Morris Minor Owners Club

i left for college today and got as far as the top of the road, I was hearing an odd noise on the way there but ignored it, then is spluttered and stopped. after coasting in reverse and parking it I had a look and it was the fuel pump, so i took i removed the cap and gave the bit inside a wiggle, this replenished the empty see through fuel thing and off i went, this happened at the weekend also so i was a bit worried but no more odd noise.
However this afternoon upon that worrying odd noise under the back seats had once again returned so to avoid looking a fool i just stopped there and repeted the above process, however this did not refill the fuel thing, after much fiddling the fuel was full again but the odd noise was still there, I drove home slowly slowly and just about made it. I looked once i got home and again it was again nearly empty.
why is this happening, and how can i sort it as i cannot carry on driving like this for much longer!

thanks

You have an odd noise from under the rear seats and the car stalls That's odd.
However The stalling and fuel pump are often related. The normal way to restart the pump is to lightly whack it with something like a screwdiver handle (try and avoid the black plastic cap so as not to break it!)

If the petrol pump is not ticking when you stall, but goes on a rapid run when it starts again then it is likely to be the problem. The 'clear plastic thing' is likely to be an inline fuel filter, and don't panick if it is empty as long as the pump is ticking every so often.

The SU petrol pump is good and pretty durable but eventually (after 30 or 40 years!) the points get rather burnt away. A new set of points is approx £10 and will take 10 to 30 minutes to fit depending on decent screwdrivers and ability (time estimate was with the pump off - it's much more fiddly to do it on the car!and I wouldn't recommend it due to the small parts that you might lose).
I fitted new points to a spare pump last week and it was all very straight forward except having to bend the points 'stop' to give the correct (guessed) amount of clearance.

Idral,
what type of Minor are you driving? The fuel pump is (usually) bolted onto the engine bulkhead just beside the battery box.
The contacts in the SU electrical fuel pump do need to be either cleaned or replaced form time to time. This is likely to be your problem. There have been previous posts, so have a search.

The "odd worring noise" from undere the rear seat is worrying. In a standard minor, there's nothing under there that should make a noise (ok, exhaust, rear axle, - but nothing related to the fuel supply).

What's the "empty see through thing"? If it's the fuel pipe, I'd suggest replacing it fairly quickly - clear = PVC or polythene. Not a good idea with the exhaust manifold so close.

Have a look for a Haynes Manual for your car - they are quite good for this sort of problem, the pictures are really useful (especially when you're trying to match up the description to the car!).

Colin

driving a 57, but its a bit of a mish mash of parts.
the pump is mext to the battery, to the right, looking from the front.
im on page 73 of hanes and i have the SU type pump.
see through bit is the fuel filter i believe.
the pump does not tick well, only when ignition is turned on and not well then, i have waited but no further ticking ocures.
what are the points and how can i clean them?
the odd sound was asif it was not a banging sound, poss fuel pipe, but no idea really.

the pump does not tick well, only when ignition is turned on and not well then, i have waited but no further ticking ocures.

If the car is not runninhg the pump will not continue to pump when the carb is full, and the ticking should be steady when running but should not tick constantly only as and when fuel is used, as the others have said it sounds like the points.
Your under rear seat sound does not sound like its connected with the fuel problem but it might be one of the propshaft UJ joints stating to go. Have you looked underneath to check its not something caught up like a twig or something ?

how do i fix the points then? worth a try myself? where can i buy them? could i just clean them up or are new ones necessary?

thanks

could i just clean them up or are new ones necessary?

that depends on how pitted burnt the old ones are, if they dont look to bad you can try cleaning them, if you need new ones I would think most of the speciaists would sell them if not you can get them direct from the main suppliers Burlen
http://www.burlen.co.uk/

You could replace the whole fuel pump... but that could be a bit OTT, and it's certainly more expensive.

I replaced the whole unit on Phyllis, and Dad bought the pump, bless 'im, because he was sick of me calling on the DIRS (Dad's International Rescue Service)!

If you do end up buying another pump make sure its a genuine SU and not one of the aftermarket electronic ones made as they seem to be short lived and quite a few people have had problems with them.

after a good look i think i have solved the odd sound mystery. the exhaust has impressivly sheared off of both mounts holding it onto the body so it was just resting on the real axel, not good news, but i bodged it by resecuring it with some tough wire. any ideas where i can get the bolts to properly fix it, im not liking the red wire look!
after a gentle tap and a quick prayer i turned on the ignition on and heard the well missed sound of the fuel pump working by itself. will be driving it tomorrow so will know for sure if the problem has been resolved or just waiting to reapear.

Thanks for all your help

PS, is it ilegal to drive with a broken mile counter?

Any of the specialists can supply new straps and bolts try East Sussex or Bull Motif for quick mail order.

will be driving it tomorrow so will know for sure if the problem has been resolved or just waiting to reapear.

They can be erratic but a good tap can keep them going for quite a while.
As for your odeometer I expect so but who can tell if its not working, unless is does zero miles between MOT`s

I'm fairly certain (disclaimer coming!) that you must have a working & accurate (see the contruction & use regs) speedometer . However, it's not necessary to count the miles

Colin

the exhaust has impressivly sheared off of both mounts holding it onto the body

You may also now need a new handbrake cable as the cable is likely to have been on the exhaust and melted. The handbrake may be fine for a while but they 'should' pick up the burnt sheathing at the MOT and the damage is more likely to let water in causing a failed handbrake due to a sticky cable.

As for the pump points - I would bet money that you'll be stalled again within a month as once they start to play up regularly it is often a sign off past the sell by date. if they just play up once or twice a year you might get a fair bit more life out of them. Clean them up with some fine emery but if they are very burnt then they will not be making a good contact.
One car I had just got back on the road went like that before I'd even had chance to see what the points were like (I check them about once a year during servicing). Within a week of the first problem it would not work at all! I had to tap the pump and it drove 200 metres, same again, 200 metres and so on for 5 miles until the battery eventually died due to all the extra cranking

Idral wrote: PS, is it ilegal to drive with a broken mile counter?

No, it's not.

[/quote]
and it drove 200 metres, same again, 200 metres and so on for 5 miles [/quote]

This reminded me of an occasion when somebody asked if they could borrow a 12 inch metric steel rule.

a 12 inch metric steel rule

It amused me too Kevin. Fortunately I realised he meant a modern equivalent steel rule only calibrated in mm and cm but of a similar length to the older 12 inch rules.

It was just Ray's combination of metric and Imperial distances reminded me!

Still at least he called it a rule and not a ruler so he at least new what he needed.

he called it a rule and not a ruler

Well if you look in most dictionarys you ARE allowed to call it either name....
The fitters at my last place used to say 'no - ot seen the queen today' if anyone asked for a ruler. I used to tell them that if they wanted 'a rule', they should change their name to Windsor and be a bit more German...

a 12 inch metric steel rule

not seen many of those but I do have a 12" plastic ruler that's metric ;-)Unfortunately it's got those silly CM units on it used by children and teachers.
Fortunately I've never had to use those wierd 'yard' things but I do know what 1600 metres is called on our little island....