1972 E Type Series 3
Baltimore, MD USA

This car had sat for a long time (almost 20 years) in a CA garage before I moved it out to MD. I sent it to Lippincott's and Terry got it back to running, but I didn't do all of the work that was probably needed due to lack of funds. I did the minimum (and that was still a lot!). The car ran great coming back from PA to MD and had a few minor incidents since then that were fixed by Mark Raspi at Raspi's British Imports in Edgewood, MD.

About two years ago, I was letting the car idle in the driveway to charge up the battery. When I put the car back in the garage, I notice a puddle of fuel on the ground. I figured the fuel line let go and I didn't have any funds at the time to repair it, so I let it sit in the garage.

With the weather warming up, I got ambitious today to get it back out and running again. With a battery bump and a little bit of fresh fuel, I attempted to start her up.

First thing I noticed was that the choke lever is VERY stiff and will not pull out past the first position. It used to slide with ease and with only a pull from one finger.

Still, she turned over and after a few tries and some accelerator pumps, she started. Tons of smoke, as you can imagine from sitting for a while, but sounded ok. After about 15 seconds, the engine started to bog down and sounded like it was misfiring. Fuel started to spill (with force) from the right side air box. No fuel was observed on the driver's side set of carbs.

After removing the cover of the box and the air filter, I started it up again and could see that fuel was coming out of the top holes on the side of both carbs (bear with me...I know VERY LITTLE about cars and how they work). The fuel was coming out of the bottom of the air filter box, so I shut the car down and took the cover off of the box. Everything was wet with fuel, but I could see that fuel was coming from both carbs.

I also noticed that if I put the ignition to the second position, I believe that starts the fuel pump. Fuel would come out of the holes in the carb again, but this time, only the carb closer to the firewall and at a much slower rate.

Here is a photo of the carb closest to the firewall on the passenger side of the car. Finger indicates the hole that fuel was coming out of. It also came out of the hold located adjacent on the other side.

http://flic.kr/p/9EG6WT

These carbs were rebuilt by Lippincott. Any idea what might be causing this and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance!

Rich Palarea

Submitted by jklekas@aol.com on Fri, 05/06/2011 - 04:32

Might be a good time to mention the use af Sta-Bil or other fuel additives when your car is going to sit for a long period of time and the fuel might go stale in the tank and fuel system. Add to tank and run car long enough to ensure the treated fuel reaches the fuel lines and carbs. Has been mentioned in other threads. Any other products anyone recommends?

Jim Klekas
Salt Lake City, Utah

68 E-Type OTS

Submitted by mark.roberts@st.com on Thu, 05/05/2011 - 08:57

Richard:

You will also probaby need to replace the diaphram in each of the 4 carbs. If this dries out after being in contact with fuel, (after sitting for a few months) it gets stiff and brittle. That is most likely why your choke doesn't work anymore,

Cheers, Mark R.

Submitted by SE98-32482CJ on Thu, 05/05/2011 - 06:37

Richard Jay is right. Perhaps with a set of manuals you might learn more about the wonderful car tat is in your care. The Shoppe has the Service Manual and parts manual for your car. We even have the owners handbook. What ever you do you need attention in the fuel bowl area!

Submitted by NE40-48370 on Thu, 05/05/2011 - 04:30

Jay's advice is good, but since you admit you don't know that much about mechanical work, forgive me for pointingo ut that you need to put a load spreader - usually a piece of wood - between your jack and the sump pan or your problems could multiply expensively...

Minor nit-pick - the hole is for letting air in, not fuel. The fuel bowl would fill regardless of whether that hole was blocked or not, because the air would escape through the jets. That hole is for ensuring the float bowl fuel is at atmospheric pressure, or as close as the filter restriction will allow it. This means that when the inlet tract falls below atmospheric (due to the piston descending and pulling air at speed through the venturi) the fuel is pushed through the jets into the fast-moving airstream by the pressure difference.