302 Engine Problem

[Kit Coyle]

I have a sudden engine problem and hope someone here can point to a
solution. The engine is a BOSS 302 with a Holley 650 double-pumper, MSD
6AL box, MSD Pro-billet 8479 Dist. and an MSD 8222 hi-vib. coil.
Five minutes into a ride the engine suddenly began to run so roughly that
I pulled off the road. The engine quit and refused to restart. After sitting 30
minutes I got it to start and run well enough to turn around and coast in
neutral downhill to home. Suspecting I might have damaged plug wires from
a boot change I checked the resistance and found them in spec. The coil also
checked good @ .6 ohms primary and 4.55k ohms secondary. The dist. cap
and rotor checked good as well. The engine easily restarted but still ran poorly.
At 3000rpm the right side exhaust expelled white smoke. At shut down I
noted gas had dampened the phenolic block on the right side of the carb and
dripped down wetting the intake manifold. The next day the engine again
started easily and ran very poorly. No white smoke this time and no gas
leak until after shutdown. Fuel pressure is 6psi. Do you think my carb is
flooding? Could my coil be bad even with a good static resistance check?
Has the intake manifold gasket failed? Thank you very much!

[Dangerous Doug]

Coil issues wouldn't explain the white smoke and poor running.

Where is that fuel coming from? Scary. Take care of that, first.

Check your float level by removing the site plugs. If fuel comes pouring out, that will be your first indicator.

White smoke sounds like coolant to me...

On the coil, check it when it fails. After you resolve the fuel issues drive it around until the car dies, THEN test the coil.

Doug

[LMH]

Sounds like float level adjustment to me.
Larry

[James Stern]

Other than the white smoke I would blame it on the MSD system. I have removed all things MSD from my engine.

[Kit Coyle]

The problem was debris in the Holley float needle/seat housing allowing
the float bowls to overfill. I removed the assemblies, cleaned and reinstalled
them and reset the floats. It runs perfectly now. That you for the help.

[GLS-BDR226]

Originally Posted by Kit Coyle

The problem was debris in the Holley float needle/seat housing allowing
the float bowls to overfill. I removed the assemblies, cleaned and reinstalled
them and reset the floats. It runs perfectly now. That you for the help.

I had the same problem with a QF. Beside cleaning the carb, the fuel filter near the electric fuel pump by the tank was almost completely clogged with debris. I replaced it with a much larger filter. The old one was a Fram see thru plastic filter. A real cheapie. Just a thought.