let my 1972 olds cutlass s run in the driveway and it ran out of gas so i put 20 bucks in it and now it wont start i pump the gas pedal more than a hundred time and it still is not squrting i tried putting a little gas in the carb to see if that would work and i turned it over and it wanted to start then it just didnt any ideas?

 

it happened with me in 76 Toronado last year but I dumped a few drops down the carb and it started

make sure you do not overheat the started cranking!

only other thing other than losing its prime would be the fuel system has a problem (pump, restriction?? check the filter?) maybe it sucked up some crap being so low.

 

Give a good 2 second shot of carb cleaner or stating fluid down the primary bores of the carb and that should run it enough to pump the gas back up to the fuel pump.
If it dies, give another 2 second shot and restart.

No more than 30 cumalative seconds on the starter in 5 second maximum bursts. After that, let it cool for a while and try again later. No need to kill the starter, too.

 

Perhaps the fuel pick up in the tank got clogged, those fuel socks can deteriorate after thirty years. Check the fuel inlet at the carburetor, it may have a bronze filter element that has become clogged up. (item 30-32 halfway down on this page)

 

If you ran it dry, you need to crank the engine long enough to prime the fuel pump and then fill the float bowl in the carb again before it will start and run.

These kids. They're all spoiled by EFI...

 

Good point Joe, I didn't think of the obvious to us old timers that still think carburetors and mechanical fuel pumps.

 

Are you sure it ran out of gas and didn't die for some other reason?

Like Joe said, if the carb is dry, you'll have to crank for about 10 - 15 seconds before the pump fills it again. No amount of pumping on the gas pedal will help.

 

its also not going to help if the rear of the car is pointed down hill

 

Thanks you guys alot I'm going to try it out tomorrow

 

Good luck!

 

mine ran out on sunday, it fired ok but wasnt pumping the filter full as normal,musta picked up crud on the pickup so i pulled the inline filter off and the gas cap, a little compressed air easy and its pumping strong. crud is still in the tank though. if you picked up any water it sometimes sticks around the jets too