Damn, the pump is like brand new too. But the guy is now telling me he redid the tank before I got it? Idk what he's talking about because before he said it had old gas but now he's telling me he redid the tank idk
Sounds like the previous owner knew there was a fuel delivery problem, but wasn't 100% sure what the cause was. Redid the fuel tank?... As in cleaned it?... coated the inside Maybe? People say a lot of things. Bottom line, as others have said, you need to go through the whole fuel system. You definitely need to determine if fuel is flowing through the outlet of the tank as it should... And everywhere else. Remove the fuel line at the tank and the carburetor. Remove the filter. Blow some compressed air backwards through the fuel lines. I'm hoping the outlet on the tank is on the bottom. If it is, let the fuel drain into a clean container. Watch the flow rate. If it slows down, stick a little screwdriver or something up in there to see if you can dislodge some crap. You may be able to rince it out well enough. Or you might decide that you have to pull the tank and do a good cleaning. Anyway, first determine that the fuel is having absolutely no problem getting from the tank to the carburetor. Then go from there.
And if you're having to run the engine with the choke closed at all, the fuel is either having a hard time getting to the carburetor or through the carburetor or you have a vacuum leak. As others said, spray carb cleaner to find a vacuum leak. Don't forget that through all this, the spark plugs are or will be black and fuzzy and fouled again and need cleaning or replacing. They may be part of your problem right now.
You might check the health of your spark, too. Pull one spark plug. Connected to the spark plug wire, lay the spark plug on the engine so it can make a ground connection. Crank the engine while watching the spark at the electrodes. Pink/orange is weak. Blue and snappy is good and strong.
Oh by the way does anyone know what this is? The guy I bought it from didn't know what it was for but he said some old man machined it and gave it to him, he had some kind of story but I forgot it.
The funny idle is a surge. That thing is surging like it is not getting enough fuel. That thingy you are holding is a carb spacer of the home made variety.
Here’s how the old fart starts this process. Take a clear glass jar and fill it half full with gas from your gas tank. Please be careful with gas,no smoking-sparks-serious shit gas is. Put the lid on and let it sit out away from anything important. NOTE-ALWAYS HAVE A FIRE EXTINGUISHER ON HAND AT ALL TIMES WHEN WORKING ON CARS !!!! If the ethanol is separated from the gas it will show up in the jar. Basically the ethanol molecule will attract a water molecule to itself and will become heavy and separate from the hydrogen molecule. If it has you will see two different levels in that jar. It won’t matter if you install all new gas tank ,fuel pump, carburetor, filter until YOU CHECK TO SEE IF THAT GAS IS CRAP!! A word of advice OUR old cars are vented to the atmosphere-gas tank- carburetors-. The ETHANOL MOLECULE ATTACHES THE WATER MOLECULE RIGHT OUT OF THE AIR ! New cars are sealed from the atmosphere and we fail SMOG CHECKS here in Commiefornia for a gas cap not sealing properly. Don’t leave you gas cans open without a lid on the container. My grandsons didn’t believe me until I drained some gas out of his truck and tossed on the driveway. You could see water draining away from the gas he just purchased from a local gas station and it killed his truck. Believe me THE TANKS AT THE GAS STATIONS CAN GET CONTAMINATED and if fffss up your vehicle. Read up on it kid and due yourself a favor watch out where you get your gas from. It’s like a horror movie— the gas could turn ZOMBIE at any moment!! Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That’s supposed to be hydrocarbon in my post above . Auto correct is editing what I type. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I think you have multiple problems. The random popping and backfiring sounds like sticking valves. That's common in a flatty that has sat for a while. If the basics of checking out the fuel and ignition don't work, pull the heads. Turn the engine over and watch each valve to make sure it fully closes and seats. Spray each valve stem with Barrymens B12 as you slowly turn the motor over by hand. Then oil them and clean up the mess and check it again. If they still stick, let us know for the next step.
You can see the edge of the valves through the spark plug hole. Don't need to pull a head to see if it's sticking a bit. You probably won't be able to see if it is closing completely though. But I think if a valve is sticking open you would probably have some popping or maybe even like a backfire, not just surging. If you find one sticking I recommend putting some Marvel Mystery Oil in the tank (after you have gotten all the old rotten gas out of your tank). Dose it on the high side of the recommendation on the bottle. Run the car a few miles if you can stand the surging. That might loosen up the sticky valves. It certainly won't hurt.
For the newer/younger mechanics: Trying to diagnose/fix your car via the internet is a wild goose chase. Before the internet we had books. Unlike the internet, the books were very carefully and accurately written to compete with other books. They contained very good, systematic troubleshooting guides for just about every problem. THey help teach you how to diagnose and fix. Glenns always had great toubleshooting guides. I recommend that you snag a copy and study it, and apply it to your problem. https://www.ebay.com/itm/174575610269?hash=item28a584699d:g:8NMAAOSwFahf6o8a https://www.ebay.com/itm/384035501589?hash=item596a4cb615:g:H44AAOSwFsFgUkh5
I have all the original shop manuals and such, but anyway, I found out one of the problems and fixed it. Damn condenser gave out. Running smooth as when we got it, but still won't idle.i also found out that I lost my spark plug socket
Rex, Don't make a habit of this. Go to the gas cap of your car. Take the cap off and sniff. If it smells like gasoline, you are "probably" OK. If it has a sweet, sicky, varnish smell, you'll need to do something the old gas in the the tank. Also when old gas burns, you'll smell that varnish smell and it'll be so bad the exhaust will burn your eyes. That smell and rough running are all signs of bad gas. If you don't smell that sweet chemical like varnish smell and just smell gasoline, like I said you may be OK. From the video the color of the gasoline seemed OK in your fuel pump bowl but I just got a glimpse.
