Ok yall, Ive got a situation and I cannot figure it out. I am not a mechanic by no means but hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. My son was gifted a 1984 Chevy K10 with a 350 motor by his grandfather. For those that work at a parts store, yes its four wheel drive. It has the regular quadrajet carburetor on it. The problem is, we cannot get gas into the carburetor and I cannot figure out why. We have been working on this thing for months and each time we discover something new, he gets excited because we finally think we have found the problem. We fix the issue, and it still doesnt work. Last night we worked for three hours just to try to start it til the battery died. He just hung his head and started crying and its killing me. I love working with him on it to help him restore it but im also tired of throwing time and money at something and getting nowhere. Fuel is not getting into the carburetor and i cannot figure out why. His grandfather said it ran before, it just needed the carburetor cleaned because it had been sitting for about 7 years and the fuel tank selector switch needed replacing. Here is a list of everything we have done.
- When he first got the truck, the carburetor was taken off and given to a mechanic to clean. He cleaned it and did a few other things to it and we got it back. Wouldn't work.
- bought and installed a new fuel tank selector switch, didnt work.
- dropped the passengers side tank and cleaned it out, put in a new fuel sending unit. didnt work
- Bought a new mechanical fuel pump for it and put it on, it ran for 4 minutes and then didnt work. There was fuel in the pump when we removed it.
- Bought new spark plugs and wires, didnt work.
- Found out my son didnt get all of the water out of the gas tank before the tank was put back on so we dropped it again cleaned it again and got ALL water out. It was dry as a bone. Replaced everything and filled with gas, ran for 2 minutes, wouldnt start.
- Bought a new mechanical fuel pump just in case water messed up the first one, still didnt work. There was a little fuel in the pump when I removed it.
- Ran a line from the carb to a bottle of fuel, works fine.
- Blew air through all the lines and there was no fuel anywhere. I couldn't hear any leaks, but there was no fuel when I moved my finger off the hose and I felt the air.
- just in case, all rubber fuel lines were replaced. still didnt work.
- Tried the bottle thing again, ran fine. However, no fuel in the lines that I could see.
- Replaced the tank selector valve, no gas anywhere, still wouldnt start
- Checked the rotor cap and its clean and replaced just as it was. Ran fine off a bottle.
- Found out about a push rod that makes the fuel pump work (had never heard of this before) but went and bought a new one. When we pulled the fuel pump off, I there was one already in there and I could tell that at the bottom of the arm on the back where the rod had been hitting it at the tip. So Im assuming that is working properly.
- Last night we replaced the metal fuel line with a rubber one on the front of the motor. That is literally the only part of the fuel system left that had no been replaced (except for the metal lines) on the passengers side. Still wont start.
Just for ***** and giggles last night, I read about priming the carb. We poured a total of an entire 20 ounce bottle of gas down the carb choke side and it would run until the gas was burned and then cut off. We tried starting it until the battery died and when it died, so did our ambition.
So, what else could it be that is causing the fuel not to get into the carburetor. I did pull the fuel filter last night and it was pretty clean, there were some black dust looking things on it but otherwise it was clean. It had fuel on it but not as much as I imagined it should be. The check valve was installed on the nut side of the carb. Is that backwards? What am I missing? Just an FYI, all of the work was done on the passengers side. We have not touched the drivers side. We wanted to get one tank working and then focus on the other one. Could that be the problem? I am so tired of throwing time and money into this thing and not getting any results. I only have 3 months until he gets his license and I dont have a lot of time to work on it. Someone please help!!!!
