So today I took the Lesabre to go get a hair cut. After that got in the car and drove away. As I was driving I started to smell some gas, but not a lot. After a little bit I stopped at a stop sign. At this point the rpm dropped to almost nothing. I gave it gas to pull away and it died. Tried to restart and it wouldn't catch. Finally I floored it and held the pedal down while I cranked. It finally caught. With a little bit of rpm, it ran fine. But the moment I completely took my foot off the gas, rpm went to almost nothing. I put it into drive and when I gave it gas to go it died. After a few start/drive attempts, I figured out I needed to 'play' with the pedal to get it go. And so I limped back home. At speed no problem, but the moment I stopped it died. Wouldn't accelerate from a stop without babying the pedal. Made it back into the garage and popped the hood and air filter cover to find the carb had white 'smoke' coming out of the primaries. I took a picture for you guys but I can't figure out how to shrink it on my phone. I'm confident the crappy carb I had on there finally gave up the ghost. But I'm curious what the experts out there think as to what specifically went wrong.
Maybe a leak in a fuel line? Caused the smell and lack of pressure/air in the fuel (pulling air in through the leak)? Go and check around the car... Maybe fuel dripping?
Figured out how to shrink a photo on my phone. I will be going thru it, just looking for educated suggestions. But I think you are on to something. I suspected the carb had a small vacuum leak for a while. Could have opened up big time.
ALSO, check the float itself they have been known to absorb fuel & being heavier will not have enough flotation to close the needle against the seat. Tom T.
While things like that tend to happen more frequently with old cars I like the fact that you made it home. A little careful on the gas and it brought you home. A digital modern car might have sensed too much CO2 emissions and shut the engine off right there. Patrick
Probably something simple as a piece of trash lodged in the N/S assembly. Time to remove the carb and freshen it up at a minimum. I have seen a LOT of brass floats sink in resent years and will NOT use them for any reason. I suspect off-shore production or this new fuel eats the lead free solder out of the seams. Not sure but they are a death sentence for one of these carburetors.........Cliff
Update on the situation. Took the carb off and then pulled the top off to check out the float and the rest of the innards. Float is still floaty (brass though). Nothing damaged. Everything else looks OK to my untrained eye. No smoking gun. It wasn't that much work so I put it all back together and slapped it back on. Freakin thing started right up and ran like normal. Drove it around the block and it drove like normal. Decided to go for a longer drive. Drove fine until it didn't. Seems like once it warmed up it went back to misbehaving. Good news for me is it will run OK while cold. The bare minimum I need is to be able to move the car when I need to. I have an engine being built which should be done soon ( right Jim?). I really don't want to put any money in this carb.
Check your oil for excess fuel contamination. Last thing you want is to wipe bearings from running "kerosene" from fuel/oil dilution. It can happen faster then you realize.
I had the same symptoms once about 6 years ago and all it turned out to be was that the factory stock voltage regulator had died. Go figure!
Vapor lock? Probably a long shot, but it is something that only happens to a hot engine. Another possibility: Fuel pump dying? My engine was acting weird, sometimes running good and other times not, and when I checked fuel pressure it was low--about 3 or 4 PSI when it was supposed to be about 6 or 7 I think.
Checked the fuel pump today. It produces 7 psi. Flow seems good in that it was filling up a bucket I had there pretty quick. So I'm crossing the pump itself off the list. The return line has a section of rubber hose. There's a sharp bend and in the bend section the hose looks collapsed. Not pinched but collapsed from bending. Given my current problem I plan to address that. But what kind of havoc would be caused by a blocked return line?
Nope, I suggest you rebuild the carb, at worst you’ll have a nice new carb and can check it off the list of culprits.
