My previous post, located "below" this one, described a fuel problem. This post describes why I had to drain and replace my engine oil. In trouble-shooting my "lack of fuel" problem, I set up a siphon from a one-gallon plastic gas container on the roof of my 57 President Classic into the inlet to my "not OEM" 4-Jet carburetor. The car started immediately, and ran fine. I stopped the engine, went to do something else, and after about an hour, came back to start the car. You guessed it, the siphoned gravity-fed gas drained through the carburetor and filled the cylinders with gas. The engine "locked" due to the rule that "liquid is not very compressible'. The situation was eventually corrected when all the fuel drained into the crankcase. Deciding that oil diluted by about a quart of gasoline was not very good for lubrication, I drained the oil and replaced it with stuff I bought at Wal-Mart. One good thing, I guess, is 1. that the 10% ethanol gas cleaned the spark plugs and, 2. I discovered a cheap oil containing zinc. Also learned something in an article I found on the "Corvette Forum".
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Why not to forget that you have gravity feed of gas into your engine.
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I had a bad fuel pump on a road trip and had to get to the next service station. Fortunately I had a 300 pound passenger who sat on the front fender and the car started! Gravity feed helped get us to the service station, but he had to stay seated on the fender for the car to runDave Warren (Perry Mason by day, Perry Como by night)
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Originally posted by jnfweber View PostYou guessed it, the siphoned gravity-fed gas drained through the carburetor and filled the cylinders with gas.
Or maybe, was the car jacked-up in the front making the carb not level?
regards,
JayLast edited by IMJ; 05-14-2014, 06:31 PM.
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Originally posted by Deaf Mute View PostEver disconnected the fuel tank-to-pump line on your Avanti & turn your back? That tank empties quite fast when you are looking for a golf tee to plug the line.
regards,
JayLast edited by IMJ; 05-15-2014, 06:11 AM.
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Originally posted by IMJ View PostVery true. But if I read the scenario correctly, the fuel from the gas can on the roof was connected directly to the carbs. inlet. So my thoughts were that if the carb. was level the float should have been able to close the needle/seat. Inquiring minds need to know.
regards,
Jay
Last edited by jnfweber; 05-15-2014, 08:49 AM.sigpic
Jack, in Montana
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Originally posted by Son O Lark View PostIf it was a full gallon of gas, wouldn't there be close to 8 lbs of pressure with the container
on the roof of the car? Just making a guess.
I originally thought the same thing but then I remembered a quart or 1/4 gallon. (2 lbs)
I thought maybe the front of the car was on jack-stands which would angle the carb. back and flood it.
regards,
Jay
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Originally posted by IMJ View Post"The situation was eventually corrected when all the fuel drained into the crankcase. Deciding that oil diluted by about a quart of gasoline was not very good for lubrication, I drained the oil and replaced it with stuff I bought at Wal-Mart."
I originally thought the same thing but then I remembered a quart or 1/4 gallon. (2 lbs)
I thought maybe the front of the car was on jack-stands which would angle the carb. back and flood it.
regards,
Jaysigpic
Jack, in Montana
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Originally posted by GThawkwind View PostI did this one a car with a bad needle and seat, we pulled the plugs and cranked it, my brother sitting next to fender and underestimated how far the would shoot, and all went right into his eyes.
Ouch ! I got my eyes, ears, and nose doused with gasoline when I detached a blocked rotten hose from the bottom of my Avanti gas tank. Quick run into the house to wash with water from kitchen sink. Ears were the worst, had to use kitchen sink spray to clear them out. I bought this car in Tulsa in 1989 and sold it in Montana in 2013. It showed up several days later at a local golf course. It is in storage and current owner is trying to sell it for twice what he paid for it. Photo was the one I took at the golf course.
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Jack, in Montana
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Last edited by SweetSixtyn; 05-21-2014, 07:54 AM.
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Heh. Timely topic. Yesterday, I started up my old Dixon ZTR mower to move it over by the shop so I could replace the cones and wheel cups in its fabulous friction drive mechanism. Started kind of reluctantly, and blew out huge clouds of blue smoke, but I made it from the barn to the yard by the shop, where it quit from running out of gas. I got the parts changed, and even popped the grease seals out of the 6 bearings involved and hand-packed a little more grease into them. Figured I'd check the oil while I was at it. Pulled the dipstick, and uh-oh! Waaay over-full. The fuel tank had drained into the crankcase over the winter. So I drained the much-diluted oil, filled it with fresh, and filled the fuel tank. It started right up, and I got a bunch of mowing down. Steering levers still need to be set up a bit, but it still does what it has to do. Needless to say, there is a small placard on the engine housing, advising that the fuel valve should be shut off when unit is not in use. Guess I will be doing that from now on.
Oh, and pressure? A column of water 30 feet high has a pressure of of about 14.7 pounds per square inch = atmospheric pressure at sea level. A column of water 3 feet high would have about 1.5 psi. Gasoline, being about 8/10 the density of water, would be 1.2 psi. Assuming that a gas can on the roof would be a full 3 feet above the fuel inlet on the carb.
It's not necessarily the pressure that does it. Certainly not in the case of my lawnmower. Could be a little dirt in the needle and seat; or it just could be that gas in the carb bowl evaporated, and the float dropped by gravity, and fuel trickled in, as per design, but the float did not rise enough to close off the flow again, because, no vibration from running engine. One tiny little bind on the pivot pin, or needle and seat, and the relatively tiny force of the float could be neutralized. Normally, vibration of a running engine is enough to overcome static friction between the metal parts that make up the float valve mechanism. Remember that gasoline is NOT a lubricant.Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands
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