Fuel path

I have a '48 Dodge with a flathead 6 in it. I have had some issues with it. I have worked it and have fuel all the way to the manifold... but still no fuel in the cylinders. Vapor lock?

Do you mean you have fuel to the carb? Don't understand fuel to the manifold.
Paul

Likely, stuck valves.

sorry..
I had some fuel to the carb issues which I resolved. So now when I push the throttle lever fuel shoots into the carb body. The engine ran last week. The fuel bowl needle valve was junk. Anyway, now the carb fuel bowl has fuel, it is jetting into the air horn and down into the intake manifold. It won't fire and there is no gas residue (wetness) on the spark plugs. So if fuel is going down through the carburator why isn't it getting to the cylinders?

Sheared fiber cam gear?

Or, try new spark plugs. They MAY have residue on them from being flooded, and are shorting out the spark.

Or, if you can do it SAFELY with a trusted helper, try pull-starting it.

At this point I would be happy with fouled plugs. At least then I would know it is a mixture or spark problem... The fuel goes through the carb and into the intake but why isn't it getting the plugs wet?

If excess gas has "washed down the cylinder walls", compression will be low, and the plugs MAY not get as wet with gasoline as you would expect PLUS it will crank slowly due to the added friction of the pistons in the "dry" cylinders.

Sometimes, it works to add a small amount of engine oil to each cylinder through the sparkplug holes, to bring up the compression. Or, changing the sparkplugs or pull starting it MAY get it going. (By pulling it, it will crank faster, as well as have a hotter spark, since the starter is not dragging down the battery voltage.)

BTW, have you checked the compression?

Post back and let us know what gets it going!

I'm not sure how you pull start a motor. It is a 236 ci motor. It cranks ok. I hook it up 2 my truck so even though it is a 6 volt system it is still turning fast and getting the spark.
The thing that I don't understand is that it used to start when fuel was poured into the fuel bowl (via the overflow tube). So maybe the squirt of straight fuel going into the air horn is wrong? Maybe it should be more of a fogging?
I am getting closer and I know when it fires and runs I am going to be thrilled/know I can go on... but it is very aggravating for it to work then not work. She was running but didnt have fuel from the bowl because the fuel line/pump/needle valve wasn't working. So I fixed that and now it doesn't want to play..... grrrrrr

Pull out the plugs.
put a tablespoon of gas in each hole.
Put the plugs in each as gas is put in.
Start it.
If no start, do a compression check.
Over 100 on most, it should run.
Check the timing is OK, then the plugs are fouled.
(I assume it has spark) JimN

When you say you have spark to the plugs are you refering the wires? or have you pulled the plugs and checked spark at the electrode? It should start with a squirt of gas down the carb if only momentarily so I wouldnt worry about it atomizing at the top of the carb.
While its unlikely that enough valves would stick in a week to keep it from starting you would still get backfiring out the carb or exhaust if they did. If this is the case all you need to do is pull the tappet covers and see which valves arent moving and pop em down with a small prybar in the spring. Dont pull the head.
Lastly, I recall as a kid struggling with an old V-4 wisconsin, choking the hell out of it and getting a very wet drippy hand and nary a pop. After an hour or so my brother came over to help and dicovered that it had no gas, it was all WATER!...lol Im sure you know how to tell the difference but I was only bout 11 at the time.
good luck and keep us posted....OCG

P.S. Not vapor lock, have to have it running and fuel lines hot for that...OCG

Hold your hand over the throat of the carburetor and see if there's good suction on your hand while someone try's to start the engine. May have weak manifold vacuum. Hal

I once had a '48 Dodge farm truck. Those old gals can be cantankerous. It didn't have a hoist under the box, so when I dumped at the elevator, they had to use the elevator's hoist and raise the front end. Naturally, that flooded the engine and it wouldn't start.

There was a downgrade going out of the elevator, so the guys just got used to it. After I'd dumped, several would push it out the door and when I'd hit the down grade I'd put it in gear and pop the clutch.

There were several others at the time they had to do the same with. I finally got a special solenoid from J.C. Whitney where you ran two 6 volt batteries. When you hit the starter button, the solenoid would switch both batteries to series and hit the starter with 12 volts. When you released the starter button, it switched the batteries back to parallel and ran on 6 volts. That solved the problem.

I read through all the posts and have a couple of questions: How long has it been since this engine has run?; and while you are turning it over, do you have spark at the spark plug? If it hasn't run for many years, you probably want to check things as follows.

To run, an engine needs compression, the right amount of fuel/air mix, and ignition at the right time. I have seen engines run with remarkably low compression, lousy mixtures and poor spark, but you have to have some of all three.

The old Chrysler flatheads didn't have very good fuel pumps. If the vehicle has not been run for a long time, there may be a lot of crud in the gas tank and line. The rubber line between the steel gas line and the pump could have gone bad and be plugged or sucking air. Or the fuel pump could be bad. I would disconnect the fuel line from the carb and crank the engine over after first removing the coil wire from the coil. If it doesn't pump anything, the above problems may have occurred, or very unlikely, the camshaft is not turning for some reason. And you did put a couple of gallons of new gas in the tank before you ever tried to get it to start, I hope?

If you do not have spark at the spark plug, I would suggest checking for spark with the coil wire: hold the end of the coil wire that fits in the distributor near the block and have someone try to start the engine. If it doesn't spark brightly, you either have no power to the coil or a problem with the points. If there is no power to the coil when the ignition switch is on, you need to find out why. If there is power to the coil, then opening and closing the points with a screwdriver should produce sparks from the coil wire. If it doesn't, try shorting out the points, so contact is made that way. If that doesn't work, I would suspect the coil and/or condenser. If the distributor shaft is not turning when the engine is cranking, there is a problem with the distributor gear or else the camshaft is not turning.

I think I would do a quick compression test, which is especially easy on the flathead 6. If the engine has been sitting for a long time, the cylinder walls may be dry. This should show up by having low compression readings, like 50 lbs or so. Or the rings may be stuck in the piston grooves. I would try putting about a teaspoon of oil down every spark plug hole, and then retesting each cylinder with the compression tester. The readings should improve a bunch. If you have cylinders with 0 or almost no compression, the valves are probably stuck open. If so, you will probably need to remove the cylinder head to get them loose. I think I would try some penetrating oil first, spraying it liberally on the valve heads with a tube through the spark plug holes. You might get lucky!

If an engine would turn over, I have usually been able to get them to run. Sometimes it has required pulling the rig with another vehicle. Warning: make sure that the brakes work before you try that. And if your Dodge happens to have fluid drive, you have to go pretty fast for it to work--otherwise the fluid coupling will just slip rather than turning the engine.

I think if I had established that there was good spark and decent compression, I would probably see if the engine would start by pouring a little bit of gas (maybe a couple of tablespoons) down the carb throat, and then trying to start it. Close the choke and open the throttle. After a few cranks, it should start firing and might start running. Beware of a backfire! It is a good idea to have a fire extinguisher close by when doing this.

But any way you go, you need compression, fuel and spark for the engine to run. Good luck!