bad gas?

[blkmonday]

i have 66 olds ragtop that sat all winter with some gas in the tank. i uncovered it this spring and it wont start. its getting spark and has compression. i spray quick start in carb and it fires up until the quick start burns out. the fuel is pumping to the carb just fine. i noticed in the glass fuel filter that the gas looked bad. i added 5 gallons of fresh gas and pumped out the fuel line hoping the mixture of new gas with the bad might do it....no luck. i tried adding fuel activator (although a very old supply of it) no such luck...any suggestions. ive thought about draining the gas tank..but not sure how..any advice would be appreciated..thanks

[maxwedge]

If you pump the pedal do you see fuel squirting out of the acclerator pump into the carb, also many carbs of this era had a filter in the fuel inlet fitting.

[MagicRat]

My first guess is that your carb float (in the float bowl) is stuck in the "up" position.

Over a long storage, gas in the carb float bowl will evaporate, leaving a gummy residue. If this evaporation happens several times over the years, the gummy residue will build-up and cause the float bowl to stick and the fuel valve will be stuck closed. This means that gas will get to the carb but will not flow into the float bowl.

BTW this problem is why many people will drain the carb float bowl, (or remove the fuel line and run the engine until it dies) before a long storage.

I have had this happen to me many times over the years. Gently tapping the carb with a hammer as you crank the engine sometimes helps. Otherwise, the carb needs to be disassembled and cleaned out.

[blkmonday]

hmmm..its an aftermarket edelbrock carb..so theres no other filter than the glass inline one. the gas is definately pumping because i removed the fuel line before the carb and crank it and i can see fuel pumping into the bucket i put there. when i cleaned out the fuel filter there was definately a bad gas smell..smelled weak...although after cranking it with the pedal pressed for awhile..what would normally flood the engine and smell of gas doesnt seem to be happening..so im wandering if the float is stuck. im going to try to tap on it and see if that helps any...i really hate to pull the carb and have to clean it out. will shooting it all up with carb cleaner while its on the car help? the car is way out in my backyard away from my tools...im trying to get it back up to the driveway where i can get it going again for the summer.

[blkmonday]

come to think of it...there is a lot of pressure in the fuel line when i pull it off from the carb. im thinking the float is stuck. i haven been able to see if there is fuel going into the jets of the carb because im the one cranking it..i will get someone else to crank it while i look down the carb...but this makes sense that it would be that...because i did add fresh gas and a fuel stabilizer/revitalizer and drained the fuel line and filter a few time so it has to be getting better gas to it by now...of course i didnt pick up carb cleaner today...so ill have to wait till tomorrow...sucks because the weather is perfect today...itll probably rain tomorrow..

[MagicRat]

Let us know how it turns out. Good luck.

[blkmonday]

success! i ended up pulling the carb and opening it up and yup! you were right the floats were a mess! i sprayed them down with some carb cleaner, put the carb back on and the car fired right up...ran like hell but at least i was able to drive it up to my driveway where i can actually work on it now..the timing is way off. thanks guys!!!

[MagicRat]

Glad to see you got it running!