Intake fuel puddle

[meadowbrook]

Hi folks.

In following the group's advice on my vapor lock/ percolation issue, I removed the carb to add a spacer at the base and noticed there is a puddle of fuel sitting in the intake.

Is this normal?

I had run the vehicle the previous day and I have no issues with cold start flooding, which I'd expect to have if the intake were full of gas.

Any ideas?

[Don Coatney]

How do your spark plugs read? Black and sooty or clean with a grey/white tint?

[meadowbrook]

They look grey/ brownish. Car does not run rich, does not big and runs beautifully.

fuel mileage is about 17 and I have gotten 22 at about 50mph on overdrive.

[Dodgeb4ya]

If it runs OK I wouldn't worry about it.

Possibly  some fuel leaking by the needle and seat then leaking down the carb bore into the intake after a hot shut down.

I've seen it a lot on the Flathead cars.

I have a car that does it too occasionally even after installing a new needle and seat. It's fine for me.

[Jeff Balazs]

I would think that the little puddle of fuel you refer to is an indication that some percolation is taking place after shut down. Does not mean there is any problem at all when running. You could try setting the float level down a tiny bit to see if this helps.

Jeff

[Tom Skinner]

Try buying non ethanol gas. My percolation problem went away completely when a QT opened near my house and I buy Ethanol Free Gas there.

Who know what the Oil Companies are really putting in our Fuel (I mean the 10%) they are not telling us about. Probably some toxic waste. L.O.L.

[greg g]

Does your oil have the smell of gas?

[meadowbrook]

No smell of gas I can remember.

On that subject, I just added a phenolic 0.5" spacer between the carb and intake. Had to get longer studs and also had to disconnect the choke rod and adjust the metal brace that bolts up to the air cleaner for support.

 

We'll see if I still percolate this summer.

 

Are there longer choke rods or levers to allow the choke to work when the carb has a spacer?

[_shel_ny]

Rods come in different lengths, but a piece of 5/32 scrap stock could be bent to size to meet your individual needs. You could use a piece of 8 gauge copper wire to make a test rod, then work some stiffer stock once you get a pattern that suits your application.

[Captain Neon]

Try buying non ethanol gas. My percolation problem went away completely when a QT opened near my house and I buy Ethanol Free Gas there.

Who know what the Oil Companies are really putting in our Fuel (I mean the 10%) they are not telling us about. Probably some toxic waste. L.O.L.

 

The old shade tree mechanic standby of blaming ethanol!  I've been running E-10 for over 20 years with no fuel related issues, but I also run premium fuel in my collector cars, use Sta-Bil during winter storage, and am pretty anal about using fuel system cleaners in all my cars on a regular basis.  Any time I have had fuel issues have been with modern vehicles (OBD-II '97 Neon) with so-called "pure" "100% ethanol-free" fuels.  I got anal about the fuel system cleaners after living in Arkansas and someone tried to extract cash from my wallet for a new throttle body in my '92 LeBaron because old one was "dirty."  I was able to buy A LOT of fuel system cleaner for what "Ace" wanted to charge to replace my "dirty" throttle body.  I ran for 8 more years and at least 30K miles with that "dirty" throttle body that needed to be replaced immediately, and have never had to reset ICM on my Neon since I moved back to "corn country" 14 years ago.  I had to reset the ICM every 3 to 4 months on Arkansas' ethanol-free gasoline.

[meadowbrook]

The old shade tree mechanic standby of blaming ethanol! I've been running E-10 for over 20 years with no fuel related issues, but I also run premium fuel in my collector cars, use Sta-Bil during winter storage, and am pretty anal about using fuel system cleaners in all my cars on a regular basis. Any time I have had fuel issues have been with modern vehicles (OBD-II '97 Neon) with so-called "pure" "100% ethanol-free" fuels. I got anal about the fuel system cleaners after living in Arkansas and someone tried to extract cash from my wallet for a new throttle body in my '92 LeBaron because old one was "dirty." I was able to buy A LOT of fuel system cleaner for what "Ace" wanted to charge to replace my "dirty" throttle body. I ran for 8 more years and at least 30K miles with that "dirty" throttle body that needed to be replaced immediately, and have never had to reset ICM on my Neon since I moved back to "corn country" 14 years ago. I had to reset the ICM every 3 to 4 months on Arkansas' ethanol-free gasoline.

[meadowbrook]

At least in PA and MI, I rarely use any fuel system cleaner, only stabil for cars that sit in winter.

Never a fuel issue except the one on my Dodge.

[Tom Skinner]

Captain Neon and Meadowbrook,

I run my cars year round. I don't store them with Stabil. I know for a fact all my vehicles all (5) run better without ethanol gas filler.

So stick up for crappy gas if you want to, but I know better. The Government can sell that crap to you. I'm not buying.

Love you mean it!

Tom Skinner

Huntersville, North Carolina

[Pete]

I agree with Tom. My flathead has this issue with Ethanol fuel and never with Ethanol-free fuel. It appears to happen after a long run and a heat soak. The higher volatility Ethanol fuel will boil at a lower temp than straight gas. In worst cases all the fuel in the float bowl boils into the intake manifold. Putting a phenolic spacer between the carb and intake manifold may help.

Pete

[greg g]

Lower your float setting about 2 or 3 32nds. This will solve most percolation issues

[Don Coatney]

Like it or not the day will come when ethanol enriched gasoline is the only thing available. Better to make adjustments now to run this mixture. The simple adjustments discussed in this thread will work and the old flat-heads will run fine.  

[Jeff Balazs]

Don I couldn't agree more. In fact you would be hard pressed to find fuel without it here. Best to find a way to live with it.

 

Jeff

[greg g]

Lower the float setting 2 or 3 32nd's, this will create some expansion room in the bowl. Evaporated fuel vents to the atmosphere. It is not vapor you are concerned with, it is fluid fuel that over fills the float bowl. Also assure your needle and seat valve is free of foreign matter and closing and sealing.

[Jeff Balazs]

What Greg says x2. Also you can make an aux. heat shield to fit the area between manifold and the float bowl and wire it into place. It is hot here most of the time, all the fuel has methanol and I have found this little homemade shield quite effective.

Hth, Jeff

[meadowbrook]

Thanks for all the responses. I am now driving it with the 1/2" spacer on the carb. If I again have an issue I will lower the float. I have lowered it before by about 1/32" but in itself it did not solve it. We'll see now.