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I've researched my problem online in a variety of more general forums bought wanted to run it by the real experts! Stock 2362 with a 288, WGD carb. Like many of these it runs on the hot side if you can believe the gauge, though it doesn't show any other signs of overheating. It normally starts great; unless it has sat for a couple weeks it will fire up in a few seconds with warm starts besting many fuel injected cars, though when really warm it can take a little cranking (few extra seconds).

The first couple times I drove the car I had trouble with it stalling on low-speed turns (turning into a parking lot, or onto a city street) and then it would crank but not start. Wait maybe 5 minutes and it would fire up and be okay. I blamed this on vapor lock and installed an in-line electric pump as this worked well with an old Ford I have (except the Ford wouldn't do this at low speeds but on the highway). This seemed to improve things but I'm still having trouble. Recent examples: start the car, no problem, let it idle for a couple minutes. (If anything it seems to rich from a cold start.) I drove 1/2 mile down the road, make a low-speed right turn & it stalls. Takes a couple cranks but it restarts. I drive another mile to the hardware store, come out, starts right up. Get to the end of the street, another low speed right turn, stalls, cranks to beat the band but won't start. Let it coast back into a parking space, wait a few minutes and it fires up. Drives fine the rest of the day. Then, yesterday: starts up fine, drive it across town, right turn into the store parking lot is a-okay. Come out after a few minutes, starts right up. Drive back home & when I make the slow right turn onto my street it stalls, cranks, no start. Took the top off the breather, choke is about 1/8 closed. I don't see any signs of gas in the carb but I don't know that I should. After a couple minutes the choke is closed slightly more, maybe 1/3. I then get a slight stumble while cranking but not enough. Then I placed my hand over the opening, blocking all air, and it stumbled then fired right up, running fine. Maybe a red herring-maybe it was just time for it to be over it's typical 3-5 minute crankiness? Drove home & I couldn't make it act up.

Today I played with it in the driveway, let it idle a lot, ran it at a fast idle, watched the choke gradually open. Wouldn't act up. Kinda tired of having to troubleshoot it on the side of the road!

I have some ideas but would like to hear yours. Thanks!

My Series 23 Packard used to occasionally stall, sometimes while on the freeway. I found the heat shield over the fuel pump was missing and put one on the car. That helped cure the low speed stalling. The high speed stalling seems like vapor lock. I installed an electric fuel pump in parallel with the mechanical pump and a switch to turn it on from the seat. That cures the high speed stalling and also helps on cold starts.

If it stalls on turns the float level is either very high or very low.

I am learning that with ethanol I have better results by lowering the stock float level a bit. My 56 has just changed from ridiculously difficult hot starts to instantaneous hot starts by that simple expedient

Heat shield: I found it in the trunk with some other parts. I'd been planning on painting it and getting it bolted on. I'll make that a priority.

Float level: I wanted some confirmation from "Packard People" before attempting it, so that's good information. I'd seen it mentioned on other sites but with newer carbs. I'm always a little leery of opening up a carburetor as I've had some bad experiences in the past. Hopefully this will be so simple that even I can't screw it up

Recently my 2262 began to run really bad . . . I mean really bad. No power, stumbling, and sustained multi-cylinder misfire. Just as I got back to the garage I was able to determine that if I was really aggressive with the throttle the engine ran a bit better. When the symptoms first began the outside air temperature was something above 105F, with a coolant temperature of 180+F. The fuel was at least 4 months old, and based on when I re-filled the gas was likely 'winter blend'. Once the engine had completely cooled the next restart was without fault, and the engine ran without evidence of the previous symptoms.

I know the trouble-shooting list for rough running covers just about everything, so I started by making an assumption that the fuel supply was compromised . . . you've got to start somewhere. I started-off by installing a fuel pressure gauge that I could read 'on the fly'. It's a 2 5/8 inch, AutoMeter, 0-15 psi electric gauge (no fuel lines inside the car) with a 270 degree sweep. Even on the fly I can read the fuel pressure within ? psi without much of a problem. The car is also equipped with a Carter electric fuel pump used to prime the system after a few weeks rest. It's not needed if I use the car daily or every other day. My experience with other carbureted engines in Arizona is that the float bowl, and I suspect the jet passages, will evaporate quite quickly.

