Firebird Mess85

So I went to remove the fuel pump and I've got gas pouring out of the engine (note, the car is up on jacks on both sides up front and the mechanical pump is up front). Checked the oil and i've got gas!

The engine did flood prior to parking the car weeks ago and when I jacked the front of the car up I found gas coming out the exhaust.

Is the engine shot or possibly just a bad fuel pump like I'm hoping. Couldn't see the full pump because the gas started pouring out so much I had to rebolt up the pump quick.

Atilla the Fun

Go ahead and replace the pump, then do an oil/filter change and try it. If it's already hurt, you're out the price of the oil and filter. If not, you saved hundreds of dollars and many hours on an unnecessary teardown.

Firebird Mess85

Going to do that, I just need a big enough container to dump it all in.

Just wondering what the most likely cause is?

Atilla the Fun

too much fuel pressure will flood a q-jet, but sometimes the pumps just start leaking into the part of the block they attach to.

Sparkytfl

This is what wrecked my car's original engine. A previous owner didn't notice until too late, the oil was full of gas, and a piston ring was ruined.

Block was still fine, but the next owner decided it was easier to just change blocks than do a rering. But then he stopped working on it, and I bought it like that and finished.

Firebird Mess85

This is what I've got going on and I have no idea how long it's been going on. I know the last oil change a couple months ago the oil was like water. What are the signs of a bad piston ring? Just wondering so I don't put more money in the car than I should.

Atilla the Fun

It's far more likely you'll kill the bearings than a ring. Also likely is killing the cam and lifters if they're not the roller lifters.

Sparkytfl

I'm not sure how the guy determined it was a ring. But he had a huge garage and tons of specialty tools and engine parts everywhere and I just trusted he knew what he was talking about. When I got the heads off I saw bits of ring stuck to the top of a piston, he was right.
I'm guessing he did a compression test. The engine still ran but it ran like crap. Barely got the car up the driveway.

Firebird Mess85

Well, emptied the oil today. There was over 5 gallons of gas/oil mix that came out! I'm letting it sit a little bit before replacing the pump and oil.

I'm just confused as to where all that fluid was!?!? Its well above what the oil pan would hold...

BtownZ28

Wow thats a lot of gas! Doesn't bode well for your bearings. The engine was running well when you parked it?

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

this JUST happend to one of my lawn mowers, the float hung up in the cab.......well i went out to use it it wouldnt start....check the gas empty....WTF it was almost full when i put it up......... dang kids next door....put gas in it...faught it, it finnaly started (had the air cleaner off) and boom ole faithful oil and gas spewing out the crankcase breather

BAH i guess this motor is trash......well lets drain the oil, put fresh in and see what happens.... runs fine now

what im getting at is i thought the worse when i found tons of gas in the oil, it was more like oil in the gas , but anyway i simple oil chage and it worked...i then decided its time to rebuild the carb so this will not happen again

well it may not of been a nice V8 story, but still a gas in oil story that ended good

Firebird Mess85

The car didn't run great before I parked it. I never drove it that much in the last year that I've owned the car. I know I've got carb problems so maybe that contributed to it too. And I changed the oil not long ago. Hopefully it just is a bad fuel pump and hopefully it didn't do that much damage....

Sparkytfl

Well at least a pump's only like $25. And you could have it changed in an hour or two. A little longer if you decide to replace the backing plate's gasket too (I think it's worth doing).

As somebody who's suffered from this, I'm interested in the outcome, hope it's not bad.

Firebird Mess85

FINALLY got it done! Replaced the fuel pump, fuel line, replaced the carb, and re-installed the thermostat housing so it won't leak anymore, and corrected the timing, changed the oil and filter, and adjusted a belt because there wasn't enough tension on the alternator.

Result: Started the car up and got tons of white smoke out of the exhaust and a strong gas smell, a little in the engine bay and out of the heat riser. The car gets hot pretty quick still. When moving the throttle the car barely revs up at all.

I think the white smoke is from the gas that was in the exhaust pipe before I didn anything but I don't know. We started it about four times for short durations and the car ran a combined time of no longer than three minutes.

Any input?

Maybe I should just sell it.

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

white smoke can be confused with the blue oil smoke, so it may be oil form it sitting, lots of gas will normaly be black smoke

does it idle well???

im thinking the float is hung up or the needle is stuck someway, maybe a rebuild of the carb is in order

be nice to have a video on you tube or myspace or what not so we can see and hear what its doing

Firebird Mess85

This is deffinatly white smoke and it starts filling up everywhere real quick. I'll try to get a video up tomorrow after work.

Firebird Mess85

Alright, here's two videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXOUPmS0UG8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlzy198Qgfo

Firebird Mess85

:BUMP:

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

i think its flooding out....the smoke looks to be oil smoke at times, and at others it looks like its running to rich

you may just want to rebuild that carb

Firebird Mess85

Thought running rich looks like black smoke?

gurkgurkgurk

i think it looks like its running rich aswell

rich exhaust looks like wispy black smoke, sometimes grey looking. while oil smoke is more blueish grey

Firebird Mess85

This is white smoke. Maybe it looks different on the video but its white. I'll make carb adjustments tomorrow but I'm ready to give up on this car.

SSC

Sounds like a plan I read you did some timing adjustments. Granted this may not be the issue but it sure does sound in the vid that you timing is off. This may be causing some of your issues the rest could just be some fould spark plugs. I know were all fairly sure the fuel pump was te cause but it could have been the carb over fueling. I dont think you have a

SSC

Sounds like a plan I read you did some timing adjustments. Granted this may not be the issue but it sure does sound in the vid that you timing is off. This may be causing some of your issues the rest could just be some fould spark plugs. I know were all fairly sure the fuel pump was te cause but it could have been the carb over fueling. I dont think you have any engine damage

Firebird Mess85

I got the smoke to go away for the most part with a choke and idle adjustment. So then tonight I tried to drive it after having it idle fine and it drives horribly. Everything changes as soon as I put it in gear! It idles very low and in order to move I'm slamming down the accelerator pedal and I hear the secondaries on the carb opening but I'm only going about 5 miles an hour if that.

I got the car back in the driveway and hooked up a vacuum guage to the intake manifold and at idle everything seems fine and reads at 18 in Hg vac steadily. As soon as I put it in gear it drops down to around 5 and fluctuates. Under full acceleration in park it does seem to get bogged down and reads around 0.

Any ideas here?

chas0218

ya when you tune a carb on an auto it has to be in gear...have someone sit in the car and put thier foot on the brake...rebuilt the carb yet or checked your float height?

Firebird Mess85

Oh... thought that everything was capped on a quadrjet so there wasn't much to mess with?