I'm revisiting this issue again. My problem has changed somewhat, but I'm still having a persistent carb/fuel issue.
Now that it has gotten colder, the truck actually starts up just fine. I did discover a few days ago that the electric feed to the electric choke had gone dead. I sorted that out and the choke works correctly now.
Here is my current problem. The truck starts fine and runs pretty well for a short period of time. Then it sputters like its running out of gas. The vehicle will buck wildly as it tries to run without enough fuel. With some mad pumping of the gas peddle I can usually keep it from stalling but that is about it. When/if it finally dies. I have to sit for a minute or two and then it will start back up. It will run OK for a couple of minutes and then the same issue starts again.
It actually died on me in the middle of an intersection with the wife in the truck the other day. First time I've gotten her out for a ride in forever and the stupid thing quits on a busy street. Ugghh!! Luckily a friend happened along and helped us get out of the intersection. I had the tool box in the back and decided to monkey around with the carb a bit. I took the top off. The fuel bowl was about 3/4-7/8 full. I "pumped" the float up and down a few time, pumped the accelerator pump a few times and pumped/pushed the needle valve up and down against the spring a few times. That was about the limit of my expertise. All that took about 10-15 minutes. After I put the carb back together, the truck started and ran fine for about 4-5 miles of stop and go traffic and then started sputtering again. Luckily I was able to limp it home with it dieing on my again.
I tried driving it down the hill to work on Tuesday. It's about a 1.5 mile commute from my house to my office on the plant. It made it down to work ok but starting sputtering and quitting on the way home for lunch.
Now it sits in the garage. What puzzles me is that it will start again after sitting for a few minutes. Its like there is a line clogged that prevents enought fuel from getting into/through the carb. Once I burn through all the fuel in the bowl it can't keep up with the demand. There is still pressure in the lines and eventually enough fuel seeps into the carb again to allow the motor to start and run for a short period of time. Once demand passes supply again, it sputters and quits again. Any ideas on this.
I'm going to NAPA on Friday to see if I can get a rebuilt kit for it. I'll also double check the fuel pump. I just replaced the filter with a clear unit so I can see the clarity of the fuel. There is always fuel in the filter and it looks clean. I loosened the inlet fitting on the carb a bit and fuel squirted out so I'm pretty sure the pump is good. I will try a volume test to see if its putting out enough. Is there a way to look up the correct volume of fuel from the pump? Should it produce a cup of fuel in 10 seconds or something? I just don't know what right looks like for fuel pump function.
Anyway, I'm open to new suggestions.
