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Flooding?!

Lester

Donation Time
Hello all, I know I'm probably using up more than my share of bandwidth here, but I hope this will be a quick one. I'm getting real close to my maiden voyage. My car was not so far gone when I got it, so I decided to get it going quickly (1 year) and enjoy it a bit before I really tear into it. So, I'm anxious to get on the road.
Ok. My car sits for a few days, starts up beautifully, idles fine, even runs fairly well under load. (I took it up and down the street.) I get it back home turn it off for five minutes, and nearly run the battery down trying to get it started again. I did not press the gas pedal one time, but the smell of gas is strong. I then tried holding the pedal to floor, to let the gas out of the carbs, didn't help. It's done this consistantly every time I run it and try to start it again. I noticed the little tube coming out of the manifold is dripping. (gas?) Is it just flooded? Arggh!
Endless thanks, Lester
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
Lester,

What carbs are you running? twin Zeniths? Solex compound? Twin Strombergs.. IIRC correctly you have the twin Zeniths?

you may have a sticking float, you may be flooding it by pumping the throttle. Which tube do you have going to the intake? There is a water passage on the zeniths, but no fuel.
 

Lester

Donation Time
sorry, I left out crucial info. Yes, I am running twin Zeniths, which seem to work fine when running, but re-starting is a real chore. The tube is about the diameter of a brake line about 8" long. It comes from the bottom of the manifold and points to the ground, obviously a drain of some kind. It is placed right between the carbs. It is dripping something. I have the stock fuel pump. Thanks again, Lester
 

TulsaAlpine

Donation Time
Stuck Float

:eek:
I have a Weber took off the solex on Vicki and twice the float stuck, gas fumes and that drip of gas out of the tube. The second time it happened was in the middle of a busy intersection, good Samaritan help me push her out of danger. I called for help, then calmed down remembered what my restoration guy had told me got a screwdriver out of the boot tapped the blue X he marked on the weber and Wahoo float unstuck car started cavalry arrived to late and I drove her home no problem. The fun with carbs, and this isn’t no diet I am talking about!

Donna
:D
 

Fastback

Donation Time
Flooding?

Lester:
That is a drain pipe for the excess fuel in the manifold. And that's what your dripping: fuel. At the bottom of the pipe, there's supposed to be a small check valve to allow fuel out and kept dust from coming in. Just make sure your pipe isn't dripping on the exhaust manifold! If it is, keep a bottle of BBQ sauce in the cubby!

Sounds like your carbs could use a dose of cleaning; sticking float, bad float or needle valve can cause flooding. And since your problem is restarting a warm engine, when you have excess fuel in the manifold, you might as well have the choke all the way out. I'd suggest popping the top covers off and see what the float bowls look like inside.

Wayne
 

Nickodell

Donation Time
I had the same problem a few years back which was hard to trace. Checked everything: fuel pressure, float height, new jets; still the same problem. Then one day I had one of the floats off and by chance shook it - slosh slosh. There was a tiny hole in one of the soldered joints, allowing gas to leak in. So that float didn't float, the jet stayed open and the carb flooded.
 

Lester

Donation Time
So you all seem to agree that it is flooding. At least I feel I'm getting somewhere. I will check the floats. Are floats available for the Zeniths? On a slightly different starting note, is the stock starter supposed to sound like gears winding down after failing to start?
 

skywords

Donation Time
To check floats for leaks you can emerse them in hot water. It does not have to be boiling and if they have a leak the air in the float will expand and cause bubbles. This may save you from buying floats. Could be just the float needles. Good luck

Rick
 

serIIalpine

Donation Time
I soldered mine back shut but I would imagine you could take them to a decent old school radiator shop and have them do it for you.

Eric

'62 SerII

I switched to webers because I wanted carbs I could buy parts for.
 

jumpinjan

Bronze Level Sponsor
The flooding is from the gas expanding in the fuel line that's sitting very close to a hot engine. Another problem is getting new parts for the Zeniths. None of the rebuild kits supply the correct needle & seat. The only parts I could really use are the gaskets. Don't pitch those original needle & seat parts, you have to use them. Those "Gross Jets" don't work either because the floats don't have enough buoyancy force to close them. If the engine is running okay, and the flooding is the only problem, than I would say you are doing pretty good.
 

Lester

Donation Time
I am doing pretty good. Still, if I let it die, or kill it, I'd better be in the driveway 'cause it's not going anywhere for a while. This could ruin a nice sunday drive. I haven't checked the floats yet, I worked on the floors today.
I bought a pair of said rebuild kits, and they did look a little sparse.
 

Lester

Donation Time
I was convinced that the Zeniths were flooding, but just to be safe I checked the spark of the plugs. They were getting spark just fine. I checked the pump, and it was working fine. After running the battery down, again, I hooked up jumper cables. Still no fire. I sprayed a hit of starter fluid and bam! It fired up and ran pretty well. What is going on with the carbs here? Is just the mixture? When it did run, I had it full choke, and when I let the choke in, it quickly dogged down and died.
 

Lester

Donation Time
No, I haven't checked it and am not familiar with how to. But, I did mess with the servo...bypassed it actually, because it was drinking my brake fluid. Could this have caused a vacuum leak? Could this be the cause of all of my troubles? Thanks, Lester
 
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