I guess the carb needs cleaning every 15 or 20 years

[TodFitch]

When driving to a local store recently the old Plymouth started running very poorly. Fairly quick onset of symptoms following hitting a bump in the road. My guess was some debris got knocked loose and obstructed a passage in the carburetor.

 

Today I finally got around to looking into things. The inside of the carburetor was filthy and there was stuff in the fuel pump sediment bowl. Cleaned it all up, removed and blew out the various jets and orifices, etc. and it is running like it should again.

 

Thinking back on it, I am pretty sure it has been at least 15 years since I touched the carburetor. Maybe even 20 years. I am actually surprised it went this long.

[P15-D24]

Oil bath air cleaner doing it's job!!!!

[desoto1939]

I put Stabile 360 in my tank every couple of weeks or when I fill the tank. This keeps the gas tank clean and also helps with the fuelpump and carb and cleans the lines and internals on the carb.  Have to keep a lookout on these areas

 

Rich Hartung.

[RobertKB]

I had the carb rebuilt for the first time on my ‘53 Plymouth last year after owning the car for 44 years. It does start better but that may be because I finally found a good choke and set it up properly. However, once running it doesn’t seem to run any differently. Carb was not that dirty inside. Go figure. ?

[Dan Hiebert]

Hmm.  Haven't touched the carb on our D24 in at least 25 years...hope this isn't a jinx that I've just realized that...

[Sniper]

California gas is it's own brew.  Who knows what's in it.

[DJ194950]

Ca. gas is fine if all fuel parts are updated and get the vehicle gets regular use and refills, fuel topped off!  Otherwise all kinds of things can go bad and quickly!

Just sitting unused seems to cause problems!   Almost everyone here I know either drains fuel or adds stabilizer to extend time for non-use.

Non-ethanol gas is not available anywhere in this state at last check on those websites that can tell where to get same. What can you do?

 

DJ

[TodFitch]

2 minutes ago, Sniper said:

California gas is it's own brew.  Who knows what's in it.

 

I harbored some doubts on that for years.

 

But a few years back a bunch of us did a tour into Arizona. In the spring so the temperatures weren’t too hot, only in the 80s. The whole time I had Arizona gas in the car it was subject to fuel boiling in the pump. Okay on the road when there was plenty of air flow. But idling for more than a few minutes was an issue. As was hot restart (think stopping at a gas station). The car would run (or start) okay but when the carburetor bowl went dry because the pump was having heat/vapor issues the engine would die. (Pouring some water on the pump to cool it would get me running again, so it was not a huge problem but it was a huge annoyance.)

 

The problem went away on the first tank of California gas. And in California I’ve only rarely experienced that (temperatures > 100°F, after long periods of high speed driving).

 

So I did some research and found that California put an upper limit on how volatile the gas can be. Most states don’t. On a modern car with the pump in the tank, a high(er) pressure fuel system feeding injectors it doesn’t make much if any difference. But for an older car sucking gas from the tank via a pump in the well heated engine compartment it can make a difference.

 

So I don’t bad mouth California gas as much nowadays. Other to complain about the high price.

[Sniper]

When I was stationed in San Diego my 64 300's 413 didn't like anything but 93 octane (this tells you how long ago that was) and then not anybody's 93.  It loved Shell's SU2000 but ran like poop (knocked) on Exxon 93 octane.  As I headed east to Memphis for a radar school it became less finicky about the super I ran, but it was in the late fall so temps were not as bad.  Of course this was well before California started really tightening the screws down on gas formulation.  I loved San Diego but you are right about the cost of things.