Excessive Gas Use

Had to have the car towed home tonight because it quit on me. Thought it was an electrical problem and didn't think at all it was a fuel problem until I decided to check how much gas was in the tank. It was empty which I don't understand b/c I filled it up completely last week and have only driven it twice for about 30 min each, as well as just cranking it a couple of different times in the garage cause I was ready for the rain to stop. I have a new gas tank, lines, electric pump, pressure regulator, and carb. No leaks that I can tell, not even the hint of gas in the garage where I keep the car in. I am baffled b/c I just can't understand where all the gas went to. Any and all help and suggestions would be great since I am starting to feel like I will never understand this motor.

Does the word SIPHON help at all ?

Depends on how you mean it; as in someone siphoning my gas it is impossible for it to of happened unless someone broke into my garage and carried it all away. Now if you mean that it was all I needed to do to get going again it doesn't take a rocket scientist but like I said, when I filled completely up and drove only 2 short trips, an empty tank was the last thing I was thinking of but thanks for the clue

check for leaks when its running,around motor, under car. though leaks usually show up when motor is off. running it will suck air through the lines. another possibility,smell your dip-stick for gas smell in the oil did oil level go up also. i dont think the pan would hold 10 - 12 gal of fuel.some of these fords have very slow filling tanks my 36 is like this. it will click off and the tank is only 1/2 full.mine has to be filled slowly. just some opinons ken ct.

Finally stopped being frustrated. I wish that was the case but I hand filled with gas cans. Sat and thought about it and came up with maybe some causing factors; I was sold a chandler94 rebuilt carb from Joe Smith Automotive and after more research I read that it wasn't the correct carb for a 48 59AB. Don't know any info about jet size or anything like that. Another thought was that the gas neck which fits in the filler grommet is about half in of what it could be, couldn't get it to go in any farther and it seemed sealed but I could be wrong. Gotta get sleep before class even though I will be thinking in my mind of nothing but the ford! Ken thanks for info; I see it as that even if it doesnt solve the problem, its still useful as in knowledge about these cars I could use in the future.

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Better check your OIL DIPSTICK before you do anything else! If you have pumped gas into your crankcase it has become a BOMB! BE CAREFUL!! My neighbor blew up a corvette engine that way. Blew the valve covers off it! oHIo Jim

ill take that CG carb off your hands if you want to swap it for a#59 ford carb which is correct for 59AB motor. though they are the same carb but with diff. # on them and it should work ok on that motor the CG i mean should work ok. ken ct.

1948SD....I once had the exact same problem with a pick-up truck. No evidence of a fuel leak anywhere. As I was checking around under the hood looking for a leak with the engine idling, I revved up the engine a little bit and then I saw the problem. A fitting on the fuel pump had a very slight split in it and with the engine running at anything ABOVE an idle, the fuel was spraying out of the fitting. It was such a fine mist that it evaporated immediately and never had a chance to make anything wet enough to show a leak. The slight increase in fuel pressure when driving was just enough to spray the fuel out and evaporate before wetting anything down to show where it was coming from. .....Jay

Good thing there wasn't an open ignition source nearby. That's an underhood fire waiting to happen.

How do your plugs look? If they are black, it is running too rich. What are you running for an air cleaner? If you are running a single carb with an old hot rod air cleaner with a filter made of paper you could be forcing the engine to run on almost raw gas. You can check that by removing the air filter and see the differencr in RPM. Good luck.

I do have a hot rod small chrome air filter with the paper element. As well as finding a used original style filter, can you reccomend any company that makes or sells a better air filter? Thanks

$2.25 + per gal makes a lot of nice folks want to share their neighbours gasoline.