I have a King Cobra 454 with a Holley 760. It's well maintained but has been sitting a while. Went to fire it up the and it wouldn't spin. Pulled the #1 plug and gas came out (not a lot) when running the starter. Engine rotated fine after emptying that cylinder.

#3 had a bit of gas too in it. Pulled carb for a closer look/rebuild.

Can I stuck open float cause this?

Gas will definitely lock it up. Have seen it a few times with stuck open fuel injectors. Is yours an electric pump ? I cant imagine it happening with a mechanical pump but I suppose anything is possible.

X 2 : mech or electric pump ?

i’ve accelerator pumped till bowl has emptied and not hydrolocked But may have gotten lucky those 5-10-20 times. With a mechanical pump it would take a few revs on engine to refill empty bowl. An electric pump is close to instant and would keep spilling over into engine if left in. With mechanicsl it can only pump as engine is spinning.

Fyi: if you hydrolocked you prob have a bent rod from it. I ave several of those trophies.

Are you sure not water from leaking exhaust or etc ?

Me too and all I did was pull the plugs, turn the motor over with the starter (blowing gasoline all over the place)...reinstalled the plugs and viola.

Well...let's look at the facts.

• engine would not spin
• pulled plug(s)
• engine spins
• fuel came out of open cylinder when turning with starter

I would say 'objective evidence' says, yes...but I too am anxiously waiting to hear about mechanical or electric pump, though I am 99% sure it's electric.

Electric!

A specific set of events would need to take place to have the carb flood the intake manifold AND have enough fuel make it into a cylinder that HAPPENED to have an intake valve open..but it CAN happen. And as we know from our physics classes...liquids don't compress...
So...does it start and run okay?

Continuing for Techman who started the thread for me. I went to start the 454BBC. Gas was drained at end of season. Put 5 gallons of fresh gas in the tank. Fresh battery. Put the water to the outdrive. Crank for 5 seconds. Stopped pumped the throttle, cranked 5 seconds and got a brief start. Pumped the throttle a little more, cranked and gradually started cranking slower. Repeated above process, and cranking got slower, little the battery was giving up. Strong smell of fuel. Starter stopped cranking, motor locked. Pulled all plugs. Cranked with no plugs, some amount of excess fuel sprayed out of #1 and #3. But certainly not 1 liter of fuel (no water detected in the engine) let it dry overnight. Pulled the Holley for rebuild. Next day reinstalled plugs and wires, tried cranking and it seems to crank normal. Will reinstall Holley when rebuilt. Appreciate any feedback, but seems like no major internal damage, but I know the fuel we get these days can cause fuel system issues. I have switched to VP racing fuel on my dirt bikes for above reasons. But not feasible in my 55 gallon tank!

I would do a compression test to make sure you didn't bend any rods.

Bad battery and flooded.