First time fired up
-
- Inactive member
- Member
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2011 3:27 pm
- Bikes: 1965 FLH
- Has thanked: 14 times
First time fired up
So I fired up my 62 panhead today for the first time, and it sputtered and died shortly. It felt like it was going to grab on the second kick. I noticed the carb over flow had a constant stream of fuel. Subsequent kicks sounded like there was no spark, or the bike was extremely flooded. I couldn't tell by the smell cause I was in an open garage and the over flow made everything smell like gas. I turned the fuel off and the the overflow slowed to a trickle but never stopped. I drained the fuel and pulled the petcock. My question is, will a faulty petcock cause the motor to flood? Also, is it normal for the carb to dump that much fuel? I was also wondering if there was a secret to get the oil pump to circulate the oil with out the motor turning, since everything was mostly dry.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts: 2405
- Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:28 am
- Bikes: 1950Panhead
- Location: USA
- Has thanked: 1 time
- Been thanked: 366 times
Re: First time fired up
A leaky fuel valve will cause the engine to flood.
Some times a valve can be reseated with a moderate tap while in the seat.
Bad floats can also cause the problems you describe.
Be careful, more then one panhead has met it's maker from these problems.
Jerry
Some times a valve can be reseated with a moderate tap while in the seat.
Bad floats can also cause the problems you describe.
Be careful, more then one panhead has met it's maker from these problems.
Jerry
Last edited by 1950Panhead on Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
- Member
- Posts: 348
- Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:29 pm
- Bikes: 1948 FL
1959 FLH chopper
1966 Norton P-11
1968 XLCH
1976 FXE - Location: N/W ohio
- Has thanked: 3 times
- Been thanked: 32 times
-
- Senior Member
- Posts: 6937
- Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2002 2:30 am
- Bikes: -
- Location: Central Illinois
- Has thanked: 112 times
- Been thanked: 310 times
Re: First time fired up
Cavscoutjim!
I would bet upon two problems at least;
Please try the forum search function for "petcock" and "floatvalve".
They are separate concerns.
A dry motor can be partially primed with a pressure bottle: But the motor will still need to be turned through repeatedly to distribute the lube.
However, most motors that have been parked for long have sumped oil to eliminate!
Pulling the plugs, and kicking a lot helps a little.
....Cotten
I would bet upon two problems at least;
Please try the forum search function for "petcock" and "floatvalve".
They are separate concerns.
A dry motor can be partially primed with a pressure bottle: But the motor will still need to be turned through repeatedly to distribute the lube.
However, most motors that have been parked for long have sumped oil to eliminate!
Pulling the plugs, and kicking a lot helps a little.
....Cotten
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
-
- Inactive member
- Member
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2011 3:27 pm
- Bikes: 1965 FLH
- Has thanked: 14 times
Re: First time fired up
Thanks for the info, any advice on how now to not kill this one? I plan on replacing the petcock and kicking it over a thousand times before my next attempt. If I still have problems I'll check the carb, its a brand new super e, so I was leaning more towards the 60 year old petcock as the culprit.1950Panhead wrote:A leaky fuel valve will cause the engine to flood.
Some times a valve can be reseated with a moderate tap while in the seat.
Bad floats can also cause the problems you describe.
Be careful, more then one panhead has met it's maker from these problems.
Jerry
-
- Former member
- Senior Member
- Posts: 3336
- Joined: Sat Jun 26, 2010 1:54 pm
- Bikes: 1958flh 1969sporty,had a knuckle but sold back to original owner
- Location: NEW JERSEY
- Has thanked: 195 times
- Been thanked: 278 times
Re: First time fired up
Sounds like you might be dealing with 2-problems,---Petcock off should not trickle-fuel!-& The float-needle & seat should of stopped the fuel from going that far!--This has been known to happen on new ones right out of the box!----Richie
-
- Inactive member
- Member
- Posts: 107
- Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:06 am
- Bikes: 1950 FL
- Has thanked: 4 times
- Been thanked: 4 times
Re: First time fired up
Or your float is stuck way high. Not likely, but maybe...
I had the same problems when I first put gas in my '50 after 42 years of sitting.
Like weveryone else said, I imagine it's a combination of fuel shutoff and the float needle. My suggest is to drain all the gas out of the system and pull the entire shutoff assembly out and thoroughly clean. My shutoff assembly was so gummed up, that it was not allowing the rod tip to fully engage into the seat of the shutoff and it NEVER completely stopped fuel flow.
Then pull the bowl off the carb and check the shutoff needle and seat and replace if need be. And while your at it, replace the float with a better version, see the guru Cotten for that. When building the carb back up, make dang sure the float is adjusted per the manual or your will still get overflow.
I had the same problems when I first put gas in my '50 after 42 years of sitting.
Like weveryone else said, I imagine it's a combination of fuel shutoff and the float needle. My suggest is to drain all the gas out of the system and pull the entire shutoff assembly out and thoroughly clean. My shutoff assembly was so gummed up, that it was not allowing the rod tip to fully engage into the seat of the shutoff and it NEVER completely stopped fuel flow.
Then pull the bowl off the carb and check the shutoff needle and seat and replace if need be. And while your at it, replace the float with a better version, see the guru Cotten for that. When building the carb back up, make dang sure the float is adjusted per the manual or your will still get overflow.