Driving home from a buddies, my 65 GTO died literally as I was pulling into the driveway. I noticed about the last mile home it was running a bit rough at low idle.
I was low on gas, but should have had at least a couple gallons in the tank by my estimates. So I had AAA add a couple gallons. It took a few cranks, but finally got the engine turned over again.
I let it run for about 5 minutes, real rough idling, more exhaust than usual, wanted to die unless I gave it some gas. Finally nursed it up the driveway and into the garage.
I'm thinking somehow I did indeed just run plain run outa gas. So I'm now curious...what size tank on a 65 GTO? I thought 24 gal, but can anyone confirm that? Also, anything I should be aware of regarding the fuel filter, fuel pump, etc. after running out of gas?
Damn rookie mistake...I'm more angry at myself then anything else...
You probably picked up all the crap and rust out of your tank running it that low. Replace the fuel filters, also you may have clogged the sock in the tank. If it's dumping gas, run the car with the air cleaner off, turn it off and look for smoke coming out of the top of the carb, if theres smoke, the needles are leaking and it's dumping fuel from the trash from the tank. Needs new needle and seats, and a carb cleaning would be a good idea.
I agree with Jet. Probably picked up some crud from the bottom of the tank and now it's in the carb/needle seat. A simple disassembly and cleaning may be in order. I've owned a bunch of '65. '66, and '67 GTO's, and was never able to get over 20 gallons in the tank. 24 would be unheard of. I always keep mine as full as possible.
FWIW..
I recommend NOT letting it get below a quarter tank (at the lowest), this goes DOUBLE for cars that have been modded to an electric fuel pump. It's just always best to leave a reasonable amount of gas in the tank if at all possible.
Thanks...and yeah, you can bet I won't go below a 1/4 tank in the future. I replaced the fuel filter, cleaned the carb, so far so good. A little rough at idle, hoping as I run it it'll sort itself out. If not, I'll revisit the carb, float, etc.
As for the tank, I'm getting 15gal. Seems a lot less than the specs I'm reading.
Might have 6 gallons of rust taking up space..
I worked a clogged sock by putting compressed air to the fuel line to the tank, kept it up and it cleared it enough so the car ran, it works! It will shoot gas out the filler neck if it's near full, better to do on a low tank. Save you some time dropping the tank and cleaning it. And if it runs better after that, it will tell you that you need to drop the tank..
Yep, could blow it off, but probably not. Either way you are on borrowed time, the tank is going to come down and get cleaned, or replaced. Sock off and a BIG inline filter before the fuel pump could work forever, just keep a spare filter with you all the time. Or it may have been an isolated incident, and you just got a little trash in the carb. I bought a 76 Z28 and had the same issues, carb had 1/2" of sludge in the bowl..
If the car was stored without a full tank of gas, the top of the tank rusts and the rust falls off into the tank and thus clogs the sock, and fills the bottom of the tank..
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