im a new mustang owner and the mustang i bought is a 66 coupe w/ the 289 2bbl stock carb. lately its been having trouble starting after driving it for a while.
in the morning i can go outside and it will start up, one try, perfectly. but after driving it around ill park somewhere, come back 10 minutes later and when i try to start it it usually takes 3-4 trys along with me pumping the gas and reving it until it idles smooth. and sometimes grey smoke comes out of the exhaust during all of this too.

i uploaded a video of my tach when i start it, note that its not that bad but three times today it was about 3 times worse than the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPq6gLTmJZ4

what could it be? im thinking its the carb. maybe the bleeders are getting clogged up or something whacky like that.

 

Check for proper operation of the choke.

 

have you checked to make sure theres nothing gunked up in your fuel lines? i could be way off base, but its a thought.

 

if its the choke, wouldnt it affect it all the time?
it only does this after driving it for a bit.

no, because after revving it up a few times it smooths out

 

Hey..

i think you should try eliminate options...

First check the fuel... i once had water in my tank, the fuel cap seal wasn't good anymore... my engine did the same as yours...

simply check this in your fuel filter on the pump, if you dont have a filter fuel pump then disconnect the coil to distrbutor cable, make the engine crank a few time so that it pump some fuel in a bottle. See if there is water in it.

Also you carb. can be filthy, open it up and see if there is any stuff in there besides fuel.

It's got to be something in the fuel line...

I think you should check that.

Also if possible... can you make a clip of the engine itself?

i'd like to see what it does when you try to start

Emil

 

Also, how old is the fuel?

 

ok ill have to check that tomorrow, but wouldnt that eventually fix itself after a few fill-ups?

yeah ill record it, i dont think it does much except wobble a bit when its sputtering out.


its not, i just filled it w/ 89 mid-grade

 

I thought the same... but fuel floats on water...
check this picture, this was my actual fuel filter:


you can see the fuel floating on the water. (the black marked area indicates the level of fuel. the rest was water.....

a few fix up's won't solve the problem, since fuel floats on top of water... so if this is your problem and just like i had, your filter can is like mine was... the water isn't going to come out, unless you empty it by hand.

 

I wonder if you have had a chance to look down into the venturi of the carb both when the car is acting up and after it is shut down. It is possible that after the motor is shut off you will still be able to see fuel leaking past the needle and seat dripping off the boosters down into the motor. This would create a rich condition on re-start. Also watch when the car is running for the same thing, are your floats adjusted properly? They should be approx 5/8 up in the sight holes.

 

Vapor Lock? But that won't explain the grey smoke.. Carb leaking ater shutting it down would