I am trying to diagnose a fuel issue on my 60' Strato Chief with the I6.
Basically the car died while driving it. Started sputtering and then stalled and wouldnt start again. The fuel pump wasn't pulling fuel through the line to the carb so I figured it was just the fuel pump.
I replaced the fuel pump but now it seems to pull the fuel into the pump but it doesnt want to push it up the line to the carb. Any clues on what could cause the fuel to get to the pump but not up and through the lines?
I did have to pour gas down the carb to start it before and figured it could be bad gas (the gas station that the gas was from before stored for the winter had water leakage problems into their tanks)
I hope you don't mind some questions in order to help sort it out.
Is the car fresh out of storage, or has it had long periods of storage with no fresh fuel in it?
Did you replace the pump with a brand new pump? If so, have you confirmed it's the correct one?
Have you removed the line at the carb and tested it for volume and pressure?
Some things I would try if it was mine---
-Remove line at carb, stick it in a bottle and crank it over 8 or 10 times, observing how much fuel (if any) comes out and at what pressure.
-Remove line on inlet side of pump, stick a rag on the filler neck at the tank, stick a blogun through the rag and pressurize the tank a bit while observing how much comes out at the pump.
-With line off at pump inlet, run a 6 foot pipe or hose to a jerry can with fresh gas in it and see if it draws better out of that. If so, maybe the pipe inlet is plugged in the tank. If you do this, be very careful to be far enough from the car in case of fumes or spill.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
The car was in storage for almost a year as far as I know. I did just purchase it a few weeks ago and actually died driving it home. I did test drive it and it ran great and made it half of the 150km journey home with no issues. The previous owner did drive it last summer.
The pump is as correct as I could find. Everything looks identical and the fuel pressure output is 4.5-5psi.
I did put some gas in a bottle and run the inlet hose to the that and it did suck it up. I also did take the outlet hose and put it into a bottle and nothing seemed to come out. I haven't combined the 2 (inlet from other gas source and outlet to a bottle yet)
I will play around with it more in the next day or two. Try a few combinations.
Thanks for the help!
-- Edited by fast74nova on Monday 5th of April 2010 11:47:17 PM
If your car has the original Rochester Carb on it there should be a fuel filter on it! It screws into the carb with a large hex and the fuel line screws into the housing for the filter! Remove the filter and check for dirt etc.
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1965 Thunderbird Special Landau 10th Anniversary Limited Edition only 4500 built 34,800 miles
The car will not run if primed. It just burns off whatever gas you put into the carb.
I did purchase a new fuel filter for inside the carb. I have yet to install it. I will be working on it tomorrow. The first car show of the year is Sunday and I have a lot to do.. Get it running, OOP inspection and windshield before then.
I would run a few feet of hose from a gas can and hook it to the pump. It sure has the makings of a plugged fuel line inlet inside the gas tank, doesn't it?
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
You have a good point. I did put some gas gas in a water bottle and run the inlet hose from that to the pump and to the engine and it did suck up the gas but the car didnt start. I only had about 200ml in there. Maybe not enough to fill the pump, lines and carb?
When I started the new engine in my Acadian a couple of weeks ago, I had a 10 litre jerry can about 3/4 full. In less than 20 minutes (at fast idle mind you) I had used a good 5-6 litres. I could hardly believe it.
I did this because the car has only about 100 miles from 96-99, then no miles since then. I was scared how the tank would look. I dropped the tank a few days ago and looked inside. Boy, was I glad I didn't run any of that through the new carb...
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
these new fuels are very volatile they break down and create alot of havoc someone even said the plastic socks desolve.i would clean the whole system and check or replace your sock
Fuel pump and priming the carb got it running, tuned the carb a bit and now it runs great! I did drop the tank to see how it looked inside.
Do you guys know if anyone makes the fuel sending unit gasket? Mine is pretty rough and when I filled the car it started leaking from there. we had to siphon half of the tank out into gas cans.
