Oh my goodness what a lot of bits there are in a fuel pump.

[sgray]

My task for this afternoon (having spent the morning on standing in the freezing by a football field watching my son's team shrug through another defeat) was to fit the new shiny points in to my fuel pump.

The instructions in the Haynes book of fun are a little jargony but I got it dismantled and re-mantled(?) without too much trouble - with varying degrees of success - in the end I did it 4 times, until finally I had it pumping quite well in to a jam jar.

But having mucked about with it, the gasket (between the body and the diaphragm assembly is torn. I put it back together as best I could but the pump now drips fuel whilst pumping.

So, if you don't mind, I have a few questions.

1) Firstly, I assumed it would be easy to buy a new gasket, but neither ESM or Bull Motif appear to list them - or is it called something else.

2) When I reassembled the pump, the pump body (held by 6 screws) can go on in any rotation. The Haynes said mark the original position (which I failed to do clearly enough), but I can't work out why the position is critical. Is it ?

3) When the little container (dont know what it's called?) fills up the pump turns off, right?, but if I'm pumping in to a jam jar, will it also switch off? ie: is the pump switched off by the back pressure of the petrol or a valve in that container?

thanks as ever
Simon

[simmitc]

What stops the pump pumping is the needle valve in the carburettor - when the float chamber is full, the valve closes, and the back-pressure stops the pump. Your jam jar will not create sufficient back-pressure, but a finger over the pipe will.

The chamber where the valves are located is called the pump body. The big black heavy part (which most people think is the body) is actually the coil housing.

Between the body and the coil should be both a gasket and a diaphragm (the rubber bit attached to the rod that connects to the points). You should also see a sandwich plate and another gasket.

All parts are available from Burlen Fuel Systems of Salisbury 01722 four one two five hundred. If it's just the gasket, then you can make a new one from gasket paper, cork or even cardboard (cornflakes packet), just use the old one as a template. Good luck.

[Sidney'61]

I dont think it really make a difference to the workings which way round the pump body is in relation to the coil housing but for fitting it in the car it makes it easiest if the screw for the earth (on the coil housing) is in line with the fuel-in nozzle so that it is facing forward and you can easily get a screwdriver to it.