The Ford Barn

Onlybackroads · 01-13-2014, 05:01 PM

Hey everyone, I got my first Model A almost a year ago and it's finally on the road, probably first time since the 70's! I was driving the other day and started losing power and backfiring a bunch, I pulled over and cleaned out the sediment bowl and blew out the fuel line, and it ran better but not great (didn't do the carb since I was out on the road.) I ended up barely making it up the hill to my house, had to drive in the bike lane while traffic zoomed right past me

but I finally backfired my way into the driveway. The current state of running was a tough idle, with skips, and would backfire any time I got the throttle halfway and above. I could only drive slowly with 1/4 throttle. Also, after I got home I noticed when I turned the car off and looked at the carb, it dripped a few drops of gas out of the intake.

I cleaned my carb, fuel line, and sediment bowl real well, and took it for a drive this morning. The car started right up and idled great, I drove for about a mile and it ran great with no backfires or trouble getting up to speed, and then it started doing the same thing again, rough idle at stoplights and only being able to drive at 1/4 throttle before backfiring.

The car was very dusty when we bought it in Visalia, CA, so I'm wondering if there's some residual dust/dirt particles in the tank that are fouling up my gas. When I cleaned the screens there weren't any significantly sized chunks, just a few tiny bits of junk.

Questions:
1. Does this sound like I just have a dirty gas tank?
2. Should I try my best to clean it out, or should I just continue driving the fuel through and constantly cleaning my lines until it goes away?
3. I smelled my oil and there's a faint hint of gasoline, which makes me think when somethings clogged and I give too much throttle, it floods the carb and engine and the unburnt fuel goes into my crankcase, does this sound possible?

Thanks in advance, from someone who is relatively new to mechanics and model a's, this same question may be answered before on here but I figured I'd just ask for answers tailored to my specific questions.

01-13-2014, 05:01 PM	#1
Onlybackroads Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Santa Cruz, CA Posts: 235	Dirty gas? Hey everyone, I got my first Model A almost a year ago and it's finally on the road, probably first time since the 70's! I was driving the other day and started losing power and backfiring a bunch, I pulled over and cleaned out the sediment bowl and blew out the fuel line, and it ran better but not great (didn't do the carb since I was out on the road.) I ended up barely making it up the hill to my house, had to drive in the bike lane while traffic zoomed right past me but I finally backfired my way into the driveway. The current state of running was a tough idle, with skips, and would backfire any time I got the throttle halfway and above. I could only drive slowly with 1/4 throttle. Also, after I got home I noticed when I turned the car off and looked at the carb, it dripped a few drops of gas out of the intake. I cleaned my carb, fuel line, and sediment bowl real well, and took it for a drive this morning. The car started right up and idled great, I drove for about a mile and it ran great with no backfires or trouble getting up to speed, and then it started doing the same thing again, rough idle at stoplights and only being able to drive at 1/4 throttle before backfiring. The car was very dusty when we bought it in Visalia, CA, so I'm wondering if there's some residual dust/dirt particles in the tank that are fouling up my gas. When I cleaned the screens there weren't any significantly sized chunks, just a few tiny bits of junk. Questions: 1. Does this sound like I just have a dirty gas tank? 2. Should I try my best to clean it out, or should I just continue driving the fuel through and constantly cleaning my lines until it goes away? 3. I smelled my oil and there's a faint hint of gasoline, which makes me think when somethings clogged and I give too much throttle, it floods the carb and engine and the unburnt fuel goes into my crankcase, does this sound possible? Thanks in advance, from someone who is relatively new to mechanics and model a's, this same question may be answered before on here but I figured I'd just ask for answers tailored to my specific questions.