I have a 1972 Skylark with a 350-2bbl. A few days ago I shut off the engine, and a few hours later I went back to start it, and it would not fire at all. It has had a problem a few times in the past when it would "diesel" when I would shut it off, but if I would let the engine sit for about 10 minutes, it would start back up no problem. I did a bunch of checking on timing, and even replaced cap, wires, plugs, rotor, point (gapped at .018), and condensor. . .The coil was getting power to it, and everything else seemed to be getting spark. I tried starting it when everything was back on, and still, nothing. Then I pulled the plugs out and they were drenched in gas. I pulled them out let them dry and cleaned them off, let the engine dry out, put everything back in it, tried starting it, and then nothing again. I'm thinking the carburator is pouring too much fuel into the engine, but are there any easy fixes to this? I haven't replaced the fuel filter since I got the car about two years ago, so I'm thinking something is stuck open in the carb. Any suggestions?
Ryan, The carburetor may be dirty and is flooding out, it may need to be rebuilt. If you are getting spark at the plugs, I would say the carb is the problem. You should be able to see fuel pouring into the carb throats if it is flooding. The needle and seat may be stuck open, sometimes tapping on the float bowl with a wrench or small mallet will free it up, but it will just happen again, get it rebuilt.
crank it over and have someone look down the carb. If you can see fuel puddling up on the throttle plates then most likely the float is out of adjustment/bad, or the needle valve is not sealing. Either case, you will need to pull the top off the carb off. Check to make sure the float still floats. After time they can absorb fuel, and will keep the needle valve open all the time. Then check the height adjustment. Change the needle and seat.
Lakewood? Is that by Stanwood? I was just there yesterday! First thing I would do is hook up a timing light and see if you're really getting power to the plugs. Plugs will always be wet when they're not firing, and if it was flooding that bad usually fuel spills onto the intake, etc.
Index your cap. They were just doing this on TNN the other day. You take and old cap and cut a hole in the top of it so you can see how the tabs are lined up inside. Use a timing light too see. You could be over index, where it still is "timed right" but the tabs are barley touching.
