356 no start
 

I anxiously started my day yesterday with high hopes of getting our 59 sunroof coupe out of storage and on the road for the summer. Naturally the battery needed a charge, but I found I needed a new one. A small roadblock, but not a huge deal, until I am misdirected by an auto parts store and spend three hours locating a battery that I could of had in 20 minutes. I finally get the battery in and the car turns over, but doesn't fire...


Great.....

I determined that it is fuel related, but with limited mechanical capabilities I could not diagnose the exact problem. There is fuel in the line and fuel filter, but it does not seem that gas is making it through the t in the line and to the carbs. No gas is coming out of the carbs. Any advice?

Fuel coming from the tank to teh fuel pump? Fuel petcock turned off (all the way CCW is off, all the way CW is on reserve). Try taking off your air filters and putting a table spoon of gas down into the carbs.

I did put a little fuel into carbs and the car did start and run for a few moments, but naturally since gas is not getting to the carb on its own it does not stay running. I am not sure if the fuel I found in the line is left over from last year, or if it is making it to the engine compartment.

Check your petcock then - passengers knees. Make sure it isn't off. Also, is the gas in the tank fresh? You can run it with a gas can and an extra length of fuel line, just disconnect it where it exits the body at the back end, plug it, and put the line leading to the engine compartment in your can...

I think I probably made a mistake in adding fresh gas to the near empty tank with old gas. I may try the gas can method. My concern is that gas is not making it into the carbs.

If you did that, you may have stirred up some debris and it is blocking the chicken wire that is used as a "filter" at the petcock end of the lines... give it a try with the gas can and see how you do. If ti works, then time to raise the front end, remove the petcock, etc.

You may also want to try attaching a bulb type pump in-line where the fuel line exits the body in the back and see if you can pump out whatever gas is in hte tank. If it starts to drain on its own, it is probably OK - only need 3-4psi to make it run proper.

Thanks for the help.

My pleasure. I'll drop a PM next time I make it to the land of a thousand lakes and 10 billion mosquitoes... You can give me a ride, since my 356 isn't running (carb issues from sitting too long)

If you have a 17mm wrench handy, try loosening the banjo fitting at the top of the carb where the line attaches. Do you have fuel to that point?
If so try tapping lightly on the top of the carbs to loosen the fuel valve.
If you don't have fuel you may just need to crank more or put in an inline electric pump for cold starts.
good luck,
rusty

Perhaps it just needs a little more priming and and coaxing as the dry float bowls can take a bit of cranking to adequately fill.

I think I already did quite a bit of coaxing

I had a similar problem.

Spent a couple of hours with a 'diesil primer' hand pump checking that fuel was getting through. It was.

Turned out to be ONE spark plug had got a bit sooty Doh!

I don't know why one spark plug would mean that none of them would fire (I'm too familiar with the metally thing under the back lid), something to do with the firing order?

Good luck.
Steven