40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

I got the 40 coupe out this May from its winter hibernation and it started up fine and ran fine. But it has no power, doesn't smoke or make noises. I did all the normal checks that I will skip to save some time. The only two things seem to be the vacuum running steady in the 12 range which says that the rings are leaking. Compression shows 60 to 70 on all cylinders when cranking with the starter. The other note is that my idle air screws don't have much affect on vacuum setting. When I drive the car down the road, its very slow to get up to any speed in all gears, picks up speed going down hills, slows way down going up hills. About max speed is 50 mph, its got good gas flow, runs the same with air filter and gas cap off. Exhaust pipes seem to be clear. The car ran great last summer, very strong. So do you guys thinks the rings are stuck from sitting all winter? Any help would be appreciated, Thank you

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

I suspect it may be a lack of fuel. Junk in the tank? For the cost of a sender gasket I would pull the sender and look down into the tank.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

does the car have a fuel filter? if yes change/clean, next check fuel pump for pressure

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

If I don't drive my cars often and let them sit for a few weeks, It takes some priming to get the fuel all the way up from the back gas tank. Take off the air cleaner and put a little gas in the carburetor. It might take a few attempts. You might want to make sure your battery is charged. Happy Motoring!

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

I have small squirt bottles (Harbor Freight) I keep one with gas and another with lacquer thinner in them (thinner for cleaning). They squirt a very fine stream. When one of my 40s has sat long enough for gas to evaporate, I fill the fuel bowl via the small oval vent at the front driver's side of the carb. Easy to do and with a paper towel there, no mess. Car starts right up without a bunch of cranking.
I have the good fortune of living 2 miles from a gas station that sells non ethanol gas which I put in all my old cars, chain saw, weed eater, leaf blower etc which also helps a lot.
I would suspect bad gas or clogged carb if the needle valves make little or no difference.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

You're only running on 4 cylinders - one side of carb clogged. Clean out your carb or try a replacement carb....

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

Hope you get it running. If possible, in the future, start your 40 at least once every other day, winter and summer and let it run to 180 degrees. I live in FL and run my 40 for at least 30 min. every day. It's sometimes annoying but, it pays off.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

Drain the gas and put fresh, non-ethanol in the tank.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

I'd guess. and it's a guess. Carburetor needs attention or an engine re-ring or build is in your future. Low compression consistent means rings also. If it was erratic compression maybe valves.

Testing vacuum and fuel in the garage is fine. But underload is always different.

Vacuum at idle should be in the 18-20 range. Not 12. But if the air/mix doesn't do anything to increase, or more importantly lower it. Carb or a vacuum leak. I hope you get it figured out!!!

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

Jim....Weren't you experiencing some sort of unwelcome engine noise recently? Did that "self-correct"? DD

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

A lot of good ideas, Thank you all. But 1st, when taking a car out of storage, I always crank the engine over for 10 sec to get some oil flowing. Then I pour a little gas down the carb, cars usually start right up. When warmed up, I got down to the gas station and fill up with fresh gas as I run the tank as low as I can in the fall. The car runs like its on 4 cylinders for sure but the water hoses are hot, the exhaust out the dual exhaust is hot so I would say its running on all 8. I took the 97 apart and it was very clean, blew out all passages with air so I put it back together. Blew air from fuel pump flex line back to tank, removed the sediment bowl from pump, it was clean, and the pump pumps a pretty good stream of gas when cranking the engine over. Removed the crab dist. and all looked good in there, yes it was converted to crab sometime. Brought number 1 up on compression and put a chalk line on the crankshaft fan pulley and the lines moves when I start increasing the rpm so the advance is working. I'm getting spark at all cylinders and I replaced the plugs. Since the vacuum is steady but low, that should mean that the valves are all working. The idle air screws not having much effect could be an air leak but wouldn't the idle be rough or the engine wouldn't idle? Its idling around 550 rpm. When I go to rev it up, it wants to walk away instead of going into a run. When I go down the road, floor boarding the throttle does nothing. It will build speed but very slowly. It does act like it has fuel starvation or a plugged dual exhaust for sure. Maybe I will remove the flex line from the tank line to the fuel pump and see if its collasped inside.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

Make sure you don't have a vacuum leak somewhere, I had the wiper hose under the dash full of holes. Plug all the vacuum connections you can find except for the distributor, then carefully spray around the base of your carb and intake manifold with some brake cleaner, do this when the engine is fairly cold. I know you checked fuel flow but how about pressure? Hope this helps.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

i just had a car in the shop with the same problem low vacuum no power low compresion after all checks i removed the cam cover i found the cam gear had moved from it,s mark on the cam shaft you can check the valve timing but you have to remove the intake manafold no big deal

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

No change adjusting idle air screws indicates the engine is drawing air from another area..vacuum leak.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

Someone on here at one time had a picture of the underside of an intake manifold that had a crack in it. I hope you find your vacuum leak is where it is easy to fix. If you have a PCV hooked up check the line to it. Plugging all vacuum ports except the one to the distributor was a good suggestion to start.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

when your trying to get more rpm when you’re under the hood put your hand on top of the carb and slowly close off the air as you try to bring up the rpm that will richen the mixture if you can get it to run good then you know you have a lack of fuel also add the proper amount of marvel mystery oil to the gas and drive it i have found more old flat hds that have sticky valves after sitting your compression should be higher

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

To the same end, you can try closing the choke to some degree, possibly aiding in determining whether or not fuel delivery is adequate. DD

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

So many good suggestions and it looks like the Stromberg 48 off my 42 merc engine solved the problem. The vacuum improved out of the 12 range but still not in the green so I will follow other suggestions you guys had for vacuum leaks on hoses somewhere. The main point is that it runs strong and great again. As soon as the engine started I knew it woke up and was rearing to go. I hope every contributor will read this follow up and know they were correct on the problem.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

Thanks for posting the follow-up so we know what you found. Wish everyone would do that.

Re: 40 Coupe won't wake up from winter sleep
 

I have to ask; is this a strictly stock engine, or does it have an aftermarket "hot" cam?