Packard Forum Index » General

So my 51 Patrician starts like a champ every time, runs great (ok except the smoke from the oil fill but that is another story) but as soon as I turn it off or it dies for some reason it will not restart on its own. If I hit it with a shot of starter fluid she starts right back up. If I don't use starter fluid it will turn over but not fire.
There was at one time a electric fuel pump in the system so my guess is that the fuel pump is weak.
Any suggestions before I buy a rebuild kit and have a go at the fuel pump?

Thanks as always for the help.

Dave

G'day Dave, Does your 51 still use the foot throttle start or has it been overridden. Most 51-53 packarsds used a foot start and vacuum switch arrangement on the Bendix carb to ensure that everyone started with the same procedure. The procedure was necessary because the carb bowl intake needles wore and used to let in excess gas and overfuel the engine. The starting in full throttle opened the main butterfly to air and quickly relieved the overfuel situation.
Also are you talking turn over for 10 seconds as on a hot day you will crank for 20 seconds before it fires up, just hang in there and for goodness sake do NOT PUMP the accelerator. 38 Supers and most other Packards and makes are the same. Peter Toet

Still has the foot start. Winter here so my starting temp was in the 40s. Car ran for 15 minutes in garage with door open, backed her out of the garage, stalled out and cranked for close to a minute with nothing. Shot of ether and away she went. Same thing later on cranked forever. No gas smell so I am sure that it is not flooded, plus the starting fluid would only make that worse and it does not. The air cleaner is off and you can see that the butterfly is fully open.

Thanks.

Dave

Assuming you can see gas squirting into carb when accelerator is pressed, that should indicate whether fuel is at the carb or is being starved. Many reports of the ceramic filter clogging from varnish. Able to pass air if you blow thru but not enough fuel and carb eventually runs dry. Usually that problem shows at higher engine speeds. I would think a weak pump would also show up at higher rpm.

If gas delivery is OK, have you verified the ignition system. When engine is hot, there is strain on the starting motor and the increased load could be pulling the voltage down. It doesn't take much voltage drop before there is a very minimal spark which can't quite ignite the gas but may ignite the ether in starting fluid. Once engine starts and no load from starting motor, spark is adequate.

Are the battery cables the large original size and connections clean. Both of those items -- too small of aftermarket cables and corroded connections -- have been the cause of many reports of hard starting. A weak battery or cell could also be a problem.

The joy of working solo, will have to get a friend or my 10 year old son to help me to confirm on the gas into the carb when cranking.

Newer highoutput battery but it is a couple years old. Clean connections but had not thought of the cables themselves. I will check the voltage and then I will have my son try to crank it after it refuses to start and test the voltage at that time. Thanks, had not thought of that. Much easier than a pump rebuild. Does not seem to have any problem at higher speeds just once it is turned off or dies.

Will check the voltage/battery part tonight. Do you know the guage that the cables should be off the top of your head? The ones on there came with the car and they are not original.

Thanks

Dave