I drove the last 2 miles at walking pace let out the clutch - car almost dies - put in clutch rev - repeat. so, she's in the garage and I'm taking a break.

In a separate but perhaps related matter, I replaced the brass nut on the top of the thermostat today as the old one was stripped. The rad fluid was no longer green and there seemed to be some emulsion on the bottom of the nut. HOWEVER, I have also added barsleak so this might have changed the colour also. I looked under the oil cap on the engine and checked with the dipstick and there was no emulsion there.

At home, she starts instantly but will not rev. once again the fuel filter is barely filled (about 1/8 of an inch on the bottom

Help!

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Collapsed rubber line / crappy line caused by today's gas?

Others have reported issues with flex fuel line in very short times after installation caused by today's gas formulations.


Might be a possible cause. Just ask Frank C. about fuel lines.

 

[jvandyke]

Grab up some cheap (not fuel injection high pressure big $$ stuff) fuel line and bypass everything and see what happens, tank to pump to carb, put a filter in the mix, zip tie to whatever is close by and test it out?

 

[Sarastro]

One thing I've discovered: fuel doesn't move well through those aftermarket filters. I had one on my car and like yours, it formed a vapor bubble on warm days. I couldn't see any fuel getting through it at all, but enough was getting through to keep it running, in some sense. Symptoms were different, though; it would start sputtering, then if I revved it up, it was OK, for a while--probably more fuel through the system and into the carbs, maybe cooling it a bit too.

Story of my experience is at https://www.nonlintec.com/sprite/fuel/

Might be a good idea just to remove the filter temporarily and see if that affects the problem. I suspect it is some kind of fuel/carb problem.

 

[JPSmit]

interesting steve - thanks

BTW - were you able to recreate this issue at idle? It was long and embarrassing to nurse it home

 

[jlaird]

Agree, you got a restriction in the fuel supply line/tank/what ever.

 

[JPSmit]

Agree, you got a restriction in the fuel supply line/tank/what ever.

I think so too Jack - though whatever it is seems to manifest itself with a hot car - leading me to lean more to air bubbles/ soft hoses than crud which would happen either way - does that make sense?

 

[jlaird]

Yes, I agree.