Holley 4160 Wet plates Hard Starting

jams · #1 (**permalink**) 06-02-2019, 05:41 PM

Having trouble with my Holley 4160(16 years old) My secondary plates seem to be a little wet after shutdown then its hard to start- basically a flooded condition.

I have read a lot about the problem, it could be high fuel pressure, (not sure don't have a pressure gauge right now) could be the floats but they seem to be OK. Could be fuel boiling after shutdown but lines are well insulated and nothing has changed in the engine area.

Wondering if it would be easier to replace or find someone to rebuild- I don't want to tinker with it.

Any thoughts insight would be appreciated.

patrickt · #2 (**permalink**) 06-02-2019, 06:02 PM

Just lower your floats on the secondary side an eighth of an inch. Most of us can not set the float level on the secondary to the bottom of the sight hole without having gas perc out after a hot run.

Gaz64 · #3 (**permalink**) 06-02-2019, 08:51 PM

Put a mark on one flat of the adjuster nut.

Then wind down the secondaries by a few flats at a time until your condition is alleviated. Watch your full power performance doesn't suffer.

Gary

DanEC · #4 (**permalink**) 06-03-2019, 05:03 AM

You may not have room for one but if you have an extra 1/4 inch of air cleaner to hood clearance an insulating carb base gasket can help a lot in addition to the other changes.

jams · #5 (**permalink**) 06-03-2019, 06:03 AM

Lots of great suggestions to try. Appreciate the help!

patrickt · #6 (**permalink**) 06-03-2019, 06:14 AM

But you know, if you've had the car for 16 years, and never had this problem before, and you don't see brown leak stains around the intake manifold, carb floats don't just up and change themselves after that long. You may have just got a tankful of gas that percolates off easier. If you happen to remember trying a new gasoline, then go back to the old gas. Otherwise, a 30 second float adjustment should fix it.