Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Thanks to all who have responded with the collective voice of all of your various Packard experiences. I am again reminded of what a great resource this site and all of you, its members, are.

I am just itching to get the car out on the road again, so I can try all of your various suggestions. Unfortunately, I won't be able to troubleshoot this problem until I return to WV in a couple of weeks, but promise to update this thread when I discover the problem and what eventually solves it (hopefully).

Dan,

I had the same situation with a 67 Oldsmobile with a quadrajet. There was this itty bitty chunk of junk in the carb bowl. It would run for a while then this single flake of crud would cover the hole for the idle circuit and it would just sputter out. As soon as the flow stopped, the crud floated away and the car would start right up. Drove me nuts, took forever to find it too. Good luck with your puzzle...

Scott

I also believe it is likely a fuel problem. Packard changed to non-vented gas caps in 1949. The vent, a notch, was built into the filler neck. Check to see if there is a vent in your cap. Another problem I have found was on a 1947 that had had the gas tank lined. It was done incorrectly and had pooled around the fuel pickup. When the tank was filled some of the fuel was able to get between the lining and the bottom of the tank. The car would suck that amount of fuel out and since the other fuel didn't get to the fuel pickup the car would die. After waiting fifteen or twenty minutes enough fuel soaked to the bottom of the tank and the car ran fine, (for awhile).
Good luck. Keep us posted on what you find.

Thanks again for all of your collective help on this. I was able to really dig into this issue over the last couple of days, and discovered that my problem was indeed a fuel problem. Everything was fine from the tank all the way up through the fuel pump and then the culprit was discovered to be a clogged filter in the glass bowl just before the carburetor. The winners are Peter Packard and Flackmaster; is this a great site or what!