Am I thinking right? ......My car is currently parked facing uphill (fairly steep) with a fuel pump that was changed in July, recently new (you can read the numbers on it) broken fuel guage and at least a gallon of gas in it (plus some that would slosh around if shaking the car prior to putting in the gallon) and will not start, cranks ok. I have moved the throttle cable while observing the carb and cannot smell or see gas being delivered in the bowls. Now the nitty gritty.....if I roll back down the hill shouldn't this allow for the gravity priming and correct fuel flow? Yeah ok so I was an idiot and didn't put gas in it soon enough, lol, set me straight in my thinking. 77 2.3 original
Yeah ok so I was an idiot and didn't put gas in it soon enough, lol, set me straight in my thinking. 77 2.3 original
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If you can not see or smell gas in the carb you might have plugged your filter OR, dont have the Carb bowl full of gas yet...........
So it has nothing to do with gravity feed Brad?
That pump should be good enough to pull/push fuel at about any incline. Probblem is getting it primed. take the end of the fuel line off the carb and stick it in a bucket, turn the engine over a few times and see if it is pumping. Your tank ( may not ) have enough fuel yet????.
I hadda drop my tank to clean my fuel pickup tube & replace the screen. My car sat under a tree for 10 or so years at one time. The tank still has some rust in it :-\
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE I cranked it a few times with the line off the fuel filter and it is DRY as a bone. I followed the line back to the left wheel well and took off the rubber line from the gas tank to the hard line and it was still DRY! I rolled back down the hill and put in another gallon of gas. I cranked it a few times and it started to hit. Turned it off, pressed the pedal all the way down and let off. She started right up! I immediately drove 3 blocks to the gas station and ATTEMPTED to fill her up. She would only take just short of 2 gallons. The gas pump just kept shutting off. I tried, to no avail, to put the nozzle in many ways to try and get gas in and it just wouldn't go in. I drove her home and shook her and she sounds like she has some gas in it. This is the first time since I have had her home that I have tried to put gas in her. Now here is the deal....in the tow home I had to stop and get gas for the truck I thought I would fill up Sabrina, but she wouldn't take much (about as much as I put in her today) and I thought she was just full. I noticed when I test drove her that she read 1/4 tank so from the beginning I thought the guage was broken. The guage has not moved since I have owned her. I took the sending unit plug off and there doesn't appear to be any abnormalities. I know that doesn't really mean anything but I looked just the same. Didn't get a chance to put the meter to it. Thoughts? Ideas? Sound familiar?
sometimes the float in the sending unit develops a pin hole and starts to fill up with gas. This ( heavy) float then does not meter the gas properly.
Thanks Brad, I appreciate that tip and will remember that when I go to troubleshoot the indicating portion. Any ideas on why she won't accept fuel? I know that sometimes gas will quazi gel after sitting an extended period and am wondering if that is my problem? She did sound close to EMPTY before yesterday so I am thinking if I had the goo in it she would have sounded somewhat fuller. Seems like the goo would also make it indicate wrong. Might be 2 seperate problems and it may not. I am going to try a different station here in the next couple of days and see if I have any better results. I remember with my old 67 stang I had a problem with the sending unit and just crawled under and smacked the tank with a hammer and never had another problem. Might give Sabrina the ol rubber mallet just for the heck of it and see what happens. Kind of hard to expect the sending unit to read anything specific without knowing any idea of how much is in there.
I sure would check the pick-up in the tank. There is a filter on the end of the tube that can become clogged or partially blocked. I have taken air pressure and removed tha gas cap before blowing back through the fuel line to clear the obstruction. LOL
I have had my tank off several times. It's really not that hard and doesn't take that long to do. If I was you, I'd take the thing off and find out what is really going on. Then you can also take the sending unit out to see if there is anything wrong with it also.
sounds like good advise........... :)
Well shoot, I am going under her (now that I can get her to level ground at my Moms) to change the shocks anyway I will go ahead and drop the tank and KNOW one way or the other what the deal is. I have read on some old posts about using a sock of some kind since the original is probably shot. Will need to look over that and lay out a plan. As always THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!!
