[Healeys] Running problem

Fri May 29 01:44:19 MDT 2020

I notice you do not have a fuel filter installed. Fit one of the cheap 
transparent plastic filters (still the best) in a visible place in the 
fuel line to the carbs. Debris from the fuel tank may have stuck a float 
valve and blocked a jet or a gauze filter somewhere.

Kees Oudesluijs

Op 29-5-2020 om 01:50 schreef Brian Drab:
>
> About 4 years ago I rebuilt my HD8 carbs and the car has run great 
> since then with no adjustments required or made.
>
> I put the car away for the winter in about November last year.
>
> In probably mid January I decided to take the car out. It was a 
> gorgeous day and I had to go to the grocery store about a mile away. I 
> started the car and it ran fine. I noted that the gas gauge read 
> between empty and ¼ . I started of to the store, but I noticed an 
> obvious smell of raw gas when I was driving. When I got to the store 
> lot, I parked the car, did my shopping, and came back out. When I 
> turned the key, I now noticed that the gas gauge moved up to dead on 
> empty whi8ch on my car means you are really out of gas!. When I 
> started the car, I got about 100 feet when the fuel pump started 
> hammering. I got another couple of feet and the car ran out of gas. 
> Fortunately, I was just across the street from a gas station so I took 
> my trusty gas can, went over and filled it,  then came back and poured 
> it in the gas tank. The car started up fine but began running really 
> rough. I went another ½ block into another store, parked the car and 
> went  inside. When I came back out about 15 minutes later there was a 
> pool of gas, about 2-3’wide, under the front of the car. I started the 
> car and it barely ran. I literally had to coax it home. It sounded 
> like severe fuel starvation – running barely on about 3 cyclinders.
>
> There was no more smell of raw gas nor any fuel leak as before.
>
> When I got home, I rapped the top of the float bowls on each carb in 
> caser it was a stuck float valve. and it seemed to run a lot better. I 
> felt at that time that a float valve had stuck and probably siphoned 
> the fuel out of one of float bowls through the overflow tube.
>
> Fast forward 3 months:
>
> Last night I was getting it ready to take it on a bit of a road trip 
> today it and when I took it out,  it ran very poorly – again like fuel 
> starvation but not as bad as before. It also popped back through the 
> carbs frequently which I interpreted  to be a very lean mixture
>
> I did the following:
>
> put another 3 or 4 gallons of gas in the tank
>
> Took the float bowls apart and cleaned them out – there was a bit of 
> sediment in them but nothing worthwhile. I also checked the floats 
> which were both leak free. I also cleaned out the float bowl filters 
> at the in line.
>
> I checked the Gros float valves and they seemed to work properly – 
> held upside down, they closed and opened right side up.
>
> I disconnected the fuel line at the fuel pump and blew air back into 
> the tank thinking that when it ran out of gas, sediment in the bottom 
> of the tank may have plugged the intake. It blew fine into the tank.
>
> I have 2 fuel pumps on the car – the regular SU and a facet pump. I 
> pulled of the fuel line at the float bowl and turned on the ignition. 
> The SU pump and the facet pump each filled a coke bottle pretty  
> quickly. I did not measure pressure. The gas looked clear and pure. I 
> do not have a fuel line filter.
>
> I checked the plugs all seemed good and were in fact burning on the 
> lean side.
>
> I pulled the distributor cap and it was nice and clean inside with no 
> sign of carbon tracks.
>
> I  have electronic ignition so there is nothing I can check there.
>
> I checked the timing – it was right on.
>
> No matter what I did it didn’t make an improvement.
>
> I replaced the Gros float valves but it made no difference.
>
> Today I pulled the carbs (which on a BJ8 is no easy task) I checked  
> the diaphrams and both were in good condition.
>
> Now I am stumped. Is it a fuel problem or something else? Can any one 
> offer any suggestions?
>
> Brian Drab
>
> Vancouver B.C.
>
>
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