A few drips of petrol

[Stag About Town]

I was investigating a very small amount of water in the vee so thought I would start the car and check around with the engine running. It did take a few more seconds than usual on the starter motor before firing but when it was running on tick over without any choke I looked around with a torch. No sign of the water leak but I did spot a couple of petrol drips from under the left-hand carb. I took the air filter off from the elbows to see better and after seeing nothing obvious I started it again. This time no sign of the drips and all felt dry under the carb.. Am I likely to have flooded it a bit on choke start-up? This was a very small amount and if I wasn't looking round with a torch I would never have spotted it. Any ideas? Many thanks, John

[wilf]

Possibly the "bungs" in the float bowls leaking? They are plastic with O rings, the plastic can harden with age. New ones can be bought from Burlen.

[Stag About Town]

Possibly the "bungs" in the float bowls leaking? They are plastic with O rings, the plastic can harden with age. New ones can be bought from Burlen.

Thanks Wilf. I wondered if the O rings had shrunk a bit after the car had been standing unused for a while and had expanded when fuel entered the bowl? Can you changed the bungs and O rings with the carbs in situ? John

[wilf]

Don't think so, had to remove the carb pedestal to do mine. Not a big job, and no need to disconnect the accelerator or choke cables if you are careful.

You need to try to establish exactly where the fuel is coming from before you start "mending" things, anyway.

[Stag About Town]

Don't think so, had to remove the carb pedestal to do mine. Not a big job, and no need to disconnect the accelerator or choke cables if you are careful.

You need to try to establish exactly where the fuel is coming from before you start "mending" things, anyway.

Thanks Wilf. Have tried running the car in the garage a couple of times since and so far all seems ok. Will keep an eye on it but I suspect an O ring may have dried out when the car was left unused for a while. John