Now here comes the good part. I left the pressure gauge installed while going through the other items on the long trouble shooting list. I have observed twice now the fuel pressure is 3 - 3.5 psi while the car warms-up, and maintains that pressure while I drive at low speed to the first street intersection where I make a right angle right hand turn. After making the turn I'm climbing a slight grade and accelerating to 40 mph (but not fast enough to suffer a case of whip-lash). Twice the fuel pressure has dropped to zero during the acceleration. Once the pressure tried to recover on its own and rose to about 1 psi only to drop back to zero. Turning on the electric pump restored the fuel pressure. In one case the pressure was lost as soon as the E-pump was turned off. The other case the fuel pressure was OK after I turned off the E-pump. The E-pump is normally on for about 15 seconds. In general, once the mechanical pump begins working again it will be OK for the rest of the trip.

Previously this car would routinely need the E-pump every time I first started to drive the car at speed. Recently I changed the mechanical fuel pump to a rebuilt unit from Max. That cured a lot of the fuel delivery problems I was having, however none of my previous experience was with the fuel pressure instrumented, so my diagnoses was based more on symptoms than hard data. Use of the E-pump always seems to cure the problem of stumbling and stalling.

So I think I've caught the car misbehaving at 100+F with a ? tank of old fuel, and 65F with a full tank that would be a blend of old and 'new' fuel. The previous experience with the 'other' fuel pump coupled with the current experience suggest that just after a 'cold' start there will be normal operation with the engine at idle (car not moving), and engine at low power (car moving at < 25 mph), but once a hard turn is made and the car is accelerating to approximately 40 mph there is a complete loss of fuel pressure.

I'm at a loss, but some of Shore72's experience could be a loss of fuel pressure. I'm thinking the quality of the modern fuel, specifically the Reid Vapor Pressure, is becoming quite marginal, but other than an E-pump at the tank I don't know what to do to make things better. The service letters issued when the cars were new suggest this fuel delivery situation may be inherent to the type design.

By the way, when the car was really running bad the E-pump didn't seem to help, so I'm not sure if I'm on the right track to solve my rough running issue.

dp

Good input!
I believe I changed the hose when I changed the pump, but I can't find an entry in the book I keep reminding me on what I've worked on, or changed. So since I can't tell I'll install a new line and report back. Due to other commitments it may take me the better part of a month to update the topic thread.

Considering I had the same loss of fuel pressure symptom at the same street intersection on two different days with a 40 F difference in outside air temperature, and a 30 F difference in coolant temperature that does suggest that I'm not dealing with a phase change problem.

The E-pump was installed with a few neoprene lines, so I'll change out those also . . . . They might be quite old (I did not get the maintenance records when I bought the car). To turn this into a proper science experiment I'll change one line at a time.

To counter the Frost & French experience I do pressurize the hose to 3+ psi every time I prime the carburetor with the E-pump. There has never been the slightest hint of an overboard fuel leak. I guess the hose could be collapsing to an area that is quite restrictive and the E-pump pushes it back to an acceptable area. Why the damn thing only misbehaves early in a drive and more times than not on a turn may have to remain a mystery.

Thanks again for the input. The hose is at the top of the list of things to do.
dp

Leeedy's suggestion is an excellent one as the stock pump sucks (literally) and could close down the inside of a bad hose while the electric pump pushes so could open it enough to get pressure.

As for running bad fuel, I totally seized the engine of my 1952 Henney-Packard by running old fuel. By the following Saturday it would not crank which turned out to be major build-up on the valves that were so stuck that one even bent when trying to remove it.

Wow, just how old was that fuel? And what type of fuel?

I have no idea but the car was supposedly in the body shop owned by a Packard Club member and he seemed in no rush for me to pick it up but, when I finally called, he said he had thought I had picked it up years ago! Apparently it had been stolen but I finally located it and brought it back home but by then it had deteriorated after years of sitting out in a field so the petrol was by then many years old. This incident mentioned above was several years after it was recovered so it was very old indeed. Good enough for it to run but it had no power to move the 6,200lb coach.