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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 10:29 AM
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360 fuel problem

Fellow truckers:

Well, firstly I would like to apologize in advance. The question I am about to ask is obviously a query that is addressed very frequently. I just cannot seem to find the answers that quite apply to my situation.

The rig is a '74 F250 trailer special equipped with a four speed and a 360. It all started with what I believed to be a simply tired carbeurator. The truck would always flood. I swapped the carb for an Autoline rebuild in hopes that this would solve my fuel problem. I installed the carb, checked the timing and went for a rip around town. There was only minor improvement, the idle seemed to crispen up a little but under load it would still flood instantly. It starts well in the cold (-40 celsius) but when I go to drive it, it bellows huge white clouds and a black trail of unburnt fuel wherever I go. The ignition was replacecd prior to my purchasing the truck. Where do I go from here? I have an electric choke to install to hopefully ruel out that.

Any ideas and input would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jamie

ps. Just to help describe how much it is flooding, there is mucho fuel in the oil......
 
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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 10:56 AM
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Re: 360 fuel problem

Originally posted by 09851
it bellows huge white clouds

ps. Just to help describe how much it is flooding, there is mucho fuel in the oil......
Does the white cloud happen to smell sweet like antifreeze?

Is the oil milky looking or smell like gas?

Marty
 
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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 10:57 AM
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09851,
It sounds bad! Are you burning oil? I think you may have a serious fuel pump problem. I'll bet your using a mechanical pump?
If you fuel pressure is too high, you can flood the carb. Setup a rig to determine pressure at the carb.
If the smoke is white your burning oil. If its black, its fuel.
If the motor starts and then stalls out fairly quickly, then you've got too much fuel. Do you have any backfiring? I'd guess, NO.
Pull the pump and inspect the mechanical cam arm. Is it bent or severely worn? If it is, then you may have a fuel cam that is bolted down out of alignment. This would damage your pump and cause fuel to leak into the bottom end. Excessive oil could be washing out your rings and causing excesive ring wear which would eventually lead to oil burning. What kind of blow by do you have? Is there oil in the air filter?
Give me a little more to go on and I'll try to narrow it down.
KingFisher
 
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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 11:17 AM
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It is definately burining oil, no more than can be expected with these tired old V8s. The smoke is for sure fuel smoke, just pure white, no grey. Oil burning is not so pure white. I dunno, I will start with the electric choke and then bypass the mechanical fuel pump with electric. Any more suggestions? The majority of the vaccum lines have been plugged and or modified so I do not think I could even get an accurate reading there.

Thanks guys.

Jamie
 
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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 11:21 AM
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As for backfiring, it backfires when I am trying to clear the flood by pumping. It idles nearly perfect and will not stall till I put it under load.
 
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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 12:54 PM
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Thats definetely your timing. check to make sure your firing order is correct (I'm not joking, I've done this when doing routine carb maintenance)
 
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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 04:18 PM
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Originally posted by 09851
It is definately burining oil, no more than can be expected with these tired old V8s. The smoke is for sure fuel smoke, just pure white, no grey. Oil burning is not so pure white. I dunno, I will start with the electric choke and then bypass the mechanical fuel pump with electric. Any more suggestions? The majority of the vaccum lines have been plugged and or modified so I do not think I could even get an accurate reading there.

Thanks guys.

Jamie
if it pure white you losen anti freeze... the grey he was refering to was when you check the oil on the dipstick is it milky grey???
 
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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 04:42 PM
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Smoke:

Black == fuel
White == water/coolant/ATF
Blue == oil

White steam at startup in cold climates is water vapor from burning fuel and is normal.
 
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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 07:57 PM
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From: Addison,Texas
Re: 360 fuel problem

The rig is a '74 F250 trailer special equipped with a four speed and a 360. The truck would always flood. I swapped the carb for an Autoline rebuild in hopes that this would solve my fuel problem. There was only minor improvement, the idle seemed to crispen up a little but under load it would still flood instantly. It starts well in the cold (-40 celsius) but when I go to drive it, it bellows huge white clouds and a black trail of unburnt fuel wherever I go.I have an electric choke to install to hopefully rule out that.
Is your choke plate opening up? If the choke is closed past when it should be the exhaust will pump out white smoke.

Once it's running you can run around to the front and force the choke plate open by hand or by opening the choke and see if that goes away. I had that problem when I was adjusting mine and I had the choke rotated to full close and forgot about it. Cranked it up and poof, oodles of whiteish smoke.

As regards the flooding: did you check your jet sizes before you installed the new carb? Is your accelerator pump rod in the right hole? (#3 from the bottom. Definately not #1 or #4.) Have you checked your running float level? Is it way way off?

ps. Just to help describe how much it is flooding, there is mucho fuel in the oil......
That's not flooding, that's the fuel pump leaking into the block, in all likelihood.

ash
['And then there's the timing...']
 
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Old Mar 24, 2004 | 10:01 PM
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OR,

The engine is so far out of time from timing chain & gears slipping ,all the fuel is running straight into the engine without getting burned.
 
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