Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines more carb. troubles

back to carb. troubles again. was running fine till a few days ago i had to put a new clutch kit in. it sat for 2 days without running while i waited for the clutch to be ordered. as soon as i got it back together i am back to the choke issue once again. runs smooth with full choke, remove choke the engine starts missing badly and occasionally backfires thru carb. and dies. also when it dies you can raise the hood and there will be a lot of moisture on the base of the carb. and even at times a thick frost. it has been in the 20's to low 30's here for the past few days any thoughts on what is going on. btw its a 250 with 1 brrl.

If all was fine before it sat and with the cold I'd guess that there is water in the fuel. It may be freezing and obstructing the fuel line our even the carb. Whenever times get tough the fuel companies like to sell every gallon of liquid in their tanks and when it's cold and wet there can be a lot of condensation. Get it as warm as you can and add some fuel dryer. Check the fuel filter. Good luck! Beater

Maybe your heat riser isn`t working. Your intake sounds like it isn`t heating up and the fuel will not atomize properly?

Dear Skirk;

Are you allowing the engine to
fully warm up, before driving??

Nothing will run properly at 20F
right at first.

Remember too; everyting is cast
iron, so give it 5 Min. at least.

Good luck.

heat riser is not working, it is no longer in there. it was pretty much rusted to pieces and non operable so i took it out. ran fine when it was warm i didnt think about what it would do in the cold. any ideas where i can get a replacement heat riser or some thing else i can do to help with the problem?

headers from Tom langdon

Dear Skirk;

Nothing runs well at +20F, Sir.

When there's frost on the outside
of the carb base It's on the inside,
as well. This is why V-8s have water
going through the intake manifold, by
the carb base. Inlines use the 'heat
riser', but most don't work well and
are removed as you have. Why many
had choke/throttle cables too.

The (5 min) 'warm up' is what you do,
during the winter months.

Headers will add some power after the
engine has reached 'operating tempature'.

Good luck.

Yep, John I misspoke (happens quite frequently...) i should have said "headers and heat plate" from Langdon.

one thought i had is to get a air cleaner off a newer vehicle, one that has the flex hose that draws heat from exhaust to allow warm air into the carb instead of cold, whats your thoughts on this idea.

That will help, but you will need the heat provided by the heat riser valve. You may be able to adapt one from a SBC. They bolted to the flange instead of being part of the manifold. Small rework of the the exhaust.