spamanon

Update: Pouring a spoonful of gas got it started, and it stayed started. I noticed that it is pushing out quite a bit of black smoke. The front bumper on the car parked behind the Subaru turned black with soot. This makes me think I was right about that guy adjusting the wrong screw. And this would explain why the plugs were so overcarbonated. Now to figure out how to undo what he did. (And keep looking for the fuel filter.) <Luckily, I found this in the trunk so that may help Click to See Image> The car was my wife's grandmother's - she bought it new off the lot in ~1982 - and apparently she bought that book somewhere along the way. Thanks again to everyone.

Thanks! I will do that and report back. I appreciate your patience with me!

So that butterfly valve in the picture I shared is called choke valve? I do not think this car has a manual choke, at least I have not ever seen one. I understand the point of the test, I just don't want to put gasoline down the wrong side of the carb. The two sides look totally different and so I am not sure what will happen with gasoline down the wrong side, if anything. I made it simpler: Here is a picture looking down the carb throat. <Click To See Picture> Do I put gas in the side with the red rectangle or the side with the blue oval? Thanks!

Alright, just to make sure, which side am I supposed to put a thimble full of fuel in? The left side with the valve or the other side? Here a picture. Left side or right side? Thanks

Ok, I can see I need to do a complete update and restatement of some of the facts of the case. I appreciate everyone's help so far! No, the gasoline is not 5 years old. As I said, the car sat for 5 years and then, after that, the car ran for 5 months of almost daily use before the day it wouldn't start. Thus, the gasoline is no more than a week old. I do have tools (I mentioned my timing light) and I also have a compression check gauge and a 500 piece wrench/socket set. I was simply asking how it could be than the engine suddenly, overnight, lost compression enough that it won't start (or even catch!) when it had no symptoms such as loss of power and it ran nearly daily just fine for months before that. I also wonder about the need to check to coil when I visually verified a bright spark on each of the new plugs before seating them into the engine. If the coil were bad, wouldn't that mean no spark? When I said that I tried to start it with the "gas filter cover" off, I meant the "air filter cover" was off, and thus it should be getting air (because of my job I tend to frequently refer to either gases like air, or liquids, not remembering that "gas" is also short for gasoline in some contexts). I will head out to check the compression next. Again, I do appreciate the time people have taken to try to help me.

Right. At this point I am wondering if it is more worthwhile to just sell it, rather than spend months trying to get it going. The body is in decent shape, and as I said it only has ~60k original miles. Is there much of a collectors market for these cars? I looked up the value but there is apparently a difference between the hatchback and the wagon. My car looks just like this one, same color and everything. Is this considered a wagon or a hatchback? Thanks.

No, I never found any fuel filter. Why do you say it is no longer a no start thread? It hasn't started since this thread began. It hasn't even caught one little puff of starting.

Ok, so I checked spark and that is good. I also tried to start it without the gas filter cover on, so I think it is getting air. The carb cleaner should have functioned as a fuel, according to others who replied, at least to catch a few times. This model has push rods, so there is no timing belt. Why would the compression suddenly be way off? I mean, it ran daily for 5 months with no problem and suddenly wouldn't start.

O.k., update: I changed the plugs and all of them are visually confirmed to spark. Still no start or even sputter when spraying the carb cleaner down the carburetor for a few seconds before trying. Next steps?

Ok so cleaning the plugs is not enough?

Burning oil? Could it be running rich? I ask because, as I mentioned in the first post, this car sat idle for 5 years before I got it running again. Initially, it kept dying at idle and so I took it to the autoparts store to get a Haynes Manual for it and the dude behind the counter got to talking with me about the car and what it was doing. He suggested he could come out and turn up the idle for me, which seemed to work - it stopped dying at idle. I am now wondering if the dude actually adjusted the fuel air mixture and it took a while to impact the plugs from carbon buildup. The screw he turned can be seen in the from side view of the carburetor video I posted earlier, at the lower left of the screen.

What would cause all that buildup?

Ok, so update time. I checked, and there is a DL on the back of the car, so it is a DL I sprayed Valvoline carb and throttle cleaner in there and still not catching, at all - nothing but cranking. I took out 2 of the plugs and they look like this. Obviously there is some nasty stuff going on there. I checked to see if the plugs were sparking by setting them on the block, connected to the spark cable and turning the engine over. I saw no clear spark. I filmed the engine compartment and it looks like this. If you spot a fuel filter, please let me know. I forgot to add that after I did the spark plug test, when I picked up the plug that was tested and still connected to the cable it shocked me. Not sure if this is relevant. Thanks

Points seem to be fine. No gunk or debris. Things look kinda shiny.

Ok, I looked under the car and traced the fuel lines - still no fuel filter. I am guessing this car has none at this point. I found the view port on the carb. The car is on a slope away from the window but if I rock the vehicle my wife says she sees fluid sloshing in there. Here is a video looking down the carb while the wife pumps the accelerator. Nothing seems to happen. I.e., I see no fuel squirting anywhere. Here is a video of the side view of the carb. I see fuel leaking out. A clue to why it won't start?? Thanks!