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I have a 1948 Standard Eight that will not start. It started briefly and ran rough for about a min and then shut off. It will not start again. We checked the Chock and it does not appear to be stuck. Any suggestions?

Quote:G'day Keith,
to PackardInfo,

I'll leave any advice on your query to the more experienced and knowledgeable here. But invite you to please include your '48 Standard Eight in the Packard Owner's Registry here, together with a pic, any known history and how you acquired it?

If it started once then I would check to see if you have gas pumping up to the carb. For starters (no pun intended) try looking down the carb throat while working the accelerator linkage and see if gas is squirting from the two pump jets. If nothing then you have a gas problem. Check that you have a good blue spark from the coil wire to the distributor. Pull the coil to distributor wire from the distributor and hold it about 1/4" from a the engine block anhd have soemone crank the engine. You might try doing a search on the site of the manuals and service letters etc.. Depending upon your mechanical knowledge some simple tests would likely determine the problem.

Let's figure this out. First, are you getting gas and spark?

To see if it is getting gas look down the carb and pump the throttle. If you see a squirt of gas, you are getting gas. Check the gas gauge first, duh.

To see if it is getting spark disconnect one spark plug and hold the wire about 1/4" away from the engine. Have someone turn the key and see if you get sparks when the engine turns over. A white or blue spark is ideal but a yellow one is almost as good. Be careful you don't get a lifter but if you do it proves the spark is good.

If you have a spare spark plug you can plug it in and lay it on the engine then observe if it sparks when you turn the engine over. This is a safer way to do it.

From the symptoms you describe I would guess it is out of gas.

I forgot to mention in my post that we are getting gas to the carb. I could see gas come into the carb when we crank the car. Also when we let off the starter gas pours from the carb, it seems to be comming from around a seam in the carb.

Also when we let off the starter gas pours from the carb, it seems to be comming from around a seam in the carb.

Perhaps the engine is flooded due to a failed needle and seat in the carburetor?

The float in the carb had a hole in it as was full of gas. The shop had a new float and they are rebuilding the carb.

That'll do it every time!