my 72 cutlass supreme is becoming hard to start. if i pime the carb it fires right up. otherwise it takes a couple of tries to get it going. is this normal for a 36 year old car? just wondering if it might be my carb or fuel pump starting to go, or maybe i just need new plugs. i love my car but i dont know a lot about fixing it. any thoughts would be a great help before i start taking it apart.

oldman72

 

I thought there is some kind of anti-drainback valve in the fuel filter to keep fuel in the line/ carb. I am not positive about this. I think there is also a common problem with quadrajets where the jets let fuel drain into the intake when sitting. I am pretty sure this is a fuel related problem, so you just might want to get a new fuel pump and fuel filter. If that doesnt help, you most likely will need the carb rebuilt.

 

fuel pump.

 

how much time between run cycles?


bill

 

i dont drive it eveyday. i would say i take it out every 2 - 3 days. it also seems to go through quite a bit of coolent, i have to add some about every month or so, is this normal? i do live in las vegas and it is over a 100 everyday in the summer. i looked at the fuel pump and it seems new, the lines have pressure to them. before i start on the fuel system i think i might just get a ignition tune up, new plugs and what not. what do you think?

oldman72.

 

If you are priming the carb to get it started, the fuel system is the problem. That said, a tune can't hurt. It just won't do what you want it to in this instance. It sounds like fuel is bleeding off someplace. I'm no carb expert, but I would look there first.

 

Poor substitute for a simple pressure test.

Norm

 

Rochester carb? Might be the carb bowl leaking. there are cast plugs in the bottom and they have a tendency to leak down. After you have run the car wait a couple of days...Take off air cleaner and open butterflys look in with flashlight and see if you note a puddle of fuel in the bottom of the intake manifold. If so, it is the carb.Easy fix with some epoxy. Old problem. Fuel pump maybe but I doubt it.

Regards,

Fred

 

how do you prime the carb?

losing coolant is not normal, how much coolant do you need to add and how often? does your radiator have an overflow tank or, just a tube that drains onto the ground?
does the engine seem to be running too hot?
is a warm restart after about 2 hours difficult?
is your choke working properly(even though your environment is warm)?

you should have a 704-series carb. the secondary well plugs don't leak on that series very often, but it's not impossible.

how is the high-speed at heavy throttle performance?


i'm thinking along the lines of:
fuel percolation, with overheating being the cause
weak fuel pump pressure/volume
defective choke
leaking well plugs


bill

 

i have some starter spray to prime the carb. only had to do that once after it sat for a week.

it has a coolent overflow tank. i add about an inch or two of coolent once a month. there does seem to be some puddles of coolent under the overflow tank, but i cant see where it is leaking. could it be spilling out of the overflow when the car is driving. engine does not seem to be running hot, it has never overheated. However, i am worried that i might have blown a head gasket, would i absolutly see a change in how it drives if this was the case.

a warm restart after two hours is no problem.

i dont know how to adjust my choke.

at high speeds the car is great, good passing gear, lots of power.

the fuel pump looks new, i think i am going to change the fuel filter.

oldman72

 

If you have a blown head gasket you might see a change in how it runs dependinding on how the gasket went. In your case since you are loosing coolant, you should get a cooling system pressure tester. You apply pressure to the radiator and see if it will hold pressure. If it doesnt hold pressure, look around for coolant leaking. You also might want to run a compression test on each of the cylinders. That will help you determine if every cylinder is sealing up like it should.