My '65 Crown will not start after sitting > overnight. If I pour gas or use starting fluid, it > starts right up. Once it's running, it's fine and > can be restarted normally all day. If the car sits > for several hours, I have to prime it again. I > don't seem to be able to pump gas into the carb for > start up. Would this be the accelerator pump in the > carb? The car runs great once started. There is > not gas leaking into the oil that I can tell. > > Also, I am trying to find a new choke pull off for > the Carter 4 barrel. The one I have must have a bad > diaphragm. Local auto parts stores are no help. > Thanks - Tony I have rehabbed several reluctant carbs on my own. Probably: 1. Choke not set properly 2. Accelerator pump not pumping 3. Method (pump the gas pedal once or twice and release, turn key to start). No gas pedal before start is wrong way to start a Mopar Car with carter carb. First thing: Remove the air cleaner on the car when cold and gas pedal has not been touched. Pull the accelerator linkage while you are looking down into the carb throat. Two things should happen. A: You should see and hear a stream of raw gas going down the throats of the front barrels. B: The rectangular flap that is the choke should snap shut and pretty much cover the front 2 intakes. If it does not, your choke is mis-adjusted or broken and needs to be fixed. Are both OK and apparently working properly? If so: go to your local parts-house with your car and ask them for a carb rebuild kit ($30-$80) they may ask for the carb number (that's why you brought your car) that's on the carb casing. Get the carb kit. Get three cans of spray carb cleaner, preferrably with the skinny tube for the spray nozzle. Go home and park the car someplace that it can sit while you work on it in case you encounter a problem. Don't block in your daily driver in the process, in other words. Let car sit until it has reached the no-start situation (without trying to start it when you start your "operation"). The Carter unit on your car can be serviced to a degree while in the car!! It's a really neat design. I advise that you remove the carb for your first shot at this - it will aid in keeping things straight for re-assembly. When you remove the carb, be careful to keep it level and not tip it - it's full of gas (or maybe not?). So you've gotten the carb out, right? Put it on a workbench where there is space and it is CLEAN. Sitting the carb facing you in the way that it faces the radiator when in the car, remove all of the linkages that you can, and lay them out on the workbench in areas that correspond to the place on the carb where they came from. Linkage from the left goes on the left, etc. There is an accelerator pump. You need to remove the linkage for this one most especially. It is at the front right and has a pivot arm (just like an old-fashioned farmyard water pump) and has an S linkage to a brass dowel. Remove that first. Now look at the top of the carb. there are "about" 10 flathead screws, including ones at 12 and 6 o'clock. Take em all out, and lay the top and bottom ones in a way that you can figure out which one goes to the top and which to the bottom. The rest are interchangeable. Using a mini screwdriver, gently pry the top off, pulling vertically and NOT twisting out of the vertical. Hold it level and make certain NOT to tilt it to the left or right. There are 2 long "needles" that point down and go below everything else. Careful not to set the thing down on these - bending them is very bad. Tilt the cover back and rest it on its back edge and floats or whatever makes sense. Is there fuel in the bowls that contained those brass floats that came off with the lid? If it's empty, there's a clue that there isn't any gas in the carb when you're trying to start the car. If there is no gas present, fill the bowls with carb-cleaner and see where it's going. Leaking out the bottom? You may need to replace the carb if so, but that's unlikely. Take the entire assembly out to someplace well ventilated and hose the entire thing off with an entire can of carb cleaner. I do so over cement and away from flowers and grass. Anything that isn't aluminum or brass colored in there should wash out and generally clean up. there are holes in the bottom of the bowls that you can use the red tube on the carb can to blow out. Set down and allow to dry for a few minutes. Do the same with the lid CAREFULLY. The floats are those hollow floats like you find in a toilet. they are held in with pivot pins that will slide out if you're not careful. you can remove them before you take the lid out to spray or be very steady and careful and dont drop them. clean completely. This is shade-tree mechanicking at it's best here, and the book undoubtedly offers 115 steps that I'm missing, but this is what I do, and I'm the author here so this is what you get at this time. Take the newly cleaned lid back to the workbench and find the brass needles that are tri-angular in your kit. they are held in place by the floats. Remove the floats if you have not done so and replace these. Both floats up (by finger) and blowing into the gas inlet should produce a CLOSED situation, dropping the floats will open the path for more gas to go in. I always check this although it's a problem that I had with British sports cars, and not Carters. The accelerator pump is the strange brass thing that has the pink or green leather skirt. Pull the spring off of the old one by compressing the spring and grabbing the washer off. There is a little cardboard tube in the kit the size of a sugar cube. Fit the tube over the skirt from the top down so that it fits over the skirt and rests there. I squirt a little lube down the hole that the accelerator pump goes into, but you don't have to. Insert the pump and cardboard guide in with the return spring underneath it. hold the plunger down while you grab your already clean and prepped lid. You've already put the lid gasket on the carb body, by the way. Pop the lid back on, holding the pump down the entire time. If it comes back up its bore too far, the skirt will roll upwards (that's what the cardboard is designed to compress), and then your accelerator pump won't work, and this is a big deal. Re-tighten the screws and reinstall the accelerator pump linkage and you're almost done. Reinstall linkages and put back on the car. This can be done by leaving the carb body in the car, but doing that should only be done when you've already been through this on the bench at least once so that you don't drop things into the engine compartment and really screw yourself. There are a BUNCH of other little parts in the carb rebuild kit. You can do them as you see fit. I find that most carbs are in pretty good shape and don't really benefit from more extensive dis-assembly, but if the entire interior of your carb is really caramel colored and dirty.... Also, make certain to install a new base gasket (carb ot manifold) that comes in the kit - this is mildly important! This is a relatively easy procedure, despite lots of words. I only had to be shown once and understood immediately what was going on, so don't be bashful. Try not to bend anything, go slow, and use lots of cleaner. If the bowls are full when you open your carb, you're likely suffering from weak fuel pressure, mis-adjusted timing, mis-adjusted/failed choke, or a bad accelerator pump (not if you just replaced it and your bowls are full and it squirts streams of gas). There is backup lit here: http://imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/121/Page01.htm This MTSC will give you EVERYTHING that you need to know up front in an easier to read format that the FSM. Check the 1964 FSM online or your own 65 FSM. Lastly, if you suspect the fuel pump, you can disconnect the fuel line ON A COLD car and put the line into a container and have a buddy crank to see if you get positive fuel flow. Be careful with the pumping raw gas-thing, though. Kenyon Wills ----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com ----------------- This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared with everyone. 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