Early Ford V-8 Club Forum

EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Hard Start After Sitting

Reply to Discussion | New Discussion << previous || next >>

Posted By Discussion Topic: Hard Start After Sitting -- page: 1 2     LarryK 12-16-2014 @ 8:47 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 105 Joined: Aug 2012 After sitting for a week or so, car is difficult to start. The longer it sits, the more difficult it is. Yesterday, after siting about four weeks in a warm garage, it took about a dozen short cranking cycles to finally start the car. Do not think it is flooded. Do not smell gas. Various choke settings and throttle pumping have no effect. Fuel is in the glass bowl of the fuel pump. Battery is good. It is a 1939 Deluxe Tudor with a carburetor rebuild kit installed (by me). The carburetor is a Holley (or a Chandler Groves or a Ford but not a Stromberg). Once it starts, repeated starts are immediate. Maybe not more than one crankshaft revolution. Car runs very good under all conditions - idling, cruising, acceleration, etc. Any thoughts? Thanks Larry 4dFordSC 12-16-2014 @ 8:59 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 266 Joined: Oct 2009 A common problem for which many of us have installed electric fuel pumps for use in priming the carburetor. Another alternative is to pour a little gas into the carburetor. Some use spray starter fluid. TomO 12-16-2014 @ 9:13 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7253 Joined: Oct 2009 The gas is leaking out of the carburetor and your fuel pump is taking a long time to fill the carburetor bowl. I don't think that it is leaking past the power valve gasket as you say that it runs and idles fine. You would also have some difficulty starting it when warm, if it were leaking past the power valve. Some of this is due to the current formulas for gasoline, they tend to empty the carburetor bowl by capillary action past the accelerator pump discharge needle. You can try reseating the needle valve and the check ball, it may help some. Tthe new gas seems to evaporate faster than the older gas also. The other part may be due to a tired sediment bowl gasket allowing the fuel pump to suck some air while trying to fill the carburetor. A new sediment bowl gasket made from rubberized cork will help the situation by allowing the fuel pump to prime faster. Soldering the compression sleeves on the fuel line from the tank and making sure that the fittings are tight. An electric fuel pump will prime the carburetor and solve the hard starting, providing that the additional connections do not leak vacuum. Another solution is to use the air horn from a 59 carburetor and prime the carburetor by filling the bowl with gas through the vent tube in the air horn. Either of the last 2 solutions will cost points on the Concourse of the Early Ford V-8 Club's National Meets. Tom ken ct. 12-16-2014 @ 1:33 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1513 Joined: Jan 2010 Their could be a multitude of reasons behind your problem. After 2 weeks gas will evaporate from the bowl. Could be bad gasket under the glass bowl,weak valves in the fuel pump,bad PV gasket, an air leak while cranking,porous flex line to pump. Correct carb should be a Chandler Groves and an off-set hole steel fuel pump not GB. Though it will run ok with other models,just not correct for yr. Try to pin it down more for us. ken ct. cliftford 12-16-2014 @ 7:36 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 845 Joined: Jan 2014 I tend to agree with TomO that a lot of the problem is the fuel we get today. Back in the day we used a lot of these old V8 trucks on the farm. Sometimes they would sit for 3 to 6 months without being used and then start right up. They got very little maintenance except lube and oil changes once a year. Electric fuel pumps were virtually unheard of.Back to today, I have the same problem with my '48' and everything on it is new or rebuilt. Lets face it, our old Fords don't like this ethenol gas. 42wagon 12-17-2014 @ 3:38 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 584 Joined: Oct 2009 Yupp, it a common problem with old Fords. I was showed the solution years ago by an old Yankee. Pour a little gas down the carburetor and you should be able to start your car easily. Let it sit for more than a couple of weeks and you will need to do it again. JT Ford 12-17-2014 @ 6:21 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 112 Joined: Oct 2009 I pour gas down the vent tube in the air horn on the 94 carb. That way it goes straight into the bowl rather than half doing straight into the intake manafold. TomO 12-17-2014 @ 6:36 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7253 Joined: Oct 2009 I have partially assembled a Ford carburetor, with just the power valve installed and filled the bowl to the normal fuel level. I then let it sit for more than a week and checked the fuel level. Less than half of the gas evaporated. I then completed the assembly of the carburetor and repeated the test. This time most of the gas was gone. The idle tubes were wet with gas. I reseated the accelerator needle valve and repeated the test. I had slightly more fuel left. I removed the needle valve and repeated the test. The fuel level was closer to the level when just the power valve was installed. My Lincoln carburetor will empty the bowl over night with proper assembly, and will stay full for a week if I put slight pressure on the accelerator needle valve. I had a slightly heavier needle made, but have not had time to test it. Tom LarryK 12-21-2014 @ 5:47 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 105 Joined: Aug 2012 Many thanks to all who have responded. I will keep in mind the likelihood of gas evaporating from the carburetor bowl. The car is now laid up for the winter. I will make sure the carburetor bowl is full before I try to start it in the spring. Hopefully it will start without any problems. Larry supereal 12-21-2014 @ 1:27 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 The carb float displaces most of the gas in the bowl. Heat soak, after a long run, will usually evaporate most of the remaining fuel. Keep a can of starting fluid handy and give the air cleaner a whiff or two. That generally will give a boost and the fuel pump will do the rest. Just don't overdo it.

<< previous || next >>

PAGE: 1 2

NOTE: YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED USER AND BE LOGGED IN TO POST (and reply to) messages in this forum. If you are a first time user, please click the CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT in the masthead above to register and Log In. After that, all you do is LOG IN to enjoy using this site.

DISCLAIMER: The V-8 Club does no independent testing of any of the opinions, thoughts or suggestions presented in the website on the Forum, in the Tech Tips section, or any section. A reader should consider the website to be a forum wherein differing solutions to a particular set of circumstances may be discussed. Ultimately, the selection of an item for an individual's vehicle must be based upon the independent study of the vehicle owner in consultation with people in the hobby and restoration experts.

EFV-8 Club Forum Home | Back to Home Page | Contact the Webmaster

Copyright © 2009 - EFV-8.org
Powered by < CF FORUM > v.2.1