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Been having issues with the Carter carb on my 39 Six. Occurs only after the fuel bowl has been drained, either from me working on the fuel delivery system or the carb. I have an electric fuel pump mounted near the tank ( 4 - 5 PSI). As soon as I turn the key on, gas comes out of the top of the bowl and won't stop. After I mop up the gas and be prompt about hitting the starter button, engine starts immediately and I will not have the carb flooding issue again, unless the fuel bowl gets drained. I bought a carb rebuild kit and did a complete overhaul and measured and set float height. Same thing, gas out of the top until the engine is started then stops and will not occur again.

Ideas anyone? Very confusing

More history, added a glass sediment bowl in front of the carb and have a new fuel pump and inline filter next to it.

And a question about the carb. In the fuel bowl area, there is the accelerator pump, the long metering rod and an alloy piston that sits very loosely in a cylinder adjacent the metering rod. These three all are on the same linkage and interact with each other. I understand the fuel pump and metering rod, but what is the piston, similar to more modern day carb power valve?

The float should stop the incoming fuel unless the fuel pressure is too high.

Are you sure the float isn't sticking in the down position when the fuel is drained out of the bowl?

Pretty certain it's not the float, as it stops as soon as the engine is started and does not repeat itself again. Also, just rebuilt carb, problem was there before and persists now, but again, only IF the bowl gets emptied but t will occur just the once and stops right away as soon as engine is started

The piston on the metering rod linkage responds to varying vacuum depending on engine load and by its position determines the open area in the jet as the steps on the metering rod pass thru the jet orifice.

Seems to me that it could be a pressure issue & float issue.

The reasoning is that the float appears to work correctly after the car is started. If the gas is drained completely out of the float chamber, the float would be calling for full fuel flow. If the float is slightly misaligned it may be temporarily stuck at the bottom. After a large inrush of fuel, causing your overflow... the float could then pop back up off of the bottom of the full(overflowing)fuel bowl and stop the fuel flow.

If the pressure is too high (perhaps at 5 or 6 lbs) you could have the issue where the engine runs too rich which could also cause the carb to drip raw fuel into the carb throat (even when the engine is turned off) and cause it to start hard when the engine is hot as well as drain all of the fuel out of the fuel bowl.

An easy way to check this dripping issue, is to start the car and after the car engine and is hot, stop the car and remove the air cleaner. Look inside the carb throat and see if you see any smoke/mist coming out of the throat. IF you do, that is your answer.

Checking your spark plugs can also give you an indication of potentially too rich of a fuel mixture. I would also check your fuel pump to verify the fuel pressure and the carbs accelerator pump to ensure it is sealing/functioning correctly.

best of luck

Like your suggestion Bruce, hadn't thought of float being bent. Installed new electric pump for an unrelated problem, output is 4PSI. Motor is still running rich after carb overhaul. Will pull top of float bowl off in AM. Thanks!

Hey Owen

Have a question for you on this. From the photo, I am confused as to how the piston interacts with that linkage, unless it is installed improperly on this carb. I have the arm portion above the linkage as shown. It appears it has been bent in the past. If I place it under the linkage, like I think it should be, idles is far too high as the bend is prohibiting the return of the throttle to closed. Photo's on line aren't of much help

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Hi John,

I too am dealing with a leaking Carter WA-1. The rebuild house where I purchased the unit told me that if there was positive pressure on the throttle plate, gas could siphon back down the throat of the carb and leak. When I checked this out, I found there WAS too much adjustment on the linkage and, in my case, not enough threads to alleviate it. Not knowing the history on the linkage or where it came from (when I got the car it had a Carter carb from a Chev Bel Air 6 cyl) I ended up cutting a piece out of it and brazing it back together. That worked perfectly as I was able to adjust the idle down to zero such that the motor wouldn't even run. I then brought it back up to 'spec idle' thinking the problem would be solved but it still leaked, dripping out the bottom of the bowl. This winter I removed it and took it to a carb specialist here in Canada. He rebuilt it (although it was SUPPOSED to be a fresh rebuild from Carb-X in El Monte CA) and reported numerous issues with it, including parts that had not even been removed during the last rebuild go-round. He said he machined all the surfaces (whatever THAT means) and the unit is ready for pick-up with a bill of about $240 USD. In that this is the second carb I have purchased for the car at $350 each and now this rebuild bill, I HOPE the damn thing doesn't leak!!! Does this sound anything like your issue?? Chris.

Hi Chris
Interesting points, but not the issues I'm having here. Now that I have the fuel delivery issue under control (found a crack in the pickup tube at the tank flange, pump could lose prime and not get it back, like sucking on a straw with a hole in it), digressed here, but as long as the fuel bowl does not get drained, this problem will not reoccur.
I know I can duplicate it by draining the bowl and turning the pump on. It will dump fuel at the rate of the pump until I start the engine, and then will not reoccur!

Really suspecting something with the way the main metering rod linkage is connected on this carb, see post above. As such, the linkage really doesn't do anything that I can see of.

As I thought about this more, you have a valid point, but this is not the issue I am having.
Now that I have the fuel delivery issue under control (found a crack in the pickup tube at the tank flange, pump could lose prime and not get it back, like sucking on a straw with a hole in it), digressed here, but as long as the fuel bowl does not get drained, this problem will not reoccur.

I know I can duplicate it by draining the bowl and turning the pump on. It will dump fuel at the rate of the pump until I start the engine, and then will not reoccur!

Really suspecting something with the way the main metering rod linkage is connected on this carb, see post above. As such, the linkage really doesn't do anything that I can see of.