Lets break it down Barney style......

3 steps for a running engine....1) gas 2) air 3)spark.........

You say its not even cranking? That gives us 1) dead battery 2) faulty starter/starter components 3) faulty ignition circutry

With the battery charged, assuming she cranks but doesnt fire......1) gas.....2) spark
Check spark....( I bet 20 bucks you got spark)
Got spark....
check gas.......

Let us know........

(you could have run the pump dry, sucked a bunch of crad in the in tank filter, clogged your in line or carb filter.....etc....)

 

I've heard more than one person suggest this type of thing in the past. I only have one question. Since the strainer "sock" is always suckingthe gas off the bottom of the tank, what "crud"magically appears in an empty tank that wasn't there with a full tank?

 

If there is sediment in the tank its kinda diluted whith all the fuel. When it gets low the ratio of sediment to fuel goes higher and there could be a possibilty it will concentrat and clog the filter sock.
I guess. [&:]

 

But...but...but, it still can't be, Martha! If the sediment is in suspension it would either: a) get sucked through the strainer sock (if it's small enough), or: 2) just stay in the tank and sink to the bottom again as the car rests. Regardless of the amount of gas in the tank, either the sediment makes it through the strainer sock, or it doesn't...I don't guess!!!

 

Have yue ever seen the inside of an old gas tank? Theres all sorts of prehistoric stuff in there. However, you theory make ssense.

Either way, Im betting he just killed the battery......

 

Ok Camaro69. Acording to you nothing is possible.I am not sure if the idea I wrote worked nor am I sure if your therory fits either. But, it has been said many times before for milllions of years that it could happen so maybe some people have expirienced it. [8D]

 

Now, that's an exaggeration a billion times over!!!
Camaro's haven't been around for millions of years.

 

Ohh I meant all auto's since the invetion of that filter sock. So a more corret estimate would be hundreds of thousands of years

 

a couple things i would try would be to first check the battery. if the battery has juice but the starter isnt turning it may be the starter. (dry cranking the starter for more than 15 secs or so is bad for it... it gets hot. you should allow like 30 secs between tries to prevent prematurely killing your starter). if the bat has juice, the starter turns over, but still you dont get fire... you may have a clogged sock in the tank, clogged fuel filter, or an air bubble in the fuel pump/filter. if you get an air bubble it could lose it's prime and no longer suck fuel. if that happened i would try pouring some gas down the air cleaner bolt (basically the center of the carb) and hitting it w/ a quick spray of starter fluid/1 tbsp of acetone in the carb. IMPORTANT!!! DO NOT USE MORE THAN A FEW SPRAYS OF STARTER FLUID OR A TBSP OF ACETONE! using too much could make it backfire and blow fire out the carb... which is somthing the mechanics tend to frown on... if u manually put the gas in the carb it might give it enough run time to suck the air bubble out and reprime the system.