MG MGB and MGB GT Tech Talk
I have a 1971 MGB. My son was driving it this summer. It was running fine then stopped running. The car would turn over fine but would not start. It has the two SU setup. When I got to the car there was a smell of fuel. He turned the car over fine. Then, the fuel started dripping down the passenger side on the firewall side. Up to this time the car ran fine. Any suggestions.
Thanks,
Doug
Sounds like your floats are not stopping the fuel flow and it's overflowing into the carbon canister. Probably just need to check or rebuild carb float & valve..........
Along with Dwain's advice............
It would be a good idea to use that drain plug in the bottom of the gas tank and drain it to check for rust and dirt. Blowing out the fuel lines would not hurt either. A filter change would also be in order.
Sometimes a bit of crud will stop the needle valve from clossing and cause an over flowing condition.
Doug - take a screwdriver and tap on your float bowls. I agree sounds like one or both are stuck and may free it up.
I see a lot of these "tap on" "hit it with a hammer" posts. It takes so little time to clean the float bowls properly why would you tap on it and leave the trouble there for another day?
That sounds exactly like the problem i just had. When i pulled the carbs off and looked at the floats i saw that i had a crack in one of them and that it was half filled with gas. The parts just arrived and i'm hoping to have it replaced yet this weekend. A manual will show you how to take the carbs apart, it's pretty easy and i didn't even feel the need to kit the carbs. I'm just replacing the float.
I had float problems and had drips along the side of the engine of the driver side, do you have to also check the fuel connection in front of the heater core to see if that is tight Dennis70
Just want to add for common experience, same thing. One float filled with fuel and other one I cleaned out real well, changed fuel filters several times, cleaned everything I could and overflow stopped. I ran the overflow tubes to the front of the car and below the radiator so I could see when I have a problem and so it does not drip on the exhaust manifold.