Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Hello all, new packard owner. Inherited from my Grandfather, a beautiful 1953 Clipper Deluxe Club Sedan (2665). Galahad Green and Orchard Green. My Dad bought this car in 1967 as a dealer trade in. He sold it to my Grandfather in 1972. Car has 63,000mi and has been in indoor storage ever since. Original paint still even has some shine!
I am a pretty knowledgable car guy who has salvaged several old cars from neglect over the years. I've spent the last two days in frustration as I have been trying to get this car to start. I know that it ran well when parked, and had no issues other than brakes. I pulled the oil pan, cleaned the sludge. Disconnected the fuel pump (using gravity feed fuel source). New 6 Volt batt. seems to have spark all the way to the #1 plug. Gapped points at .016, has an new cap/rotor/points. Car turns over fine, but never fires. Kind of at a loss. Any thoughts or advice?

Thanks,

Is it trying to fire at all? Popping or anything?

Do a compression test to rule out valves and other mechanical irregularities there, and put a little bit of oil in each cylinder (just a bit to get things wet..helps compression and gets some valve parts wet before firing). Make sure each plug has spark, or at least half so it should want to start. Just get a spare spark plug and start at number one rolling it over with the spare plug in each boot in turn so you don't have to yank them all.

Give it just a whiff of starting fluid and see if it pops or wants to start. If it does, that tells you it's fuel related somehow. If it makes no difference, then you might be looking at ignition or mechanical issues. JUST A LITTLE! Starting fluid can be very bad.

You likely have a carb problem anyhow, either a stuck float in the bowl (tap on the side with the handle of a screwdriver) or something more involved like a mouse that built its nest in the intake right underneath the carb base and nothing is getting through.

Since you say you have spark, with your gravity fuel can hooked up, have you held the choke valve open and stroked the accelerator linkage to see if the accelerator pump jets are discharging fuel? If not, could be the carb inlet is clogged or the needle/seat and float stuck in the up position? Or a carb bowl with so much sediment in it that there is no fuel outlet?

You might want to pull the plugs and have a look at the plugs as well as compression. Did you replace condenser?

If work the throttle linkage, you should see a squirt of fuel from the jets in the carb throat. if everything in the carb is working.

If the car was left with any fuel in the Carb when it went into storage, I bet the carb is gunked up from dried up fuel. You may need to have it cleaned/rebuilt. Also if the carb itself hasn't been rebuilt in a long time, you will need to do it any way as modern fuel will eat up the old gaskets in it. A new carb rebuilt kit is about $50 and will be modern fuel compatible. That goes for the fuel pump also.

You can pour an once of fuel or so down the carb throat and see if it will start and run for a moment or two. If it does, then the problem is indeed the carb.

Thanks for all the feedback... Previously tried dumping a little fuel down the carb throat, no difference. Will check spark at each plug this evening, as well as compression test. Pulled the #1 plug yesterday, had fuel on the tip, pretty sure I'm getting fuel into the cylinders. Car was stored complete, including air cleaner. There is no evidence of critters, every wire in the car is intact with no missing insulation, headliner has no holes, no stuffing pulled out of the seats. I had wondered about maybe mice in the exhaust, seen some pretty big nests in old exhaust pipes before, that could keep it from firing if it was plugged up enough I guess. Will try a quick shot of starting fluid as well. Kind of wondering if I maybe have valves stuck open from sitting for so long? Should be able to tell with the compression test though.

Not firing at all, no popping. Just turns over. I know that the car was a good running car when it was parked. My Dad drove it around for about a week. The reason he parked it was for Master cylinder, which of course was never repaired. Got to get it running before I mess with brakes though.

Thanks again

Moist plug would make me believe flooding is a possibility. That was one problem with the accelerator starter. If it didn't start the first or second time, every time you pushed after that gave another squirt of gas. Some have even resorted to hiding a pushbutton starter switch wired in parallel with the carb switch so as not to have to press accelerator when that happens. Have also seen clogged air filters of that type result in too rich mixture and a hard start.

If the spark you said you saw wasn't blue and hot and jumped a good 1/4 or 3/8 inch, and since you apparently have fuel delivery, then a good guess would be the points have oxidized. Replace them or run a point file across them, regap, replace the condensor, and try again would be be my course of action.

A couple of stuck valves are a possibility, but that wouldn't prevent a couple of other cylinders from firing.

Agreed after reading about the wet plugs. I bet it's getting TOO much fuel. Remove the gravity fuel system, remove the air cleaner and let it air out for awhile. Then try pouring the fuel down the carb and starting it.

I had that happen recently when I was adjust a sticking throttle. In the process of working the linkage to find where it as sticking, I ended up pumping way to much fuel down into the carb. Then it wouldn't start. Let it sit for a little bit, and then it started right up.

Great advice. I could probably use a temporary underhood start button to keep from pumping the gas IOT hit the starter. Spark was there, but not blue, and it didn't jump 1/4 to 3/8". I gapped the points to .016, but did not replace them. I have a cap/rotor/points from Terrel machine, guess I'll put them in. Been attemting to start without the air cleaner on of course. Lots of great info here.