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Fuel issue or heat on decline

Dpbeats11

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Shut off vehicle on a decline, front of car down… went to start and would not start. 318 engine with 2bbl carter carb. Problem starting on unlevel ground?
 
How long did the car sit before trying to restart?
Mike
 
How long did the car sit before trying to restart?
Mike
It was about 20 minutes. But I think from trying to start it may have flooded. After about an hour or so and letting it cool down it finally fired. A lot of black soot came out of exhaust.
 
After driving cars with carbereuters for years I kind of developed a sixth sense for what was going on or what the engine needed.
Next time try slowly pressing the pedal about a third of the way down. Don't move it and crank a few times. You always want to make sure it doesn't have enough fuel before adding any.
Once again fuel injection has some advantages.
 
After driving cars with carbereuters for years I kind of developed a sixth sense for what was going on or what the engine needed.
Next time try slowly pressing the pedal about a third of the way down. Don't move it and crank a few times. You always want to make sure it doesn't have enough fuel before adding any.
Once again fuel injection has some advantages.

milk remember that next time. Thanks! Maybe you can quickly identify another hiccup. While driving and giving it gas, I noticed a slight hesitation when pressing the accelerator. Would this be related to the carburetor not being fine tuned? Sorry, trying to get it driving somewhat reliable
 
Usually the accelerator pump causes a hesitation.
But not always
 
Most when trying to start a flooded engine will let off of the pedal when they let go of the key. Don't do that. If you think the engine is flooded and let off the key, keep your throttle foot at the same place....wait 20-30 seconds and try again without moving your throttle foot. Carbs are not hard to figure out but if you don't know their mechanics, you might not get it started for awhile. On the hesitation, like Don mentioned, the pump squirter might be the problem but generally, a rich squirter won't cause the hesitation but can cause an overly rich non start. An overly rich squirter can flood an engine pretty fast especially if you pump it two or three times trying to start it.

One way to see if you are overly lean or rich is to look down the throat of the carb and open the throttle but not when you are trying to start it. If you move the throttle a bit slowly and not much gas comes out, then that's a problem with a lean squirter or one that's not working right. I'd rather have a rich squirter than a lean one any day. Another thing you can do if you think it's flooded is to hold the pedal on the floor. Don't let up on the pedal if you let go of the key. Give the battery a short rest but keep holding the pedal down.....then give it another try. Then do it again. A flooded engine will start faster this way every time!
 
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