Carter YF carb issues, possible a "fuelish" mistake.

[Mark J]

Mark here. Tried posting this in "Tech Questions" area but it logs me out each time. I reported it to an admin. I've been having issues logging in for a week now.

I purchased a Chinese "Solex style" carburetor on Amazon that wanted to work, but I could never adjust it properly. I've since sold it on eBay for $22!
So I bought a rebuilt kit for my Carter YF. It was working but apparently, has been leaking below the entire time, just a nice "drippy" flow. Probably explains my horrible gas mileage. I took it apart and checked the float level and float itself. All looks good. The needle valve passage seems clear of debris. I don't really know what else to do but take the entire thing apart and re-rebuild it since I may have just missed something. I have a few Carter carburetors so I'd like to rebuild another.
My question is... what's a decent rebuilt kit brand that doesn't cost a fortune? It seems there's the usual OMIX crap out there, but a few other brands such as Walker.
I've come to the realization that, during all my jeep fixing process's, I should have kept some of the "old junk" and/or written down the brands of stuff have turned out to be crap, so I know what NOT to get.

Off topic note: If anyone can find my thread on the sending unit (SENDING out and SOS), let me know! I was told by a site admin that it may have been lost when there were some recent issues with the forum. If it's gone, I'll start it again once I take the damn thing out again to check the resistance, which I should have written down. Well I did, but tossed the paper. See? I did it again.

[bmorgil]

I remember your post Mark, we lost everything from the last week in Aug through the beginning of September. I remember the discussion about the general consensus on Jeep fuel gauge accuracy. It is a common complaint from everyone. I think gmwillys identified the issue as "crap OMNIX sending units". The resistance on the sender should be around 10 Ohms full and 80 Ohms empty. I found all your threads but that one. I remember we had posted some pictures and gmwillys found some high quality sending units. I bought one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/151658796712?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

I use Mike's quite a bit for carb parts, you may want to call him and tell him what parts you are looking for. He can tell you if he has some quality stuff or not. Keeping the old junk means when you buy the new stuff you can then find the old stuff you forgot you had!

https://www.carburetor-parts.com/Carter_c_18.html

Make sure you are not using Chrome as your browser. Most of the forum trouble is coming from that browser. The Firefox browser is working well. I have heard Edge is also acting a little funny. I moved the thread to Tech Questions. We're working on it!

[Mark J]

Thanks for moving my post. I'm using either Firefox, or Safari.
More to come...

[Mark J]

I ended up ordering a rebuild kit from Mikes. I was already impressed when I got a nearly immediate response from him, asking me questions on my carb and stating that there "is no run-of-the-mill" Carter YF! haha
I gave him more clear information after that and found I did indeed order the correct rebuild kit.
I will take apart mine, again just to see if I can find the problem but still will rebuild it completely with what I believe is a better kit. And I need to start keeping records of the crap I bought, so I don't buy more crap! :mad:

[Mark J]

Well I think I found the problem, or at least a contributing issue... when taking my old carburetor apart, if I held the top with the float on the bottom, I carefully moved the float upward. When releasing the float down, the needle valve stuck up! Shaking it would release it.
Now maybe the reason for this... I never rinsed the parts dip solution from that section! I think I just forgot to. Duh! I believe I just had a build up of "sticky" inside, perhaps?
Sooooo it's all apart again, and soaked again in the parts dip, rinsed, blown out and dry.
I'll reassemble and report back.

[Mark J]

Well I'm going nuts. Rebuild went fine. There were no issues. Easier than last time.
It's running great - and still leaking from the bottom but not quite as much. It seems and looks to be coming from the base, out of sealed area. Why would fuel come out here? Or could it be running from the bottom, then around that area? There was some residual at the bottom again as well. Incredibly frustrating.

[bmorgil]

It looks like you might be dealing with a crack in the bottom of the float bow area or a warped carburetor body. If you are sure the base gasket was clean and in good shape, there isn't a lot left it could be.

[Mark J]

Base gasket is new and clean. The weird thing is that there's no "liquid" fuel there to run out, right? Rhetorical question there.
I wonder if the gas can travel in such a narrow channel that it just appears to be leaking there?
I'll take it apart again today or Wednesday depending on my work load. I'll looked for warps and cracks, again.
I'm also picking up a kitten (!) tomorrow in lovely Barstow, CA - about a two hour drive, to the high desert. Meeting friends who are delivering her from Las Vegas.
(I always have to add totally non-jeep related things.)
Wait... I can make it related: I'm NOT driving my CJ3B two hours to Barstow. There! :)

[Mark J]

Update: I'm 99.99999 percent sure it's leaking from the base where the accelerator pump arm is. It's wet under there after I drive and it's just channeling to the base.
I'll take it apart Saturday. Busy few days. Maybe my float level is off but I checked it on the previous rebuild. And I'll look for warps, cracks, etc.

[tmonelo]

Carbs can be so finicky... so is it still wet around the ears?

[Mark J]

Ok I took the top off, double checked float level and float drop. I made some minor adjustments for both. Put it back together and it's still leaking. I don't know if I said this - but it doesn't happen at idle - only while I've driven. That's why I'm sure the fuel is rising up and sloshing into that channel.
I think I found what might be the issue. The kit came with three different needles. I used the short one from what I read on the manufactures website. However I may have just misread something (as I do). I just read a thread on the exact same issue I have - the problem was resolved by using the needle with the little spring button on it. (see photo)
I'll take it apart again and try the springy one, and report back.

[LarrBeard]

Of such simple mistakes or misunderstandings are great frustrations built.

There was this missing head bolt ...

[Mark J]

I had one of those missing head bolts. It seems that I forget about it oh every 30 years or so!

[LarrBeard]

It will almost run (for a little while) without it.

[Mark J]

It will almost run (for a little while) without it.

Luckily mine was "found again" while trying to take the head off a few months back when I did the valve job. I wasn't prying too hard when suddenly I remembered that damn hidden bolt!

[Mark J]

Ok I finally got to this... sorry life gets in the way of my jeep sometimes, dammit.
Replacing the needle and seat with the "springy" one seems to have solved the issue.
This seems quite trivial but the fuel sloshing seems to have stopped. Still I'd think this was a combination of float level/drop and the needle/seat but I really didn't adjust the float all that much. Well anyway... so far all is good.

[gmwillys]

For such a simple machine, they sure can be fickle now and again. You are correct that it was a combination of the two, but you should be good to go now. Life has a funny way of dragging down project progress.

[51 CJ3]

You are doing okay. My CJ3A hasn’t progressed much since I pulled the transmission and transfer case in March 2018. Earlier this year I managed to finish disassembling the transfer case.

[tmonelo]

Glade to hear you got it figured out.