edelbrock carburetor flooding like crazy....

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I'd try tapping the float bowl with plastic end of a screw driver before I took it apart.

And throw a couple of bottles of gumout in the gas tank , I just use the cheapest one , but only real gumout brand
 
First take a hammer and tap on the sides iof the carb where the fuiel goes in. If a needle vale is stuck it should stop the flooding. if not, since the problem is new, the needle valves are not sealing or a float has leaked gas into it. Buy a rebuild kit which will have all the parts except a float. It also has all the adjustments described and diagramed. If you are mechanically inclined you will know a Carter/Edelbrock carb intimately by the time you are finished. IF not you will wish you had taken the carb to a mechnic to fix. A shortcut is the fastest way to somewhere you didn't want to go. Attached isw an exploded view of an AFB carb
 

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Johnny Dart said:
Take the carb off.
Take it apart, and blow out all passages with compressed air.
Adjust floats, and bolt back together.
Put back on car, and turn the a/f screws out 1.5 turns.
Burn rubber down the street.

Or install a Holley and be ready to futz with it more than a British motorcycle.
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X2 This is the real way to handle it.
 
Take it apart, inspect it, buy a rebuild kit so you will have new gaskets. Most likely the ones on it will tear when you disassemble it. Clean it well, put it back together and drive it.
 
The kit should come with instructions and I would almost bet that there is a video on YouTube somewhere of one being built for instructional purposes.
 
Yep. I just looked and there are several videos on YouTube that would help you to familiarize yourself with it before you dive in. Just type in: HOW TO REBUILD AN EDELBROCK CARB.
 
make sure you have an old towel handy in case you get a backfire then a fire starts... preferably not a towel soaked with oil.
if you get a backfire and you see flames start in the carb you can snuff them out with your towel.

also have a fire extinguisher.

ok now the safety part is covered, troubleshooting.

first... if you have an electric fuel pump you could be over pressurizing like someone else mentioned. carbs generally want 4 to 7 psi of fuel pressure. more than that and fuel will spew past the floats/needle valves.
some electric pumps dont have regulators. some do. but some that do regulate at 20psi etc. so if you have an electric pump, you should have a pressure regulator as well.

second, even if it's a mechanical pump it could be defective, over pressurizing the carb.

third, you could have stuck needle valve(s) like someone posted.

but again, having an old towel around to snuff out flames could save your car. dont screw around much with the breather off and take chances without a way to snuff out some flames.
 
okay i am going to take the carburetor off today and clean it out and check the floats. it's my first time doing this so i am using the videos from online...anyone have any suggestions or things to watch out for? any trick of the trade are very much appreciated as i am a newbie at this process.

oh and someone asked how old the carburetor is....it's pretty new. i purchased this carburetor brand new from sumutt about a year ago.
 
hey guys, might be a dumb question, but is there any reason to believe that a carburetor cleaner spray would also accomplish the same problem by clearing out the passages that may be clogged up?
 
Chryslerkid said:
hey guys, might be a dumb question, but is there any reason to believe that a carburetor cleaner spray would also accomplish the same problem by clearing out the passages that may be clogged up?
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Use carb cleaner in the passages,and then blow them out with compressed air.
 
Johnny Dart said:
Use carb cleaner in the passages,and then blow them out with compressed air.
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I've saved a few that way. First use the cleaner and compressed air, if that don't work open up the top and inspect/ adjust the floats.

I sometimes use brake parts cleaner aerosol with the carb off the car to clean it all out of gunk and clogs. Then use carb cleaner and compressed air. Usually works unless something is broke. Then it's time for a rebuild kit.
 
well well! i'm sure you guys were right about the gunked up jets because i used some carburetor cleaner and sure enough it fixed the problem. thank god! i was dreading opening up the carburetor to find something very foreign to me. i think the carburetor was in need of a cleaning before because the car has even more pep than it did before this problem started. thanks guys! wonderful advice and information as always.
 
Glad ya got it fixed! Like someone above said put some Gumout in the tank. If its an old tank, you may have more frequent problems coming...
 
Do what Johnnydart said. I have an eddy 600cfm and had the same problem. It was a piece of unseen dirt somewhere. I redid the floats several times and cleaned the needle valves several times. No luck. Took off top of carb and took out jets and mixture screws. Blew air into all holes. Put back together and haven't had any problems since- that was last year.
 
john27pa said:
Do what Johnnydart said. I have an eddy 600cfm and had the same problem. It was a piece of unseen dirt somewhere. I redid the floats several times and cleaned the needle valves several times. No luck. Took off top of carb and took out jets and mixture screws. Blew air into all holes. Put back together and haven't had any problems since- that was last year.
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john27pa......did you need a rebuild kit in order to clean the carburetor or did you just clean and reassemble? thanks just curious.
 
If you have a newer carb, the only part you might need is the main gasket.
Usually, you can get the top off without damaging it.

One trick I do before assembling is use a thin layer, and i mean thin layer,of chapstick on top of the gasket. Avoid any holes or ports.Then put the top back on. The next time you take the top off, it comes off without tearing the gasket.
 
66340SEDAN said:
Not much help but this is my advise, ditch that crappy Eddy and get a Holley! Very user friendly and easier to tune...good luck
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Crap in a holley's needle/seat will do the exact same thing.....I think you just like to "egg-on" us AFB lovers!....:blob::blob::blob:
 
One of the first jobs I ever had was working at a Ford certified rebuilding facility and we would rebuild about 100 carbs a day. I got pretty familiar with all the different carb designs and later I went to a trade school for auto mechanics and the instructor there was the guy Holley sent to the US nationals to work as their tech so I got a wealth of knowledge about carbs from being around those places. First thing to remember is that NO carb is plug and play. Every carb is made to be adjusted and tuned to the vehicle that it is used on and no 2 engines will be alike so any carb no matter what brand will have to be tuned to reach its maximum potential. Both the Holley and the AFB carbs are fine designs and both are infinitely tunable if you know how to do it. The AFB is really quite simple to work on once your familiar with it. The Holley carbs are a little more difficult to work on but I believe have higher performance potential. On a street car the AFB is usually more than enough carb to handle most situations. If you use a lot of them its worth a few bucks to pick one up at a swap meet and(usually find one for $20) and take it apart and tinker with it to find out how they work. A rebuild kit for them is pretty cheap so you can get educated in AFB for around $75. Same goes for Holley. They all suffer from the same problems as far as fuel pressure and dirt in the tank/lines and will require the same parts and techniques to fix.
 
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