asilverblazer,
Air cannot get injected into the engine on a carburated system. If the pump were to transfer air somehow, as soon as it hit the fuel bowl in the carburetor, it would rise to the top in the form of a bubble and vent to the atmosphere.
Wrenchbender speaks the truth..those little clear glass or plastic inline filters will appear only half full of fuel, but that's the nature of the beast. They are truly passing the full output of the fuel pump. I guess because there is no back pressure in the pump to carburetor plumbing, they won't fill completely full as you would expect.
Typically, when an engine starves for fuel (runs out of fuel), it will just plain shut down, usually accompanied by backfires and snorts. Missing isn't normally associated with fuel starvation.
You could have a suction side leak on the pump, but it would almost always drip when the rig was parked in the gararge or at the curb. Don't let the visible fuel filter deal send you down the wrong troubleshooting path.
Follow Georges recipe above!
Stuart
