Have any of you car buffs ever heard of this happening?

[Bignate603]

Edit: Sorry, hit enter after the topic and it posted... one sec while i post the topic..

 

[deftron]

Originally posted by: Bignate603
Edit: Sorry, hit enter after the topic and it posted... one sec while i post the topic..

That's never happened to my car

 

[Ylen13]

Originally posted by: deftron

Originally posted by: Bignate603
Edit: Sorry, hit enter after the topic and it posted... one sec while i post the topic..

That's never happened to my car

lol

 

[tm37]

Originally posted by: Bignate603
Edit: Sorry, hit enter after the topic and it posted... one sec while i post the topic..

it's been a few minutes now

 

[rival]

it's been a few minutes now

maybe his car caught on fire ..

 

[Ylen13]

Originally posted by: rival

it's been a few minutes now

maybe his car caught on fire ..

roflol

 

[Bignate603]

My little bro has been driving my 81 Caddilac Fleetwood while I'm off at school. I once stupidly ran out of gas while driving it over christmas and it proceded to have less and less power even after we replaced the fuel filter and everything. It finally did not have enough power to get up a mild hill to get it to the mechanic's and he had to come and tow it...

He immediatly suspected the carburetor and thought he would just have to go pull a used one off a car in a scrapyard. Anyways, when he pulled the old one to check he pops it opened and find it full of PELLETS. Apparently the caddilac had some sort of aircleaner full of charcol pellets or something (this I'm getting second hand through my father who talked to the mechanic) and that cleaner had busted opened, allowing all the pellets to be sucked through into the carb. My mechanic dumped out the pellets, replaced them in the cleaner and put something there to keep them restrained, and stuck in the old carb, charging me less then 100 for the whole thing.

1. Has anybody ever heard of this happening?
2. What does that air cleaner do?

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Ylen13

Originally posted by: rival

it's been a few minutes now

maybe his car caught on fire ..

roflol

It hasn't caught fire since junior year! Honestly!

 

[minendo]

I am not really a car guy, but maybe the charcoal pellets were used to filter moisture out of the air.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: minendo
I am not really a car guy, but maybe the charcoal pellets were used to filter moisture out of the air.

But wouldn't those wear out relatively quickly?

 

[NutBucket]

Charcol Canister? What it does I cannot recall.

 

[Zenmervolt]

It is possible that the mechanic was talking about the activated charcoal canister, which is part of the evaporative emissions control system. The charcoal canister traps gasoline fumes and then vents those fumes into the intake tract during certain modes of engine operation. It's possible, I suppose, that little bits from the charcoal canister came loose and got sucked into the carb, but that seems to me as though it would be incredibly rare.

ZV

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
It is possible that the mechanic was talking about the activated charcoal canister, which is part of the evaporative emissions control system. The charcoal canister traps gasoline fumes and then vents those fumes into the intake tract during certain modes of engine operation. It's possible, I suppose, that little bits from the charcoal canister came loose and got sucked into the carb, but that seems to me as though it would be incredibly rare.

ZV

The way he said it, this was packed so full of pellets that it was plugged almost completely.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
It is possible that the mechanic was talking about the activated charcoal canister, which is part of the evaporative emissions control system. The charcoal canister traps gasoline fumes and then vents those fumes into the intake tract during certain modes of engine operation. It's possible, I suppose, that little bits from the charcoal canister came loose and got sucked into the carb, but that seems to me as though it would be incredibly rare.

ZV

The way he said it, this was packed so full of pellets that it was plugged almost completely.

Well, the charcoal canister is the only thing on the car that would have charcoal in it. I can't say that I have ever heard of this happening before. On the other hand, unless you went driving through backyards during cookouts, there's nowhere else from which the charcoal could have come.

ZV

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
It is possible that the mechanic was talking about the activated charcoal canister, which is part of the evaporative emissions control system. The charcoal canister traps gasoline fumes and then vents those fumes into the intake tract during certain modes of engine operation. It's possible, I suppose, that little bits from the charcoal canister came loose and got sucked into the carb, but that seems to me as though it would be incredibly rare.

ZV

The way he said it, this was packed so full of pellets that it was plugged almost completely.

Well, the charcoal canister is the only thing on the car that would have charcoal in it. I can't say that I have ever heard of this happening before. On the other hand, unless you went driving through backyards during cookouts, there's nowhere else from which the charcoal could have come.

ZV

Well, on a 22 year old car weird things happen... As long as the charcol canister is before the carb (and from your description it would have to be I guess) I guess it could end up in there.

 

[Bignate603]

Oh, one more question, would that junk getting sucked into the carb damage it in any way?

 

[Quixfire]

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
It is possible that the mechanic was talking about the activated charcoal canister, which is part of the evaporative emissions control system. The charcoal canister traps gasoline fumes and then vents those fumes into the intake tract during certain modes of engine operation. It's possible, I suppose, that little bits from the charcoal canister came loose and got sucked into the carb, but that seems to me as though it would be incredibly rare.

ZV

The way he said it, this was packed so full of pellets that it was plugged almost completely.

Well, the charcoal canister is the only thing on the car that would have charcoal in it. I can't say that I have ever heard of this happening before. On the other hand, unless you went driving through backyards during cookouts, there's nowhere else from which the charcoal could have come.

ZV

Well, on a 22 year old car weird things happen... As long as the charcol canister is before the carb (and from your description it would have to be I guess) I guess it could end up in there.

This was very common when these cars were in their prime. The way the pellets get into the carb is though the vent hose at the top of the fuel bowl. Your luck to find a mechanic that still remembers this problem.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

The charcoal cansiter is there to help control the evaporating gas fumes in your tank.

And it doesn't sound like anything that a good carburator rebuild can't fix. Or you can just get a nice performance carb

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
It is possible that the mechanic was talking about the activated charcoal canister, which is part of the evaporative emissions control system. The charcoal canister traps gasoline fumes and then vents those fumes into the intake tract during certain modes of engine operation. It's possible, I suppose, that little bits from the charcoal canister came loose and got sucked into the carb, but that seems to me as though it would be incredibly rare.

ZV

The way he said it, this was packed so full of pellets that it was plugged almost completely.

Well, the charcoal canister is the only thing on the car that would have charcoal in it. I can't say that I have ever heard of this happening before. On the other hand, unless you went driving through backyards during cookouts, there's nowhere else from which the charcoal could have come.

ZV

Well, on a 22 year old car weird things happen... As long as the charcol canister is before the carb (and from your description it would have to be I guess) I guess it could end up in there.

This was very common when these cars were in their prime. The way the pellets get into the carb is though the vent hose at the top of the fuel bowl. Your luck to find a mechanic that still remembers this problem.

This guy has been fixing cars since the late 50's, a 1981 is a newer car to him...

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
The charcoal cansiter is there to help control the evaporating gas fumes in your tank.

And it doesn't sound like anything that a good carburator rebuild can't fix. Or you can just get a nice performance carb [/

There are performance carbs for a 4.1 V6 buick engine? Probably not worth it on that car though.

 

[BooGiMaN]

thats your bro secret hiding place for his stash man!!

now he is going to be pissed

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Bignate603
Oh, one more question, would that junk getting sucked into the carb damage it in any way?

It isn't going to damage the carburetor beyond anything that a rebuild couldn't fix.. however,

I would be slightly worried about your engine internals. Even though charcoal seems soft, it would still wreak havoc inside your engine.

I recommend changing your oil.. I bet it'll be blacker than normal- like charcoal.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Bignate603
Oh, one more question, would that junk getting sucked into the carb damage it in any way?

It isn't going to damage the carburetor beyond anything that a rebuild couldn't fix.. however,

I would be slightly worried about your engine internals. Even though charcoal seems soft, it would still wreak havoc inside your engine.

I recommend changing your oil.. I bet it'll be blacker than normal- like charcoal.

I'll tell my little bro to, he's driving it currently.

 

[Bignate603]

Uopdate: They gave up on cleaning the carb and just pulled another one from another car to replace it... But the car is back on the road.