Fuel delivery problems with my 318

This might be slightly interesting and helpful if someone else has this problem in the future. My gas gage is inaccurate, the van runs out of gas when the gage says there is still 1/8th of a tank left. So I ran it out of gas and sucked a bunch of crud into my fuel filter. This of course made the engine run like crap and die a lot. So when I figured it out I changed the fuel filters and that helped a lot but it still struggled to stay running at idle in neutral or stopping at stop signs. Today I decided to drop the gas tank and clean out whatever crap was in there. I found a 4" section of a plastic gas can spout and lots of dark sandy type stuff. Also, I noticed the metal fuel line inside the tank was corroded almost completely shut. I cleaned out the line, pressure washed the inside of the tank and blew out the fuel line b/n the tank and the first filter. I'm drying the tank over night and I'll put it back in tomorrow after work. I think this will solve the problem...hopefully. I'll let you know tomorrow...

Change the "sock" on the end of the pickup tube too. Year One has them. All Mopars use the same part.

donivan65 wrote:That is rule #1 when you buy an old vehicle, pull the gas tank and check it out. You are asking for a world of trouble if you don't start out with a good clean gas tank. Rule #2 is the radiator,,,,,,,

Yes I should flush the radiator too, thanks. What's rule #3...?

Brakes and lines?

When I clean a gas tank, I drop a short piece of heavy chain(about two feet) and a gallon of kereosine and slosh around for five minuets . You wouldnt believe what kind of crap loosens up.

benwah wrote:When I clean a gas tank, I drop a short piece of heavy chain(about two feet) and a gallon of kereosine and slosh around for five minuets . You wouldnt believe what kind of crap loosens up.

Wow Ben, looks like someone had a clever idea.

ASparrow wrote:

donivan65 wrote:That is rule #1 when you buy an old vehicle, pull the gas tank and check it out. You are asking for a world of trouble if you don't start out with a good clean gas tank. Rule #2 is the radiator,,,,,,,

Yes I should flush the radiator too, thanks. What's rule #3...?

Rule #3 is first learn Rules 1 & 2.

Well I power washed the tank and blew out the lines from the first in-line fuel filter back to the tank and all I can say is ewww! There was much yuck in there that is all gone now but my little 318 is still not happy. It bogs down at 4/3 throttle (under load) and runs like it's got a huge cam in it but it dose not. I thought it might be missing on a cylinder so I cleaned all the plugs and they looked great. Hmmm. The distributer looks to be clean too. I think it might be time to try a new fuel pump. Someone told me that carbon can built up inside the intake manifold and cause this sort of problem too but I think I'll try the easier stuff first.

mabee slopy timing chain

benwah wrote:mabee slopy timing chain

How would I check this?

I dont know if you have electrinc igniton or not, but the bushings in the distributors on 318s can wear to the point that you have to run a wider gap on the points, this results in a sorta miss type thing, (point bounce) easy thing to check anyway, pop the cap and see if ya can rattle the shaft around any or try setting the gap and see if it changes as you roll the engine around.
Maybe this would be a way to check the chain to ,, hand roll the engine and see if there is a delay in the distributer?

I better make a friend around here who knows a bit more about this sort of thing than I do! I'm starting to feel like a numb-skull.

Anyone around here live near Duluth, MN? I'll bring the brew!

I don't know about the rest of the gang here , but I like these forums because they make remember stuff I thought I had forgotten , I feel like an idiot alot, Everytime someone comes up with a problem I slowly gain a dim recollection of similar stuff from ages ago. Sometimes I even remember it right! Anyway If you think you have the fuel problem figured out move to the spark, timing , worn parts stuff like that, if you have points ,, just bring one of the lobes on the distribtor around to open the points, then move the shaft around to see if you can change the gap if thats tight check the lag in the distributor rotor when you roll the engine by hand I dont know what the specs are for this, but if it seems severe it might be the timing chain.at least these checks can be done for free.