AMC Eagle Den Forum

The Mighty 258 => Fuel Systems. => Topic started by: Daltwait on November 03, 2016, 12:11:44 PM

Title: What did I do?!
Post by: Daltwait on November 03, 2016, 12:11:44 PM
Disclaimer: Major novice here, all mechanical knowledge I've gained has been strictly through google and this website.

Yesterday I took out my fuel tank to fix a couple pin holes the were leaking, I got the tank put back in but ran out of time to finish the job. This morning I reconnected all hoses, the ground wire and the other wire to the sending unit. Now it won't start.. I took off the air filter and can tell that I am not getting fuel into the carb when I press the throttle. Google tells me to fill the bowl of the carb with gas to get it to start, only thing is.. I don't know exactly what the bowl of the carb is or looks like and also when I try to turn the key it clicks like it's having an issue with the starter. Is that natural? Should I have anything disconnected at this stage to get fuel moving? I also realized that I didn't disconnect the battery when I pulled the tank. didn't even cross my mind, I always do when I'm doing anything under the hood but could I have shorted something out by not disconnecting it? Scratching my head at the moment and was hoping to be done this job to begin to install my 2150 all day today.
Title: Re: What did I do?!
Post by: vangremlin on November 03, 2016, 12:30:30 PM
I doubt you did anything seriously wrong to your car.  How long did you turn the engine over while attempting to start it?  It will take awhile for the fuel pump to move gasoline from the tank up to the carb.  Good luck!
Title: Re: What did I do?!
Post by: Daltwait on November 03, 2016, 12:38:38 PM
I've added a bit of fuel through the bowl vent and I get spurts of fuel when i manually push the throttle, so that should be dealt with. I am getting a clicking like I got when my starter was bad, replaced it last spring so I don't know why it would be a problem. it seems like it's an ignition problem, when I turn the key I just get clicking and the battery light and other lights light up.
Title: Re: What did I do?!
Post by: Daltwait on November 03, 2016, 12:52:48 PM
Remembered that the other times I hear that noise is when my battery is low or dead. hooked up my jumper box and it stopped clicking and was trying to turn over but my jumper is pretty low on juice itself so it didn't totally turn over. It's charging now but I might try to do the motorcraft install, I don't think I've caused anything to get messed up I just need more battery and I think it'll go.
Title: Re: What did I do?!
Post by: eaglefreek on November 03, 2016, 10:07:24 PM
Yeah, you just killed the battery. There should have been fuel in your float bowl already, unless it sat for a while and evaporated. Next time pour a little fuel down the carb to get it primed or use starting fluid.