My first run was unsuccesful

Helipilot2

Helipilot2

New member
Well I ran the Jeep around the last 2 days with no issues, put baout 1 1/2 tanks of gas through it and its been running great. This morning we headed out west to Potosi Pass and started out fine the first couple miles and after that it started to sputter. Hit an uphill section and she died. Couldn't get it started, got her pointed down hill and bam fires up right away, get it off the mountain cruising home on the flats and it starts sputtering again and dies running down the road at 55mph. Finally get it restarted and make it home. Seems like maybe fuel lines / filters clogging and carburetor looks like it could be rebuilt. Any other suggestions? Potosi Pass.jpg Potosi Pass 2.jpg
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
What kind of Jeep do you have? You mentioned a carb? Altitude and climbs can be tough with one especially if it's an old carter BBD

Edit, I see you have a CJ
 
Helipilot2

Helipilot2

New member
wayoflife said:
What kind of Jeep do you have? You mentioned a carb? Altitude and climbs can be tough with one especially if it's an old carter BBD

Edit, I see you have a CJ
Click to expand...

You got it! 75 CJ5 with original 2bbl, should I just save my money and not buy the rebuild kit and just hold on and buy the Howell EFI kit and do away with the carb?
 
AllAmericanInfidel

AllAmericanInfidel

Caught the Bug
Same thing happened twice when I owned my CJ. The first time it was vacuum to the carb, second time the carb needed rebuilding. I ended up replacing it with the Howell fuel injection kit. Cured whatever it was that was ailing it.
 
Helipilot2

Helipilot2

New member
AllAmericanInfidel said:
Same thing happened twice when I owned my CJ. The first time it was vacuum to the carb, second time the carb needed rebuilding. I ended up replacing it with the Howell fuel injection kit. Cured whatever it was that was ailing it.
Click to expand...

You used the howell kit also? How did you like it?
 
Rccrwlr

Rccrwlr

New member
Fuel filter would be a quick one to check. You also have a mechanical fuel pump so you should be able to disconnect the fuel supply line from the carb (put it into a can) and turn it over, fuel should come out.
 
HighwayTrout

HighwayTrout

Hooked
I would not run EFI if I had the choice.

Are you running a stock fuel pump or after market electronic? I had an old truck that I put in an electric fuel pump and set the regulator to high without a return line and it acted like you described. Put in a new fuel filter and go from there. Shouldn't be hard to narrow this down. Carbs seem scary but the beauty is you can actually tinker with them and dial them in. But don't mess with it until you are sure it is the carb that is the problem.
Vapor lock is also a possibility. Check the fuel lines/routing. Lift them away from heat sources such as just resting on the intake and the like.
 
Helipilot2

Helipilot2

New member
HighwayTrout said:
I would not run EFI if I had the choice.

Are you running a stock fuel pump or after market electronic? I had an old truck that I put in an electric fuel pump and set the regulator to high without a return line and it acted like you described. Put in a new fuel filter and go from there. Shouldn't be hard to narrow this down. Carbs seem scary but the beauty is you can actually tinker with them and dial them in. But don't mess with it until you are sure it is the carb that is the problem.
Vapor lock is also a possibility. Check the fuel lines/routing. Lift them away from heat sources such as just resting on the intake and the like.
Click to expand...

My uncle installed an electric fuel pump, I can hear it turn on when i turn the key to the on position. We looked down into the carb yesterday and it is squirting fuel when you hit the gas pedal. I dont really want to remove the electric pump because the choke hasn't worked in years so without that its going to be impossible to get it started. I do want to add that sometimes my fuel pump is super noisy sometimes, not all the times. Watch this video (not my fuel pump but does the same thing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGHSnQ_aMVY When he starts moving it around it quiets down which I imagine is what it is suppose to sound like. As far as a return line is concerned, I have 2 fuel filters, one right out of the tank which has the return line and then a 2nd filter after my electric fuel pump with no return line.

I dont think it's vapor lock because I ran it the prior 2 days with no issues, I drove around for atleast 6 hours on Friday.

I started it up this morning to run some seafoam through it before replacing a bunch and to get the gas out of the tank so I could clean it, within 5 minutes it over heated and started spitting out coolant through the overflow tube. It was just sitting there idling. It was having issues running about 200-220 the prior days, nothing crazy hot but definitely could cool down. I put a new radiator cap on it wondering if the cap wasn't holding pressure and that hasn't helped. All the fluid was flushed and refilled before I got it on Thursday. I think I am going to put a new radiator and water pump in it.
 
Last edited:
Helipilot2

Helipilot2

New member
Rccrwlr said:
Fuel filter would be a quick one to check. You also have a mechanical fuel pump so you should be able to disconnect the fuel supply line from the carb (put it into a can) and turn it over, fuel should come out.
Click to expand...

