Front carb is leaking gas. Backed out my '68 1.5, 4.2L FHC and let it warm up and noticed some fluid under the Rt. side under the engine. Backed up and touched liquid and smelled like gas. Opened Bonnet and could see gas dripping from the underside of the forward carb. How can I solve this?
Please and thankx!!! Bob
Expect that you have triple SU’s? It sounds like some rubbish might be stuck under the float bowl needle or perhaps the float/needle etc is stuck or the float has sunk (failed, if a brass one). I would try tapping the float bowl with a small timber block, failing this remove the float bowl lid (three screws) and have a look. Paul
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float stuck or saturated and sinking, or
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needle/seat got dirt in 'em.
LLoyd (OK, or both)
Don’t you just hate those who live in the US for ten years and never bother to learn the language?
I think no one should graduate from grade school without learning either Cherokee, Apache, Ute or Arapaho.
LLoyd July, 2014
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I have found the hollow floats in the ZS carbs are prone to leaking and sinking and over flowing fuel. Yes as suggested try tapping the float bowl first as the float needle can stick especially if car has been sitting.
David
68 E-type FHC
Val, As most have said, it should be the float sank .
Just pull off the float cover, Curto make new ones.
Good luck
GTJOEY1314
As it is a 1968 1.5, it should have 2 x Zenith Stromberg carbs. These are very rare to have a float sunk. The leaks on these carbs are usually the o-ring on the base. Cars that sit a long time can have a stuck float needle. Gently rapping on the side of the carb will sometimes heal this. When this is the leak, gas is usually coming out the bottom of the air filter housing rather than the bottom of the carb. As the OP said, it is dripping off the bottom of the carb so most likely the o-ring. BTW: the carbs do not have to be removed to change these.
Here’s a pic to go with Dick’s diagnosis.
Under the carb in the center of the bowl there is a brass plug, slotted like for a really big screwdriver.
A large thick washer is what I use to undo the plug - if it is stubborn (probably will be) a Phillips screwdriver through the hole in the washer can give you more leverage.
Here is the plug and the o-ring that may be the source of the leak:
Since it is the forward carb you get to do extra contortions and work in a tight space. Probably best to have the air cleaner and plenum removed to better get at it. Expect some fuel to spill when you remove it - not a whole lot, just most of the contents of the bowl.
Actually, if it is leaking, there will probably not be any fuel to drip. Sometimes it helps to jack up the engine slightly when doing the front carb. The later ZS carbs are a lot easier, IE: V12 and XJ. Here is a link showing the difference: http://georgiajag.com/Stromberg%20Base.html
Unless it’s a non-US Federalized car, of course.
Don’t remind us how we suffered with brand new Federalized cars that didn’t run right in this country while lucky Canadians didn’t adopt those rules until much later.
Maybe I have just had bad luck but I have had 3 of the hollow ZS floats sink (fuel inside at least one of the pontoons when I pulled it out and shook it) over the years but none too recently. When this has happened to me the fuel was coming out of the overflow hole or carb throat with the engine idling. Whenever I start having a miss at idle this is the first thing I look for. Yes I have been able to remove the float bowls without pulling the carbs. Just my 2 cents from my experience.
David
68 E-type FHC
The Canadian S1.5 cars, like mine, were identical to the US cars in almost every other respect. They featured all the US Federalized safety features but one (the Tex door mirror) and the front/rear sidelights were to ROW colour spec. The vacuum advance dizzy was also retained, but that was the extent of it. When the S2s were introduced here they were the same as the US cars except for the sidelights, while markets outside of NA still got the triple SUs.