Hey all, I've been racking my brain trying to get my Dart to stay running. It's a '71 Dart Swinger with a 318 and a 2 barrel Carter BBD. I don't know all the mechanical history of the car other than it's a family car and it's always been running. It was sitting for a few years before I got to it. It still sits but only because of this issue. I've had the issue for a while and in my spare time I've tinkered and tried different things to get it going without blindly throwing money at it.
What happens is I can start it and it may run for a couple to ten seconds before quickly and smoothly dying flat out. I can start it and rev it up and it will still die out the same way. I have hooked up a remote starter to it and looked down the carb at the venturi cluster while it runs. What I can see is fuel visibly dripping from the center of the venturis down onto the the throttle plate and then dying. Sometimes I can start it again and it will run for a short time but more often than not I have to let it air out because it seems to be flooded. If I open the throttle plate some thick gas fumes will slowly work their way up from the intake manifold. As far as I know, that means it's flooded.
When I first got the car it wasn't running because a rubber fuel line from the fuel filter to the fuel pump had rotted out. Air was free to dry out the fuel pump at this point and the diaphragm no longer worked. I replaced the pump and filter and it started up great and ran fine. I changed the oil and was able to drive down to a gas station and back without issue. I was able to drive it around town to a few body shops without issue as well. A few months later I went to start it and it died within a few minutes.
My initial thought was the float went bad. I bought a rebuild kit and float and made sure everything was to spec and there was zero change. Next I thought a vacuum leak could have been the problem. I ended up replacing the intake manifold gaskets with no change as well. I've used a remote starter to turn over the engine with the top of the carb off to make sure the float valve was closing when it reached the proper level. It closes and completely stops excess fuel. I have even disconnected the fuel line at the carb, plugged it, started the engine and it still pulls too much fuel and floods. I was able to get it running once with the top off the carb and observed the vacuum piston closing so the metering rods were fully pressed into the jets. The float valve was also closed and not spewing fuel.
I'm now thinking something could be deteriorated inside the carb that would allow too much fuel to come through. Or there could still be a vacuum leak of some form deeper in the engine. On another car, I've dealt with an intake valve that didn't seal but the engine didn't behave like this. My last thought is something could be wrong with the ignition system. I would think if an ignition component is going bad it works or it doesn't and thats it. I dont think the ignition system would cause the drops of fuel I've seen, either. I'm tempted to get a professionally rebuilt carb but again, I don't want to blindly spend money.
Thanks for any and all advice!
What happens is I can start it and it may run for a couple to ten seconds before quickly and smoothly dying flat out. I can start it and rev it up and it will still die out the same way. I have hooked up a remote starter to it and looked down the carb at the venturi cluster while it runs. What I can see is fuel visibly dripping from the center of the venturis down onto the the throttle plate and then dying. Sometimes I can start it again and it will run for a short time but more often than not I have to let it air out because it seems to be flooded. If I open the throttle plate some thick gas fumes will slowly work their way up from the intake manifold. As far as I know, that means it's flooded.
When I first got the car it wasn't running because a rubber fuel line from the fuel filter to the fuel pump had rotted out. Air was free to dry out the fuel pump at this point and the diaphragm no longer worked. I replaced the pump and filter and it started up great and ran fine. I changed the oil and was able to drive down to a gas station and back without issue. I was able to drive it around town to a few body shops without issue as well. A few months later I went to start it and it died within a few minutes.
My initial thought was the float went bad. I bought a rebuild kit and float and made sure everything was to spec and there was zero change. Next I thought a vacuum leak could have been the problem. I ended up replacing the intake manifold gaskets with no change as well. I've used a remote starter to turn over the engine with the top of the carb off to make sure the float valve was closing when it reached the proper level. It closes and completely stops excess fuel. I have even disconnected the fuel line at the carb, plugged it, started the engine and it still pulls too much fuel and floods. I was able to get it running once with the top off the carb and observed the vacuum piston closing so the metering rods were fully pressed into the jets. The float valve was also closed and not spewing fuel.
I'm now thinking something could be deteriorated inside the carb that would allow too much fuel to come through. Or there could still be a vacuum leak of some form deeper in the engine. On another car, I've dealt with an intake valve that didn't seal but the engine didn't behave like this. My last thought is something could be wrong with the ignition system. I would think if an ignition component is going bad it works or it doesn't and thats it. I dont think the ignition system would cause the drops of fuel I've seen, either. I'm tempted to get a professionally rebuilt carb but again, I don't want to blindly spend money.
Thanks for any and all advice!