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Carburetor idiocy


Sahara

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Just checking in to see if I just screwed up and if so how bad. 

 

The weather is terrible here today so I was in the garage working on the '02. I'm not that mechanically inclined yet so "working on" entails cleaning and lubing things. I noticed my throttle linkage was squeaking a bit so I hit it with some WD40 style lube spray, then went and sat in the (shut off and battery disconnected car) and worked the accelerator pedal six or seven times to circulate the lube and see if the noise had gone away. I figured I was not adding gas to the carburetor because my 02 has an electric fuel pump. Boy was I wrong. I noticed a "squirting" sound and found with every pump I had been adding fuel, as if I was priming it. Needless to say that's a pretty serious amount of unburnt fuel in the carb. I'm sure if I tried to start it right now it would be flooded. Part of me wants to drive the car ASAP to burn off the excess fuel, part of me wants to do the probably smart thing and wait a few days for the weather to clear and some (most?) of the gas to evaporate. If I do the latter will the fuel sitting in there harm anything. It's ethanol free so I figure it's probably fine, but the carb is a pretty much brand new Weber 32/36 installed by the previous owner and I'd hate to damage it. I believe some carburetors have an overflow that will take care of this, does the 32/36? 

 

I know this is a pretty basic question and I'm probably worried about nothing but this is my first carb'd vehicle. I'm young enough to have been raised entirely on and around electronic fuel injection cars. 

Edited by Sahara
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Don't freak out. It will be OK!

 

If it were me, I'd let it sit for a day, then fire it up. I WOULD change the engine oil ASAP, since that's where a lot of unburned gasoline ends up. Worst case scenario - is that the raw fuel has rinsed a bit of the oil off the piston rings and it will sound rough for a few seconds, until the oil reaches the rings again. 

 

Of course, this all depends on HOW MUCH fuel you actually dumped in to the intake manifold! If it was just a few (5-10 pumps) you'll be fine, I think.

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5 minutes ago, wegweiser said:

Don't freak out. It will be OK!

 

If it were me, I'd let it sit for a day, then fire it up. I WOULD change the engine oil ASAP, since that's where a lot of unburned gasoline ends up. Worst case scenario - is that the raw fuel has rinsed a bit of the oil off the piston rings and it will sound rough for a few seconds, until the oil reaches the rings again. 

  

Of course, this all depends on HOW MUCH fuel you actually dumped in to the intake manifold! If it was just a few (5-10 pumps) you'll be fine, I think.

10 would be the plausible highest number. The absolute worst case, allowing for forgetting a bit, would be 15 but that's unlikely. I was planning to have the oil changed in late Jan/early Feb, hopefully, and you can let me know, it will be fine until then. 

Edited by Sahara
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It will be fine until then.

 

But until then you can prop the butterfly open to let the gas evaporate; yeah, yeah, it's cold so it will take longer than if it is warm.

 

You can also take out the plugs and crank the engine over a few times WITH POWER TO THE COIL DISCONNECTED, then reinstall the plugs and start the car.

 

And a word of caution, when crank it when the plugs are back in, be prepared for it to backfire out the carb, so keep your hands and face away from the opening. Really.

 

As always, a proper fire extinguisher really close is always best practice; I have 5 in my shop, but have never needed to use them.

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2 minutes ago, Einspritz said:

You can also take out the plugs and crank the engine over a few times WITH POWER TO THE COIL DISCONNECTED, then reinstall the plugs and start the car.

 

If I wait several days for the gas to evaporate is this really necessary? It's beyond my skill level, frankly, at this point. Also, the car has a manual choke which sounds like it might come in handy, I can crank the car with the choke wide open, like I would with a hot engine, instead of choked down which is the usual cold start procedure. That sounds like it would help by leaning the air fuel ratio and making that start less (potentially) explosive. 

Edited by Sahara
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Here's a better answer-

 

hop in, floor the pedal, and crank until it catches.  Might take a minute or 2.

It might run rough for a few seconds to 20 seconds- don't be afraid

to tach it up to 2500 to get it to clear.

 

Then warm it up normally- go for a drive or something.

Or if the weather's too bad, open the garage door, and let it warm up, sitting behind the wheel,.

and pretending you're Kimi Raikkonnen.  Or Petter Solberg.  Or

even Craig Lowndes.  But goose it every so often so it's  not just idling.

 

done.

 

t

Carbs flood all the time.

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4 minutes ago, TobyB said:

Here's a better answer-

 

hop in, floor the pedal, and crank until it catches.  Might take a minute or 2.

It might run rough for a few seconds to 20 seconds- don't be afraid

to tach it up to 2500 to get it to clear.

 

Then warm it up normally- go for a drive or something.

Or if the weather's too bad, open the garage door, and let it warm up, sitting behind the wheel,.

and pretending you're Kimi Raikkonnen.  Or Petter Solberg.  Or

even Craig Lowndes.  But goose it every so often so it's  not just idling.

 

done.

 

t

Carbs flood all the time.

 

This. You do not have a problem. 

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1 minute ago, golf73 said:

Are you unable to open your garage door for 5-10 minutes to try to start the car and let it run for a few minutes? Is it blizzarding outside?

I can absolutely do that. I just figured if it was badly flooded there was no use subjecting my starter to the wear. Figured it was better to let it evaporate and start it tomorrow or the next day. 

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As Toby said said put pedal to floor crank until it starts,  I've done many times in the past. Before doing it if you want check dipstick and see if it smells like gas to make sure you won't be washing any cylinders but I doubt it

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Right I fired it up. Started easily enough, did not need to floor the pedal. Definetly ran rough a smoked a touch but is warmed up and idling smoothly now. 

 

There is a smell of gas on the dipstick both pre-start and after letting it warm up. 

Edited by Sahara
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