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Priming the carburetor

D

DRdalequail

Basic User
City
San Angelo
State
TX
My 1983 Scrambler is tough to start after it has set for more than 2 days; I can remedy the situation by pouring a bit of gas into the carburetor. Once it starts no issues; like my fuel line to the carburetor loses its prime. 258 6-cylinder, Carter 2 Bbl. Any ideas as to how to get a more permanent fix? I'm not particular interested in upgrading to an EFI.
 
DRdalequail said:
My 1983 Scrambler is tough to start after it has set for more than 2 days; I can remedy the situation by pouring a bit of gas into the carburetor. Once it starts no issues; like my fuel line to the carburetor loses its prime. 258 6-cylinder, Carter 2 Bbl. Any ideas as to how to get a more permanent fix? I'm not particular interested in upgrading to an EFI.
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Dale- I’m surprised no one answered this. What’s most likely happening is your fuel is draining out of your bowl and back the the tank as it sits. Therefore, when you go to crank it again, your fuel pump has to fill that bowl back up before it fires off again. You should have a silver fuel filter right before the fuel line enters the carb. It will have one large outlet on each end, and a single smaller outlet on the fuel pump side. This small outlet should be oriented in the 12 O’clock position to prevent the fuel from draining back after it sits. Let me know if this helps!
 
Sometimes, even with the correct fuel filter, after a few days, all the fuel will evaporate out of the float bowl, leading to the situation you describe.

My green 1983 Scrambler did this after two days, and it had 100% all factory stuff installed (carburetor/TAC system on the air cleaner with working flaps and good seals/OEM metal fuel line off the front of the carb/etc.).

My 1985 CJ-7, also all stock, does not have this problem. It can sit for months and it will fire right up.

:shrug: :twocents:
 
DRdalequail said:
I currently have a clear plastic filter; should I replace it with the silver one??
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If it was mine, I would. Is the return line still in place?

Spank- I owned one that did the same thing. I was going to adjust the hard line so that it sat higher and pointed down to the carb, but never got around to it because I started daily driving it before I sold it. Ha!
 
Pman said:
If it was mine, I would. Is the return line still in place?

Spank- I owned one that did the same thing. I was going to adjust the hard line so that it sat higher and pointed down to the carb, but never got around to it because I started daily driving it before I sold it. Ha!
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I rebuilt the engine and installed Multi-Point Fuel Injection :D
 
DRdalequail said:
My 1983 Scrambler is tough to start after it has set for more than 2 days; I can remedy the situation by pouring a bit of gas into the carburetor. Once it starts no issues; like my fuel line to the carburetor loses its prime. 258 6-cylinder, Carter 2 Bbl. Any ideas as to how to get a more permanent fix? I'm not particular interested in upgrading to an EFI.
Click to expand...
Adding gas down carb can damage the engine and or cause a fire
If fuel is draining back to tank check bowl check valve.
An air leak in the fuel line will drain lines and not allow fuel to pass the leak.
 
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