Your welcome............... :)
One quick tip on replacing the pickup "sock"... DO NOT use any type of synthetic material (polyester ETC.) DO use a natural material. I used a piece of COTTON pillowcase.
Synthetic materials WILL break down in gas. Once it does break down, it will suxed into the inlet line to foul up the lines, filters, and Carb. :-[ This is the voice of experience talking. In my years tryomg to fix cars on a non-existant budget I've learned a vew VALUABLE lessons LOL :-[
Little bit of an update....I drove the car a few miles this weekend and while out went to a different station to put some gas in it. Only took 2 dollars again before spilling out the filler neck. Don't know if the bottom of the filler neck at the tank is clogged or what. I did have time to ohm the sending unit and got 55 ohms. I also checked the voltage with the key in run at the plug of the sending unit, it was less than a volt but cycling. Didn't get any further than that. I have plans to drop the tank Saturday and look at everything. As earlier stated I am going to have materials (cotton pillowcase swath and hose clamp) to repair the pickup screen. Should this material be pulled tight or loose? More later
Ok get a STIFF green stick & rod out the filler neck. The stick should be small enough to fit thru the filler, but strong enough to brak up whatever crud is in the filler neck. To do this I'd reccommend dropping the tank. Otherwise whatever is stopping up the neck will end up in the tank. An old farmer's trick on a rusty tank is to put maybe a gallon of gas in it, then 2-3 handfulls of gravel. Plug up the openings,& shake vigorously. The idea is that the gravel will break up all the loose rust in the tank. I did this on my tank & it hasn't stopped up again since (3yrs & counting)
Well I finally got this problem taken care of, short term anyway. Dropped the tank and emptied out about 14 gallons of gas into 3 5 gallon buckets. I hated to see that 18 bucks just sitting there like that. While the tank was down I ohmed the connector at the tank back to the guage, read 75 ohms. I thought it should have read 8-16 ohms and was thinking great I need a guage. The sending unit read 51 ohms which I thought sounded right since I drove about 20 miles since it read 54 ohms. The sending unit was removed and it was NOT a pretty sight. Rusty, rusty rusty. Did I mention how badly rusted the sending unit was? Turns out the lever was stuck due to RUST of all things. I wire brushed it the best I could and exercised the lever till it was nice and loose. Hooked it up under the car and moved it with the car in "run" and the gauge worked perfectly. Woohoo! Looking inside the tank didn't please me as it was crusty rusty yucky. I didn't have any gravel handy but tried another thing....a 6 foot chain. Made a trip to Manny Moe and Jacks for some new fuel hose between the sending unit and hard lines and also stopped by Lowes and bought some bulk chain (3/16 thick links). Put some of the better removed guess in the tanks and slowly inserted the chain. I sloshed it around 3 times draining after each slosh and was pretty pleased with what I got out using this method. Anybody know if radiator shops will boil gas tanks? Also where in the world do you find "new" sending units? Oh and instead of a sock or pillowcase I used some septic tank filter material and a tie strap rated for use in fuel areas. Before putting the tank back in I blew the line with compressed air from the fuel filter back to the tank just in case there was some crud in there. Reinstalled everything and used 2 gallons of the better removed gas to get the car to the station. THIS time it took well over 15 bucks. As for why it wouldn't start the one day while facing uphill, my guess is the float valve in the vapor separator was stuck, that was exercised and moving good and reinstalled before the tank was installed.
I'm glad you got this fixed. I REALLY hate car trouble, especially when I gotta fix it to get to work the next day!! (that reminds me I STILL need a daily driver while I strip the bodywork on my "Lil' Horse")
She is sooooo much harder to start now. I am having trouble finding a new sending unit. Anybody have any leads on where to get a new one? I think the material I used over the pick up may be part of my problem. I think I am also going to try and use a product called creme to repair the gas tank.