won't start

[Deleted User]
[Deleted User]
edited November -1 in HUDSON
I have a question, after my Jet sets in the garage for 2 or 3 days without being started I have to spray either in the carb to get it to start. Once it starts it is fine and it always starts the next day. I went to the Crosley nationals on Friday, so it set all weekend. Tried to start it last night, had to take off the glass bowl,( which was clean) I blowed out the fuel line, (which is all new) checked the screen in the carb, clean as a whistle the fuel pump isn't new, but has only been on it for about 2 years. The carb has been rebuilt, the gas tank boiled and sealed. It took a while but the glass bowl fianally filled with gas. It ran fine. Went out this morning before I left for work, and it fired right up. Could the fuel pump be on its way out or is the gas somehow bleeding back to the tank??:confused: Does anybody got an idea what is going on??



Thanks, Barry Smedley

Comments

  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor
    Has this problem just started, or has it been there for a long time? It sounds like what most all of us encounter ... the fuel evaporates out of the float bowl in just a couple of days. With modern gas this happens a lot quicker than it did in the "olden days." I have an electric pump back near the tank, just to fill the carb before trying to start the engine, and with this it always starts right away.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Park W wrote:
    Has this problem just started, or has it been there for a long time? It sounds like what most all of us encounter ... the fuel evaporates out of the float bowl in just a couple of days. With modern gas this happens a lot quicker than it did in the "olden days." I have an electric pump back near the tank, just to fill the carb before trying to start the engine, and with this it always starts right away.



    Yes it has done it a few times since i have bought it. Seems like if you start it up everyday it dosen't seem to do it as much. But it acts like the fuel pump is not pumping. I took off the glass bowl last night and I cranked it over for a couple of minutes then all of a sudden you see the gas squirting in the bowl, then it starts just fine. I don't know it has got me confused.



    Thanks, Barry:cool:
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    It could be that the check valve in the pump is leaking back, letting gas drain back. It is a common problem. It usually takes a few days for this to happen, and that is why it will start if it is run every day or two. Like Park, I run an electric back at the tank and use it to prime the carb, then switch it off and run on the mechanical pump. I know that this doesn't fix the problem but I am too fat and too sick to be leaning over the fender trying to replace the pump because of a 5 or 10 cent check valve.
    I even saw a car at Pigeon Forge last year that had a marine style Hand Bulb spliced into the line that the guy used to prime the carbs. There was frost on the car but it turned over maybe twice and fired right up. Hudson people are very resourceful!
    Bob
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    The first thing one would suspect of course, is the fuel pump. Sure, you would expect (with today's evaporative fuels) that you'd have to crank it a bit after a few days, in order to get the fuel up to the carb. But I doubt it takes more than 15 seconds of cranking in my '37, even after several weeks of sitting idle, to get it running.



    How old is the pump, and was it recently rebuilt when you installed it? Or was it 'old stock'? If it had been on the shelf for years, the gaskets could have gone bad just sitting there.



    If you plan to have this car for a long time, it might be worth the investment in a rebuilt fuel pump. If, after installation, this proves NOT to have been the problem, then remove it and keep it in a plastic bag (to keep the air out) as a 'spare'. One can never have too many spare parts for a Hudson!
  • mars55
    mars55 Senior Contributor
    You can replace the fuel pump with an aftermarket pump. The Jets use the same Fuel Pump as the Step Downs. Therefore you have two choices. The '72 - '88 AMC Six or the '72 - '80 2.3L Pinto Four (in two versions '72 - '75 or '76 - '80). The AMC Six pump is cheaper and more available, but requires a 1/2" spacer and outlet comes straight out the bottom of the pump which requires a new fuel line. The Pinto pumps does not require a spacer and the outlet comes out the side, but has a third fuel connection which has to be blocked off or used as fuel return to the tank to prevent vapor lock.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    I have a '59 Edsel that does the same thing, even after replacing the fuel pump. Starts easily if I use it at least every 2 or 3 days, but if I leave it longer, I have to fill the carb bowl . I suspected that fuel was leaking back through the pump and now it still does it with the new pump.
  • mars55
    mars55 Senior Contributor
    It sound like to that there is a restriction or a air leak in the gas line that is preventing the fuel pump from developing full vacuum at cranking speeds. This can be tested for by letting the car sit long enough for the problem to occur and then disconnecting the gas line at the input to the fuel pump and then connecting a short gas line to the input to the fuel pump and the other end into a gas can. If the car now starts, the problem is in the gas line or gas tank. If the car does not start, the problem is in the fuel pump, camshaft or carb. Remember the fuel pump eccentric on the camshaft can wear down.
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