Re: IML: Hard Starting - Carb problems? Do it yourself in 57 easy steps.

[Kenyon Wills <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>]

 My '65 Crown will not start after sitting
> overnight.  If I pour gas or use starting fluid, it
> starts right up.  Once it's running, it's fine and
> can be restarted normally all day.  If the car sits
> for several hours, I have to prime it again.  I
> don't seem to be able to pump gas into the carb for
> start up.  Would this be the accelerator pump in the
> carb?  The car runs great once started.  There is
> not gas leaking into the oil that I can tell.
> 
>   Also, I am trying to find a new choke pull off for
> the Carter 4 barrel.  The one I have must have a bad
> diaphragm.  Local auto parts stores are no help.   
> Thanks - Tony
 
I have rehabbed several reluctant carbs on my own.

Probably:
1.  Choke not set properly
2.  Accelerator pump not pumping
3.  Method (pump the gas pedal once or twice and
release, turn key to start).  No gas pedal before
start is wrong way to start a Mopar Car with carter
carb.

First thing:  Remove the air cleaner on the car when
cold and gas pedal has not been touched.  Pull the
accelerator linkage while you are looking down into
the carb throat.  Two things should happen.  A:  You
should see and hear a stream of raw gas going down the
throats of the front barrels.  B:  The rectangular
flap that is the choke should snap shut and pretty
much cover the front 2 intakes.  If it does not, your
choke is mis-adjusted or broken and needs to be fixed.
 

Are both OK and apparently working properly?

If so:  go to your local parts-house with your car and
ask them for a carb rebuild kit ($30-$80) they may ask
for the carb number (that's why you brought your car)
that's on the carb casing.

Get the carb kit.
Get three cans of spray carb cleaner, preferrably with
the skinny tube for the spray nozzle.

Go home and park the car someplace that it can sit
while you work on it in case you encounter a problem. 
Don't block in your daily driver in the process, in
other words.  Let car sit until it has reached the
no-start situation (without trying to start it when
you start your "operation").


The Carter unit on your car can be serviced to a
degree while in the car!!  It's a really neat design.

I advise that you remove the carb for your first shot
at this - it will aid in keeping things straight for
re-assembly.  When you remove the carb, be careful to
keep it level and not tip it - it's full of gas (or
maybe not?).


So you've gotten the carb out, right?  Put it on a
workbench where there is space and it is CLEAN.

Sitting the carb facing you in the way that it faces
the radiator when in the car, remove all of the
linkages that you can, and lay them out on the
workbench in areas that correspond to the place on the
carb where they came from.  Linkage from the left goes
on the left, etc.

There is an accelerator pump.  You need to remove the
linkage for this one most especially.  It is at the
front right and has a pivot arm (just like an
old-fashioned farmyard water pump) and has an S
linkage to a brass dowel.  Remove that first.

Now look at the top of the carb.  there are "about" 10
flathead screws, including ones at 12 and 6 o'clock. 
Take em all out, and lay the top and bottom ones in a
way that you can figure out which one goes to the top
and which to the bottom.  The rest are
interchangeable.  

Using a mini screwdriver, gently pry the top off,
pulling vertically and NOT twisting out of the
vertical.  Hold it level and make certain NOT to tilt
it to the left or right.  There are 2 long "needles"
that point down and go below everything else.  Careful
not to set the thing down on these - bending them is
very bad.  Tilt the cover back and rest it on its back
edge and floats or whatever makes sense.  

Is there fuel in the bowls that contained those brass
floats that came off with the lid?  If it's empty,
there's a clue that there isn't any gas in the carb
when you're trying to start the car.  

If there is no gas present, fill the bowls with
carb-cleaner and see where it's going.  Leaking out
the bottom?  You may need to replace the carb if so,
but that's unlikely.

 
Take the entire assembly out to someplace well
ventilated and hose the entire thing off with an
entire can of carb cleaner.  I do so over cement and
away from flowers and grass.  Anything that isn't
aluminum or brass colored in there should wash out and
generally clean up.  there are holes in the bottom of
the bowls that you can use the red tube on the carb
can to blow out.

Set down and allow to dry for a few minutes.

Do the same with the lid CAREFULLY.  The floats are
those hollow floats like you find in a toilet.  they
are held in with pivot pins that will slide out if
you're not careful.  you can remove them before you
take the lid out to spray or be very steady and
careful and dont drop them.  clean completely.

This is shade-tree mechanicking at it's best here, and
the book undoubtedly offers 115 steps that I'm
missing, but this is what I do, and I'm the author
here so this is what you get at this time.

Take the newly cleaned lid back to the workbench and
find the brass needles that are tri-angular in your
kit.  they are held in place by the floats.  Remove
the floats if you have not done so and replace these.

Both floats up (by finger) and blowing into the gas
inlet should produce a CLOSED situation, dropping the
floats will open the path for more gas to go in.  I
always check this although it's a problem that I had
with British sports cars, and not Carters.

The accelerator pump is the strange brass thing that
has the pink or green leather skirt.  Pull the spring
off of the old one by compressing the spring and
grabbing the washer off.

There is a little cardboard tube in the kit the size
of a sugar cube.  Fit the tube over the skirt from the
top down so that it fits over the skirt and rests
there.

I squirt a little lube down the hole that the
accelerator pump goes into, but you don't have to. 
Insert the pump and cardboard guide in with the return
spring underneath it.

hold the plunger down while you grab your already
clean and prepped lid.  You've already put the lid
gasket on the carb body, by the way.  

Pop the lid back on, holding the pump down the entire
time.  If it comes back up its bore too far, the skirt
will roll upwards (that's what the cardboard is
designed to compress), and then your accelerator pump
won't work, and this is a big deal.

Re-tighten the screws and reinstall the accelerator
pump linkage and you're almost done.  Reinstall
linkages and put back on the car. 

This can be done by leaving the carb body in the car,
but doing that should only be done when you've already
been through this on the bench at least once so that
you don't drop things into the engine compartment and
really screw yourself.

There are a BUNCH of other little parts in the carb
rebuild kit.  You can do them as you see fit.  I find
that most carbs are in pretty good shape and don't
really benefit from more extensive dis-assembly, but
if the entire interior of your carb is really caramel
colored and dirty....

Also, make certain to install a new base gasket (carb
ot manifold) that comes in the kit - this is mildly
important!

This is a relatively easy procedure, despite lots of
words.  I only had to be shown once and understood
immediately what was going on, so don't be bashful.  

Try not to bend anything, go slow, and use lots of
cleaner.

If the bowls are full when you open your carb, you're
likely suffering from weak fuel pressure, mis-adjusted
timing, mis-adjusted/failed choke, or a bad
accelerator pump (not if you just replaced it and your
bowls are full and it squirts streams of gas).

There is backup lit here:
http://imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/121/Page01.htm
This MTSC will give you EVERYTHING that you need to
know up front in an easier to read format that the
FSM.

Check the 1964 FSM online or your own 65 FSM.

Lastly, if you suspect the fuel pump, you can
disconnect the fuel line ON A COLD car and put the
line into a container and have a buddy crank to see if
you get positive fuel flow.  Be careful with the
pumping raw gas-thing, though.




Kenyon Wills
 
 






















-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm