The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks wet plugs with gas

230 straight 6. Put new single barrel on. Did great for about two weeks. Started fouling again. Fuel pump? Gas tank?

Without more specific information on the problem I would guess a stuck float in carb. Does it still run right or does it flood out and die?🛠

might not be stuck - just set too high. people plop new carbs on engines all the time expecting them to be set correctly right out of the box. sometimes they are, most often they aren't. the float height is provided in the tune-up specs of most shop manuals and its easy to set - often by just bending a tab. I'd check that out.

As Martin says, let's take the guess work out of it. "Fouling again"? Must mean is was fouling before you put on a new carb?
Who rebuilt the carb? What carb is it? Is the choke stuck? What is the motor doing or not doing?
1. Starts?
2. Won't start?
3. Idles rough/stalls?
4. Gas leaking anywhere?
5. Are you sure it's got good spark? Timing screwed up?
6. Misfire thru carb or tail pipe?
7. What Martin and TomCTomC said.
8. Make sure you come clean with anything you have swaped, modified, upgraded or messed with.

Runs rough

Thanks

I will keep looking.....the carb was a remanufacture

Everyone and every section of the US has it's different jargon. Maybe "fouling plugs" means "running rough". That's OK. But to help someone we need much more info. Just want to say that running rough can be anything. Gas, spark, lots of things. Could be nothing wrong with carb. Plugs may not be "fouling". To tell you the truth, I don't know what fouling plugs means. We were only trying to get past the non descript terms like: running rough or fouling plugs. That's how we focus in on the issue. With questions and tests. It's the only way from our house.

The 230 was running fine and then you could see the rich or lean smoke from the exhaust after about two weeks. Pulled the plugs , all of them had gas on them and very sooty with black build-up. Folks around here say replace gas tank and I agree because it could not hurt ( except for the money). My truck is by far no show truck but, I love the old six banger. I also was told maybe too much pressure from the fuel pump, spark, and the stuck float. It is just weird that it ended up doing it again after a couple of weeks with a remanufacture carb that I did adjust. I get this feeling the problem might be small ( maybe not ) but is right in front of me. I've seen these things happen all the time (66 years old) in my life. I want to thank everyone for their input and I will figure it out and post what the problem was and what I did to fix it. Thanks again !!!

I suspect simple solution as well. You can isolate the fuel system easy enough by bypassing the tank altogether. Small clean tank direct to carb or small tank tubed through your pump. If your buddies think tank, I would take the tank out of the equation before you go to switch tanks. And you have cleaned all of your fuel filters including the filter at the carb?
Pump - If you didnt change anything there, I would not suspect the pump.
Are we talking - at idle in the driveway or warm and under load?
What about your timing and points? What's the state of the ignition side of the system?
We can work this out. It does not sound catastrophic.

I think you are getting foreign material in the needle & seat. Put a in line filter in the fuel line. Make sure the filter in the carb inlet is good & has a spring behind it to keep it up against the inlet fitting. These reman carbs are usually not right. You may have to pull the top off & check the float & float level. Make sure the power valve piston is working. I'm assuming you have the model B carb used up to 68. After that it will have a Monojet which is not quite as simple.

When it did start and run good. It would crank-up real easy and idle great. I will do the tank check before installing a new one. I did put new plugs ,wires , and rotor. Points looked good. Maybe I should replace them anyway. Thanks for the help

Thanks for the input . You are right on the Model B carb. I will check it out.

The gas tank has nothing to do with it. If it's gray or blue smoke, it's oil. If it's white it's normal short term. If long term white, water into chamber. If it's black= fuel problem= Carb adjust, stuck float, sinking float, needle valve/seat, bad rebuild, airflow blocked by choke or air filter, vacuum leak. All those colors will cause rough running. Wet plug indicates plugs not firing, spark not strong or flooding from carb. Your gas tank is not wetting the plugs, the carb is. Clogged filters or gas line or tank block don't cause flooding. Except extra dirt can cause needle valve to stay open.
Better hope it's not a valve train problem. Timing or worse. BUT, there are a whole bunch of questions that need answered. Previous questions and we don't know if "rough" is during idle? no acceleration power? Runs good at speed? Hard start? stalls when driving? Color, duration and quantity of smoke?, etc. Focusing on the wet plugs is not where the focus should be. Can't believe two week old plugs have heavy carbon. An old motor will have some oil burning and if you take plugs out quick they could still have gas on some plugs. A motor still sucks gas in while coasting with no spark. The question is are they still firing good? After plugs get a good clean, does motor run for two weeks again? and etc. Testing and providing info here will save you a lot of money. It seems like you now want to find it yourself. That's OK. Good luck.

Thanks for all the information it will help me. Great Forum and I appreciate everything !!!!!!