This post could cover all three of the major forum titles we usually post in. My wife wanted me to take a couple of bills to the post office this morning. I saw the occasion as an opportunity for another one of my little "Studebaker Shortcuts." I pull the '48 Business Coupe out of the man cave and hit the rural road to the little post office about 15 miles away. Less than a mile from home I encounter a sheriff's' deputy directing everyone to turn off the route. There was a "wide load" needing the entire road ahead. I turn around and take an alternate route. Made the rest of the trip to the post office without further incident.
To return home, I decided to take my originally planned route figuring the wide load would be gone by the time I got back. I stopped at a little crossroads where there is an old gas station that is now a hot dog/burger joint. Bought a hot dog to go, and got a lot of comments on the car. About a half mile after leaving the store, the car started running rough, skipping and sputtering. I accelerated out of that and except for a bit of a hiccup now and then, it ran OK. A couple of miles further and I came to a four-way stop. Although it is still two lane highways, this intersection has a huge convenience store/gas station, and a couple of restaurants. I stopped at the intersection and waited my turn. However, the engine had died and would not restart. Fortunately, I was able to roll backwards into the convenience store parking lot. While rolling backwards, I tried to restart the engine by popping the clutch, but that did not work.
I got out and raised the hood to see the carburetor was very wet with gas. The ambient temperature is about 90 degrees. I am about 11 miles from home. Of all the numbers I have stored in my phone, I could think of no one available to call for help without really inconveniencing them. Being a CASO, I certainly was not going to call a tow truck. I thought of a couple of other retired folks, but I would have walked the 11 miles home before allowing the jerks to tease me about my old Studebaker for the next few months. I remembered the hot dog in the little brown bag. So, I left the hood up to facilitate the engine cooling down faster, and walked through the gas pump area into the convenience store.
As I bought a bottle of water, I couldn't help but think of that Viagra commercial Bob Palma posted about here on the forum a few days ago. I calmly walk back to my car, retrieve the hot dog, walk back to a bench in front of the store, and eat my hot dog in the shade. After about a 45 minutes, (it was very hard to discipline myself to wait that long) I walked back to my car where a small group of admirers had gathered. Funny how, with the hood up, no one asked me if there was a problem with the car. One young fellow turned out to be a local whose parents own one of the large peach orchards in the area. I explained that the car had quit. He offered to help. I told him that I had let the engine cool and was going to try to fire it up once again. I told him where I lived and he said that he was headed for the feed store about a mile from my house. He offered to give me a ride home or follow me as far as the feed store if the engine fired up. The engine did fire up and the car ran flawlessly with no missing, hesitation, or stumbling all the way home.
Now for the "technical" part. I had this to happen with a "cold" engine early one morning a few weeks ago where gas was flooding out of the carb. Now it has happened with a fully warmed engine and "at speed" driving down the highway. It is as if the float has sunk in the bowl causing the needle to open and flooding the carburetor. However, this can't be the case since it cleared up and ran perfect from there. So, I am open for suggestions. I want to drive this car to the Southeast Zone Meet and right now don't have the confidence to do it.
To return home, I decided to take my originally planned route figuring the wide load would be gone by the time I got back. I stopped at a little crossroads where there is an old gas station that is now a hot dog/burger joint. Bought a hot dog to go, and got a lot of comments on the car. About a half mile after leaving the store, the car started running rough, skipping and sputtering. I accelerated out of that and except for a bit of a hiccup now and then, it ran OK. A couple of miles further and I came to a four-way stop. Although it is still two lane highways, this intersection has a huge convenience store/gas station, and a couple of restaurants. I stopped at the intersection and waited my turn. However, the engine had died and would not restart. Fortunately, I was able to roll backwards into the convenience store parking lot. While rolling backwards, I tried to restart the engine by popping the clutch, but that did not work.
I got out and raised the hood to see the carburetor was very wet with gas. The ambient temperature is about 90 degrees. I am about 11 miles from home. Of all the numbers I have stored in my phone, I could think of no one available to call for help without really inconveniencing them. Being a CASO, I certainly was not going to call a tow truck. I thought of a couple of other retired folks, but I would have walked the 11 miles home before allowing the jerks to tease me about my old Studebaker for the next few months. I remembered the hot dog in the little brown bag. So, I left the hood up to facilitate the engine cooling down faster, and walked through the gas pump area into the convenience store.
As I bought a bottle of water, I couldn't help but think of that Viagra commercial Bob Palma posted about here on the forum a few days ago. I calmly walk back to my car, retrieve the hot dog, walk back to a bench in front of the store, and eat my hot dog in the shade. After about a 45 minutes, (it was very hard to discipline myself to wait that long) I walked back to my car where a small group of admirers had gathered. Funny how, with the hood up, no one asked me if there was a problem with the car. One young fellow turned out to be a local whose parents own one of the large peach orchards in the area. I explained that the car had quit. He offered to help. I told him that I had let the engine cool and was going to try to fire it up once again. I told him where I lived and he said that he was headed for the feed store about a mile from my house. He offered to give me a ride home or follow me as far as the feed store if the engine fired up. The engine did fire up and the car ran flawlessly with no missing, hesitation, or stumbling all the way home.
Now for the "technical" part. I had this to happen with a "cold" engine early one morning a few weeks ago where gas was flooding out of the carb. Now it has happened with a fully warmed engine and "at speed" driving down the highway. It is as if the float has sunk in the bowl causing the needle to open and flooding the carburetor. However, this can't be the case since it cleared up and ran perfect from there. So, I am open for suggestions. I want to drive this car to the Southeast Zone Meet and right now don't have the confidence to do it.
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