Festy carburator cleaning

[beaterfesty]

O.K.,
First post, I'm looking at a 1989 Festiva LX (I think) with a 5 speed and a carburetor. This little car was parked approx. 2 (or 3 or 4) years ago with about one 1/8 of a tank of gas, no fuel stabilizer, etc. So, where do I start as far as trying to clean this little devil out? Drain the tank, new gas, carb cleaner, etc? Or have I blown the budget on a nice rebuilt ($500.00 give or take) carburetor? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Chris

[FB71]

mine sat under a tree for 4 years and fired right up. change the filter, fill the tank with good fuel and 2 bottles of cheap carb/injector cleaner (I get mine at WalMart for $0.88 bottle). you'll have to crank the crap outta it for about 3-4 minutes (with the plugs out), then squirt just a little ether in each hole, put the plugs back in, and fire it up.

[Infinitrium]

Re: Festy carburator cleaning

O.K.,
Drain the tank, new gas, carb cleaner, etc?

Cheers,
Chris

That sounds like a good plan. You could skip the tank draining if you feel that it's too much of a hassle. You should replace the fuel filter while you're at it. With the length of time the car has been sitting, there's a small chance the rings may be stuck in place and it could make starting the engine difficult. Pull the plugs, Pour 2 ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil, or Seafoam or B-12 Chemtool or something similiar and let it soak overnight. This is kinda unrelated, but I've heard numerous stories of people buying those 'low-mileage' JDM engines and having problems with the rings sticking. Apparently, before these engines are shipped off, a lot of 'em are pressure washed and water can leak into the cylinders and rust up the rings. This has caused hard starting, abnormally low compression, backfiring and there's even been a case or two of the rings actually snapping when the engine was started because the piston moved but the rings didn't. That's an extreme case and I highly doubt you are going to have problems anywhere near that, but still, I'd let those rings soak overnight before I fired the engine up.

[gomer]

If the car was running when parked I'd follow FB71's plan ,,, if it won't run at that time you need to go to the next step which would be a carb cleaning ,,, ie. just dunk it in a bucket of carb cleaner overnight and then try cranking it... starters can overheat after extended cranking (15 seconds++) so you may want to "tow start" this bad boy ,, that would also give you a chance to loosen the rings (plugs out / oil in) before running on it's own.

[beaterfesty]

Well, guys I did as I was told 'cept for the fuel filter( still waiting on it, stinkin NAPA) and got it where it will run great with a little fuel dumped in the carb until it runs out OR you step on the throttle. Then, DEAD! SO...
Hose the carb out with the cheapest stuff I could find and now I can get it started by pumping the throttle vigorously and kinda ,sorta keep it running the same way. This tells me that it is getting some fuel( will pull a line tomorrow and see, supposed to have a new pump), and I've got it running on the accelerator pump. YEA! Makes me think the jets and metering circuits are clogged. Aside from letting the carb cleaner in the fuel tank soak can I pull the idle speed adjustment screw and shoot carb cleaner through it to maybe get the main venturi working? I'm really scared to pull the carb cause.. SO MANY VACUUM LINES!!!!! THE HORROR! THE HORROR!!!!!

Anyway, if not I'll bite the bullet and start marking the little SOB's! Shouldn't take more than a week. sigh...

BTW, Just found a 1988 carb NIB never installed for 91.00+S&H (for the moment) , Will it work???


Cheers,
Chris

[FB71]

since a carb kit is $35, $91 is dirt cheap for an NIB unit! And yes, Fester had exactly the same issue. The main jets are clogged. The primary main feeds the idle circuit. By pumping the gas, you're feeding it fuel from the accel enrichment circuit, which is sourced directly from the bowl. There are two plugs on the carb facing the passenger side wheel. remove those two plugs to gain access to the main jets. Primary is toward the rear, secondary toward the front. Better method is to pull the top of the carb off first so you can see what you're doing. You only need to pull 2 or 3 vac lines and 2 connectors, pull out 6-8 screws (can't remember), and coerce the top off the carb. lay it back out of the way, look straight down, and you can see the two jets screwed into the side of the venturi bores in the baseplate. Clean them out, put it back together, fire her up!