You need... A compression gauge A good 6V compatible battery charger A vacuum gauge A set of feeler gauges A timing light most will still work on 6V...mine does A test light It's not essential but a dwell meter A carburetor kit A can of carburetor cleaning fluid A set of good quality brushes (brass nylon stainless) A air compressor and blower (to blow out the carburetor passages) A set of wire picks A razor blade (box cutter/utility knife blade) With your shop manuals providing the data... Check the compression!! You have to remove all the spark plugs and have a hot fully charged battery. Do wet and dry tests. More than any other check, a compression check will tell you the most about your engine. A vacuum gauge is a great tool in adjusting the mixture and idle. Since your mixture screws are stuck....Rebuild the carburetor. Feeler gauges....to make sure the point gap is correct. Flathead V8s are very sensitive to point gap. A timing light to check the timing. Mark the pulley dot with white paint so the light will pick it up. A flathead can fool you by tuning/timing it by ear. Use the light. A simple test light to check the function of switches and circuits... Purchase a good quality carburetor rebuild kit. Since it is running It's no big deal to pull the carburetor and overhaul it. It's actually a suggestion in the troubleshoot manual. To properly overhaul a carburetor, it needs to be perfectly clean. A can of Carburetor soak is a great way to clean the parts. Use the brushes to clean up the dirty parts but do not go nuts, especially with the metallic brushes. A blower and compressed air is essential to blow out out carburetor passages. It is difficult to have good results with out a way to blow one out. Wire picks...Use caution and common sense.... These can be used to clean out stuck passages and jets. Y do not want to use these for blind passages. Do a visual inspection...look for trash. Sometimes it takes several tries to rebuild a carburetor. The razor blade is used to scrape and clean stuck gasket material off the intake carburetor base. Use caution. The 94 is really simple carburetor to overhaul/put a kit in.
Pull the fuel line off the gas tank and with the gas cap removed.....it should drain the cruddy fuel out. Refill with fresh gas (couple gallons). Add in some denatured alcohol to absorb any water left in the tank (same thing as Heet/Gas Dry...moisture removers) It mixes with the left over water and makes it burn. Pull the spark plugs and wire brush them. See if it runs/idles any better. Unstick the air adjustment screw(s)......try this. With a large flat blade screw driver in the stuck screw.....gently....tap the screw driver with the back of wooden wire brush.....while trying to turn it. Spray it with WD-40 and try turning it both ways....GENTLY! The last thing you want is to wring-off the screw in the carb. IF that fails...pull the carb and soak it in carb cleaner. Save the old gas and mix it with your lawnmower gas. (they'll run on just about anything!) Sorry if I came across "kinda ugly" in the previous post. I's just soooo important to list ALL the details when trying to get help troubleshooting stuff.. 6sally6
Update: exhaust smells like varnish but tank smells like gas. It idles again, smoother, but smokes more than it used to and smells like varnish, which like one of you guys said means bad gas. This thing has so many problems and they all came at the same time
But anyway, I adjusted the carb to the factory specs, also neighbor complained about the cargo ship worthy amount of smoke coming from the tailpipe spark is good on all cylinders, timing is good, so it's probably a seal or gas like you guys said. Lucky for me there's a cool old dude with a workshop I've hung out at for the past few years who can probably help me out
Would I be a total dick if I said everything goes bad all of a sudden? Maybe just the shop smart ass? Are you handy? Look up Daytona Carb in FL and get a kit. Comes with a diagram and some instruction. Everything in it is ethanol resistant. Lots of info on how to rebuild, set, repair carbs online. You'll be rewarded with the fact you did it too. It's not rocket science, you just have to pay attention to your parts and take pics before, during, and after to assist as you go. About 2-3hrs work for the easy ones, days if you do a restoration-level gig with new screws and the like, paint, plating, etc.
yikes. We ruled it down to a fuel issue. We're putting gas in it because it ran out from Al the cranking and redoing the gaskets.
With gas it ran pretty okay, sticky valve on one cylinder. Timing is a little off and it shakes like hell, charging the battery overnight
i assume that were talking about a Ford Flathead engine?if that,s what you have,pull out all of the spark plugs,if there black and sooty from the engine running too rich replace them or clean them,the problem will happen again until you rebuild your carburetor,also if your running a point type dizzy check the gap on the points and replace them and the condenser if they look burnt,check the rotor and cap also and all the plug wires to.
Did All that, all good. The battery's charging in the basement once it's done I'll pop it back in and do some work
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