Road side tip.
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 10:46 pm
A strange thing happened to me today.
I've been trying to sort out an issue I've been having with the fuel system on my Saloon. I can be driving along and suddenly the car will start to jump, lack of fuel symptom. There is no pattern to it so I decided to change the components one by one. So with the carburettor and fuel pump changed I go for a drive.
About two miles out she starts to jump again so I turn for home. This time things get progressively worse but with a new symptom, the fuel pump is ticking like mad. After some initial tests and a little taste of fuel I figure out the issue is in the main feed pipe, something has got stuck in it and is stopping fuel getting through. So I disconnect the main feed and try and suck the fuel up, no luck, so I try and blow it out, something usually done with an air line as things get wedged in the pipe, still no joy. I'm 2 miles down a country road with no air line how can you dislodge the blockage in the pipe..?????
Answer: using a length of pipe, the size used for bleeding brakes, slide it onto the main feed pipe, it's a tight fit so no clip is required. Then side the other end onto the outlet tube on the fuel pump and clamp it down using a jubilee clip. Then turn on the power and listen at the filler cap for bubbles. The pump generated enough push to clear the pipe and once I heard the bubbles I reconnected the pump as it should be and returned home.
The only way I found this was with the total stoppage the new pump generated. My guess would be that it's stronger than my old one and so pulled the blockage into the pipe where the other one would only pull it over the pipe's end allowing it to be moved when the car jumped or stopped.
Now all I need to do is the drain the tank and get rid of whatever is blocking it.
Thought that was a nice little bit of a Heath Robbinson fix that may help someone in the future. It's amazing what you can do at the roadside in a country lane. I love old cars, if this had happened in a modern thing it would have been time to call the AA.
I've been trying to sort out an issue I've been having with the fuel system on my Saloon. I can be driving along and suddenly the car will start to jump, lack of fuel symptom. There is no pattern to it so I decided to change the components one by one. So with the carburettor and fuel pump changed I go for a drive.
About two miles out she starts to jump again so I turn for home. This time things get progressively worse but with a new symptom, the fuel pump is ticking like mad. After some initial tests and a little taste of fuel I figure out the issue is in the main feed pipe, something has got stuck in it and is stopping fuel getting through. So I disconnect the main feed and try and suck the fuel up, no luck, so I try and blow it out, something usually done with an air line as things get wedged in the pipe, still no joy. I'm 2 miles down a country road with no air line how can you dislodge the blockage in the pipe..?????
Answer: using a length of pipe, the size used for bleeding brakes, slide it onto the main feed pipe, it's a tight fit so no clip is required. Then side the other end onto the outlet tube on the fuel pump and clamp it down using a jubilee clip. Then turn on the power and listen at the filler cap for bubbles. The pump generated enough push to clear the pipe and once I heard the bubbles I reconnected the pump as it should be and returned home.
The only way I found this was with the total stoppage the new pump generated. My guess would be that it's stronger than my old one and so pulled the blockage into the pipe where the other one would only pull it over the pipe's end allowing it to be moved when the car jumped or stopped.
Now all I need to do is the drain the tank and get rid of whatever is blocking it.
Thought that was a nice little bit of a Heath Robbinson fix that may help someone in the future. It's amazing what you can do at the roadside in a country lane. I love old cars, if this had happened in a modern thing it would have been time to call the AA.