My truck has been running real well lately, after replacing the Dura-Spark sensor in the distributor.

The carburator was also toast so I replaced it too. The new carburator is a Carter, rebuilt by Holley and it ran excellent for the first few days.

But now it is hard to start. When I crank it, it seems to fire for a few seconds, but then when I release the ignition key it dies. I have to do this about ten times with the accellerator on the floorboard. Then it finally catches and runs as smooth as a baby's butt until I stop it and try to restart it the next time. It acts the same even if the engine has only been stopped for a few seconds or a day.

My first thought was that it might be losing prime in the fuel line and checked everything. Found no leaks or anything suspicious. Also replaced fuel filters. I also made sure that there were no loose screws on the carburator assembly (no, I didn't tighten the idle or mixture screws :-)), but I didn't open it up to see if there was any fuel in the bowl.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what to check next?

Thanks for any and all help. Robie

 

Have you checked to see if the choke is working correctly? You should be able to push the accel to the floor to set it - will also pump some gas into the manifold. Does this carb have a sight for checking the float level? Could be low.
I am assuming that it is not flooding out and no vacumn leaks because it idles fine after starting.
Hope this helps

 

You might do a pressure check on the fuel pump. Then "hold" the pressure reading for about 30 min. and see if the pressure drops. If the pressure drops you need to to look at a check valve or something that prevents the fuel from flowing back away from the carb.

The system needs to keep fuel pressure at all times, otherwise everytime you try to start then you have to crank a long time to get fuel up into the carb.

 

Problem solved... The float was set too low and so the bowl didn't have enough gas.

Thanks for all your help. Robie

 

Update... The starting problem came back, but it's not the carburator or the gas lines... The problem was in the ignition switch. When I turn the key to "Start", the starter turns and the engine fires, but when I allow the ignition key to return to the "Run" position the engine dies. But, if when the key returns to the "Run" position, I wiggle the ignition key a little bit, the engine continues to run.

I have a bad ignition switch that requires wiggling. If I wiggle the switch, it starts every time. I haven't pulled it out yet to see if it is a loose wire or a bad switch, but that can be done saturday morning before the "Honey-Do" list is published.