How to Start Your Carbureted Car after it's been sitting for a long time 

It's unusual to find a person under 40 that knows anything about a carburetor. If you have a lawn mower, weed eater, chain saw, generator, or anything powered by a small IC engine and you want to maintain it yourself, you need to know a little bit about a carburetor. Pass that knowledge on if you can. Thanks for your comment.

@@StuffAboutCars-jg5tx I started my kid when he was 8! We have to teach our boys! Thank you for the excellent video!

“Pedal”. Peddling is the act of selling something.

Hello @vandenro. Thanks for the comment. I hope the information on the video is useful.

@StuffAboutCars-jg5tx Yes, it was. It's a great idea about the syringe. I've tried putting fuel down the carbie, but it's been hit and miss with starting it. Your method works perfectly. By the way, I'm from Australia, and I have a 1969 Holden Kingswood, which has a 307 Chev with 4bbl Rochester. It took a lot of cranking to start it if it was parked up for a couple of weeks or more. Your method works great. Holden was an Aussie made car owned by GM.. Unfortunately, they stopped production in 2017.

The syringe method has worked well for me (no hit or miss while attempting to start as you said). I'm glad it worked for you. Also, the last production years of the Pontiac GTO sold in the US was built by Holden in Australia. That was an awesome car.

You're welcome and thanks for your comment.

I hope this helps. Thank you for your comment.

I'm glad it helped. Thanks for the comment.

I hope you found the video useful. Thanks for your comment.

When I made this video I considered a "long time" to be the amount of time it takes for fuel to evaporate out of the carburetor which can be measured in months. When you get into years of non-use, there are definitely other things that should be done before starting an engine. Oil added to the cylinders, pre-oiling the lube system and turning the crankshaft by hand are all things to consider. Thanks for your comment.

Hello Isaiah. Thanks for the comment. I'm glad you liked the video.

Yes, filling the float bowl reduces the chance of a backfire which is very common when pouring fuel down the airhorn. Thanks for your comment.

Thanks for your comment.

An inline electric fuel pump can be an easy way to prime an empty carburetor as long as you don't mind cutting into the fuel line and adding an electrical circuit. Thanks for your comment.

Thank you for your comment. I hope the information is useful.

Hello @Perezm714. I'm not sure what you mean. I use this method after my vehicle has been sitting usually a month or more and the fuel has evaporated out of the carburetor. Filling the carburetor allows it to start as long as everything else is working correctly.

@@StuffAboutCars-jg5tx I reworded my comment to make better sense. Your video is a good tip.

Thanks for your comments. I understand now. I hope this may help you in the future.

The syringe method has always worked well for me. I think it will work for you too. But you really have to drive and enjoy that car😁. Thanks for your comment.

I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for your comment.

Thanks for your comment. I hope this works for you.

When an engine sits that long, you should probably pull the plugs and crank it until you get oil pressure, then proceed to getting it started.

That is a replacement for the Rochester It's a Holley spread bore carb

I didn't know it's rare. I've had it for 50 years :)

😂

Boo!

Different carburetor designs have different float bowl capacities. I use a 60cc syringe that I believe in most cases will provide enough fuel in the bowl to fill the accelerator pump reservoir and cover the circuits needed to easily start the engine. If you do overfill the bowl, you'll never see fuel come out the vent tube. Before the fuel can get that high, it will begin to discharge out of the main discharge nozzles that are in the throttle bores. This would cause the engine to flood with fuel and you don't want to do that. A 60cc syringe full of fuel and then a couple of strokes of the throttle to get some accelerator pump squirts into the intake manifold along with a choke that's operating correctly should get the engine started (as long as all of the other systems required to run the engine are working correctly). I hope this helps. Thanks for your comment.

I agree, I don't think there's really a need to add fuel to the secondary bowel on a Holley four barrel. I've just always done it that way. If there's a bowel vent, I'll fill it. Thanks for your comment.

I agree that long cranking times should be avoided for many reasons. Filling an empty carburetor with fuel before cranking minimizes cranking time. Thanks for your comment.

If you're pouring gas down the carburetor and it starts but then dies right away, depending on how much fuel is in the float bowel, it can take a few times of doing that until the fuel pump fills the float bowel on its own. That's why I like to fill the bowel with a syringe so it doesn't take any time for the fuel pump to do the filling. I would make sure the float bowl is full with a syringe rather than just pouring fuel down the airhorn. This way you know you have fuel in the carburetor and even if your fuel pump isn't working or you're out of fuel in the tank or have some sort of fuel line restriction, the engine should run for a minute or so at idle before it dies. If it runs for a minute and then dies, you more than likely have a fuel delivery problem to the carburetor. I hope that helps. Good luck.

@@StuffAboutCars-jg5tx hey thanks!!!! Ima go n try that i put gasoline into the carb direclty i open the barrels n put gas into it but i hope its just that it needs fuel jow u said n starts my car start then dies so hopefully its what u said thank you 🙏

Hi. If it won't crank, you don't have to look at the fuel system yet. There are a lot of good "no crank" videos on RU-vid. I'd start there. A good service manual that shows the starting circuit will come in handy too. Good luck.

Hello Chad. Thanks for your comment. I hope the information is useful.

All carburetors have some type of bowl vent that can be used to add fuel to the float bowl. If I recall, a two barrel Rochester carburetor will have a bowl vent in the airhorn very close to the choke plate. It looks like a tube with an angle cut on the top of it although there may be some later versions that would have the vent cast into the airhorn rather than a tube. Good luck and I hope this helps.

@@StuffAboutCars-jg5tx Thank you Sir.

My preference would be to start it and drive it on a regular basis. That's really best for the car. Thanks for your comment.

Yes sir they are meant to be driven, After all that is what people bought cars for, to be driven for work, for business, for pleasure. I drive my vehicles as well.@@StuffAboutCars-jg5tx

That could work. I'd just prefer not to crank the engine 7 to 10 seconds :) Thanks for your comment.

Very good comments. I'm planning on doing a video on adding an auxiliary electric pump just for that purpose, but not on this car. I didn't want to cut the fuel line and add wires. I'll add one to my old C-10 truck though. And I like the shower cap idea. Thanks a lot.

Yes, that can happen over many years of non-use with mechanical engine driven fuel pumps. When I made the video and said "when a carbureted car sits for a long time" I was thinking of the amount of time it takes for the fuel to evaporate out of the float bowel. That can be a month or two. When you get into years of non-use, that becomes storage. There are a lot of things you have to consider when you start up a car that's been in storage verses just long enough to evaporate the fuel from the carburetor. You've experienced one of the many things that can happen after that long a time of non-use. Thanks for your comment.

@@StuffAboutCars-jg5tx Your the expert it seems. I'm going through this truck and know as mechanic the problems. Did you consider that.

@@democrat7441- I don't understand your reply.

I've found that the plastic syringes that I've used are very resistant to gasoline, and I've used quite a few different ones. The plunger seal will show signs of swelling due to the gas exposure, but I wash it in water after use and I can use the same syringe for a few years before the plunger seal swells up enough that it's hard to use. Plastic cups on the other hand are made from all types of plastic. Some may be OK to use with gasoline, some may act like gasoline in a Styrofoam cup (which will melt before you get it off your workbench). If I'm going to put gasoline in something that I'll be using to fill the syringe, it's going to be glass or metal. A tin can works great too.