Posted by Bob
on 8/26/2008, 9:18 am, in reply to "Fuel filters, carb flooding, oh my!"
74.74.77.70
Jim,
Do you have any idea what is causing the blockage? Sometimes if a car sits around for a long time, all of the gas drains back to the fuel pump, the fuel line will be opened to the atmosphere via the empty float bowl and open needle, and then the fuel line will rust inside. Then the rust can break loose and stick in the needle. I think that the fuel will drain back fairly rapidly. If you shut off the engine and immediately disconnect the fuel line, it will spray gas all over the place. However, if you shut off the engine and wait for an hour or so, you will find that the line will not have gas in it and it will not spray fuel. If there is rust in the fuel line, every time you start the motor after it has set for a while, the gas will surge through the line to the carb and if there are any loose particles, they can break loose. You can see if this is a problem by looking at the bottom of the float bowl and see if there is a layer of "brown mud" on it. This is rust that consists of fine particles that have flowed past the needle and settled on the bottom of the bowl.
In order to fix this, you might try replacing the line from the fuel pump to the carburetor. Or you might try installing a filter at the carburetor inlet (if you can find one that would work). However, you'd have to cut the fuel line to do this.
--Previous Message--
: Well, I had to go "rescue"
: Amelia for the 2nd time late last
: week. A tiny piece of debris got
: between the needle and the seat of
: the carb causing the bowl to fill up
: and overflow.
:
: Car is a '63 Falcon, 170, with a new
: rebuilt fuel pump (from Advance
: Auto). Carb is (I think) an 1100,
: rebuilt by Holley and purchased at
: Auto Zone. You can see pictures of
: the carb and fuel pump here
:
:
: http://home.earthlink.net/~jimg185/index.html
:
: You will need to wait for the
: slideshow to get to the engine
: (sorry!). The greasy red engine has
: the carb and fuel pump in question.
: There's no air cleaner in place so
: you can see the carb.
:
: Wishing not to be stranded for this
: same reason yet again, we got
: serious last Sunday. We inspected
: the built-in fuel filter (the one
: that's mounted inside the fuel pump)
: and found that it was a folded-paper
: filer - just as you'd expect.
:
: So, I added an inline fuel filter
: under the car at the fuel tank. I
: realize that mounting the filter on
: the suction side of the fuel pump
: isn't the ideal way to go, but I'm
: hoping this is temporary, and I
: didn't want to butcher our underhood
: hard fuel line.
:
: My thinking is this: zillions of
: these cars ran just fine for years
: with nothing but a built-in fuel
: filter. I shouldn't need to add
: anythything. Is there a known issue
: with some of the built-in fuel
: filters being junk and others being
: good? Is there a magic "high
: quality" fuel filter out there
: somewhere that all you Falcon gurus
: discovered years ago? Am I being
: unrealistic in my expectation that
: we should be able to drive this car
: for more than a week without the
: carb gushing like a courthouse
: fountain?
:
: Please share any pertinent
: experience.
:
: Thanks in advance,
:
: Jim
:
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