I know I have an electric fuel pump my uncle installed, did that replace the mechanical fuel pump it had? The electric pump is mounted on the left fender wall
 
JeepinLife

JeepinLife

Caught the Bug
HighwayTrout said:
I would not run EFI if I had the choice.

Are you running a stock fuel pump or after market electronic? I had an old truck that I put in an electric fuel pump and set the regulator to high without a return line and it acted like you described. Put in a new fuel filter and go from there. Shouldn't be hard to narrow this down. Carbs seem scary but the beauty is you can actually tinker with them and dial them in. But don't mess with it until you are sure it is the carb that is the problem.
Vapor lock is also a possibility. Check the fuel lines/routing. Lift them away from heat sources such as just resting on the intake and the like.
Click to expand...

Clean it real well and check to see if you may be getting vapor lock like highway trout said
 
2Cross

2Cross

Caught the Bug
Been there many times in my old 73 CJ5 and my old flat fender. I finally gave up and swapped for a modern, fuel injected motor and haven't looked back since.

Good luck!
 
Helipilot2

Helipilot2

New member
2Cross said:
Been there many times in my old 73 CJ5 and my old flat fender. I finally gave up and swapped for a modern, fuel injected motor and haven't looked back since.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I would love to do that some day but right now don't really want to dump that much money into it. I can get by with carbureted once I get it running smoothly.
 
Desert Rose JK

Desert Rose JK

Member
Helipilot2 said:
I know I have an electric fuel pump my uncle installed, did that replace the mechanical fuel pump it had? The electric pump is mounted on the left fender wall
Click to expand...

The mechanical fuel pump is on the drivers side front of the engine just bellow the distributor. If they completely replaced it, they would have to have a 'cap' bolted in its place to keep from loosing all your oil. Here is some photos to help...
image.jpg
This is a after market mechanical pump (I think it's a carter proformance unit).
image.jpg
This is a newer stock looking one, It'll have a hard factory bent aluminum flare fuel line up In front of the engine and across the top of the intake into the carb.... That section is where everyone is talking about vapor lock happening due to the heat transfer of the engine. It does happen but rare and would have to be a hot day in traffic to do it 'usually'. Split a 1/2 inch rubber hose and clamp or zip tie around it to help 'insulate' it.
A good electric pump should push through a mechanical pump ( I had both on my desert race rig and it would do it) unless its 'sun dried' shut from sitting in the Arizona heat. I would go through the fuel system completely first before going extreme with new aftermarket systems.
If the rig sat in the AZ heat without running for a while, then the carb has crud and dried fuel varnish in the bowel and needle ports. A quick carb job will fix that, a carb rebuild gasket kit isn't much cost and you can 'bench clean' it yourself with a couple cans of carb cleaner.
 
Helipilot2

Helipilot2

New member
Awesome that will help a ton, I will take a look in there when I have a chance. I was going to get it running cool first before I went and cleaned the fuel system, id like to burn off what's in the tank and run some seafoam through it. I'll add a mechanical pump to my list of parts. It sounds like my electric pump is maybe going bad and possibly to much pressure. It's a 12-15 psi pump. From what I read I only need a 3-7 psi pump to do the job. Yay or nay?
 
2Cross

2Cross

Caught the Bug
I always put a regulator on mine to limit the pressure. It did help.

And yes- 3-7 psi is what you need on those
 
AllAmericanInfidel

AllAmericanInfidel

Caught the Bug
Helipilot2 said:
You used the howell kit also? How did you like it?
Click to expand...

I ran the Howell kit for a few years, and before without it for a few years. The big difference, other than reliability for DD, came in that there was less effect on the way it ran at altitude. The biggest benefit came at angles. When climbing the CJ would cut out at times, depending on the angle I was at. That went away. It's a bit of money, but was well worth it in my opinion. Wayalife even has a step by step install of the kit that made the install pretty painless. Not sure what the adversity to FI is, but it worked great and was well worth it to me IMHO.
 
Helipilot2

Helipilot2

New member
What plugs do you guys recommend for the 304? Just standard copper plugs? Also is there any particular coolant I should favor towards for this engine? I thought I read somewhere along the lines I should stick with green? If so then why, what's the difference?
 
Last edited:
Desert Rose JK

Desert Rose JK

Member
Helipilot2 said:
What plugs do you guys recommend for the 304? Just standard copper plugs? Also is there any particular coolant I should favor towards for this engine? I thought I read somewhere along the lines I should stick with green? If so then why, what's the difference?
Click to expand...

Champion Copper is what I've always used, in the past for racing and currently in everyday use rigs and never had problems and heard others just the other day recommend them....but all that means I can't speak for other brands...! To me, I'm old school, antifreeze / coolant was the same as I just bought Prestone 'green' and never had problems. The problems start with letting it go to long and some just keep adding water over time and diluting it down to where the 'hard' water starts to leave minerals on your cooling tube which will plug them and reduce the heat transfer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom