Carb Spits Gas

Discussion in 'The Venerable Q-Jet' started by airtight03, Mar 24, 2010.

  1. airtight03

    airtight03 Well-Known Member

    Can someone please tell my why my carb is spitting out gas when I try to start it? I thought the carb was flooded, so I took the carb off, dumped out the gas and it did the same thing again. Is this a timing issue? Its a 455 buick motor by the way with no mods.
     
  2. DaWildcat

    DaWildcat Platinum Level Contributor

    Let's take a step back and see what you have. So far you've said you're working on a 455, I'll assume it's a Buick 455.

    What carb are you running?

    Devon
     
  3. airtight03

    airtight03 Well-Known Member

    I have the quadrajet on it now and yes it's a 455. To give you a little more history, I recently just had an edelbrock 600 cfm carb on it. I felt my timing was off because I was not getting the punch out of it like a 455 should have. So I had a guy come over with a timing light and got my timing marks lined up on the balancer and the tab at 4 degrees.

    Car ran fine, but just didn't have any rubber burning punch. So I let it sit for a day or two, hit the gas once and the car wouldn't start and hasn't started since so I thought I may have flooded it. That was 3 days ago. So yesterday I put the Quadrajet back on to see if it was a carb thing, and I'm getting the same result, but now with gas spitting out of the carb.
     
  4. gstewart

    gstewart Well-Known Member

    sounds like either your float leaks, or the float is set too high or the needle valve has dirt under it
     
  5. airtight03

    airtight03 Well-Known Member

    Anymore Ideas out there?
     
  6. doc

    doc Well-Known Member

    Most likely aint the carb... look for ign wire crossed, leaking, ect.... engine out of time.... if it is spitting back thru the carb , it is a direct clue that the spark is firing before the intake valve is closing... also could be a carbon track on the rotor, or inside of the dist cap.... or crack in the cap or rotor....
    That said a carb will develop a lean back fire if the accellerator pump quits working right , but that is when t he engine is already running... not at start up.... make double sure the ign system is right and then start checking out the carb...
     
  7. Lucy Fair

    Lucy Fair Nailheadlova

    Like Doc said i wouldnt blame carb either.Especially that you got the same problem with 2 carbs.
    I had similiar problem, and ended up changing coil to 12V and cutting off resistant wire.It was toasted and i had 5 to 7V on coil.Car was running but had no power etc.Now i got Accel optic conversion,better coil,new cap,rotor etc.And i didnt even touch the carb to make the Riv run nice.
     
  8. airtight03

    airtight03 Well-Known Member

    Thanks guys! I will check things out.
     
  9. RAbarrett

    RAbarrett Well-Known Member

    I agree with all suggesting that the ignition be checked out. Defective plug wires or fouled plugs can create the same symptoms. While it is possible that the carb, for some reason is lean, I have a tough time believing that two carbs have the same problem. Has the car ever run properly? Has something changed?
     
  10. carmantx

    carmantx Never Surrender

    Timing chain jump?

    One problem you had with the "punch" was that tiny 600cfm carb. Way to small for your 455.
     

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