losing the will to live now! help

W

wayne champion

Member
ok so the issue is this, up till a few weeks ago car was running spot on started up and ran great, then one morning started her up got out the garage and lost power and died on me! established that the petcock seal had perished and was the cause of fuel loss, also at this point i did the usual checks spark checked out fine, and established that fuel was getting up to the filter but not pass it, so i've replaced the filter making sure i've got the flow going the right way, i've replaced the petcock seal leaving the cable disconnected as i just won't use the reserve, that's solved the leak however car still won't run, and i'm still not getting fuel pass the filter, so now i'm baffled could it be a pressure issue with fuel pump??? maybe diaphragm???? i'm pretty sure i have the petcock in the closed position but if this was open slightly could it cause the issues i'm having??? what sort of position should it be in i would say at the moment it's about 8 o'clock position . some one please help i don't need anymore grey hairs
 
Fully backwards on the tap is reserve, fully forwards is the main line, somewhere in between could block both lines, or one line may be blocked inside the tank. I'd put the reserve tap in the same position it was when the engine was running last. If you think the filter is the restriction, undo the line into it and crank the engine to see what flow you have. Normal safety measures apply.
 
Soon after rebuilding my mechanical pump it just stopped pumping, I could get it to work in my hand, but put it on the engine na da.
After no end of trouble with it and the lines due to a 34 lay up and tar contamination I gave up and fitted a Facet solid state pump at the rear with a pressure regulator set to just under 3 psi.
Car has run like clockwork since.
 
i've undone the filter and fuel is present upto the filter it's not spraying every where but it's there! if fuel filter is in place and i disconnect the top hose (filter to carb) there is nothing ! this is the same on both new and old filter , i've also blown air through the old filter and it's clear! to add the fuel tap position is in the same place it was when i disconnected the cable at approx 8 pm facing forward but pointing down slightly
 
Sounds like the pump is weak then. Sometimes the pivot pin on the pump works its way out and that could cause it, and you should be able to see that without removing the pump.
 
harveyp6 said:
Sounds like the pump is weak then. Sometimes the pivot pin on the pump works its way out and that could cause it, and you should be able to see that without removing the pump.
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i had the feeling it may be a pump issue is there any way of testing the pressure from the pump?
 
Only with a pressure guage. I lend to look at how high/far the petrol spurts and guage it from there, but over the years I've looked at loads. Just remember that petrol vapour is flammable when you're squirting it about.

If it doesn't fire at all now you could squirt some petrol down the carb throats and see if it kicks a bit when you crank it. That will at least prove it's fuel related.
 
sounds as though fuel pressure is insufficient to push it far enough up line. combination gravity? filter? I squirted fuel directly into air box .waited 2 mins for fuel to vapour a bit and cranked. instant start! proving i too had a fuel supply issue. in my case turned out be the main supply/reserve switch in inner wing. the cable was disconnected so nevere worked but vibration? had cause sit to slowly turn thus reducing fuel supply to virtually zilch.
hope fully yours can be as easily sorted . if we have weak fuel supply pump.. then refurbish /replace. I actually checked mine by removing line under fuel filter and cranking. then adding filter and cranking. then checking at carb inlet pipes!
 
TBH and I will stand to be corrected on this the reserve is the one pipe that you want to use. I only feed from the reserve. If you remove the sender you will see that the main tank feed is an open pipe approx 2.5" tall, the reserve however has a gauze filter on it and will draw all the fuel in the tank and it will be filtered by the gauze.
 
If you still have the original plastic lines fitted, I would not thinking about disconnecting the two lines goeing INTO the reserve tap. You need a hotair gun to disconnect but then the old lines are scrap. I have disconnected the (single) line goeing off the reserve tap and replaced what was plastic with up-to-date 8 mm rubber fuel piping, that´s easier.
Do not think, the tap is the problem, as soon as the lever is in one correct position and not between of them (which you can easily check). And if you operate the tap lever and it leaks, ok, you have to change the O-ring but then this would happen in the near future.
As Harvey said, when there is no fuel after the pump (before the carbs), it is the pump. So, it is now to decide if you stay with your mechancial pump (and order a service kit for it at Wins, MGBD etc). If not, order a blanking plate with gasket and a electric low pressure pump. I have gone this way, used a puller pump in the motorbay with a special cut off relay. It is more work. If you want to have a quick solution, take off your mechanical pump and overhaul it, it is simple.
I would not mess around with the old pipes between tank and reserve tap (or make them new, but all...)
 
cobraboy said:
If you remove the sender you will see that the main tank feed is an open pipe approx 2.5" tall, the reserve however has a gauze filter on it and will draw all the fuel in the tank and it will be filtered by the gauze.
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Trouble is that the gauze can get blocked and cut the supply, the mainline lets it all go and it just gets trapped in the filter, and there's less debris anyway because the pickup isn't right at the bottom of the tank.
 
Fair point.
I guess I'll see how it goes. I got so hacked off with crud in the line I decided to filter it at source, hopefully the sloshing around will self clean the gauze. I have chemically cleaned the tank so I stand a fighting chance.
My fuel delivery woes nearly had me reaching for the Swan Vesta's, and I am only just out of therapy.
 
My 2 cents, its probably easier and quicker not to mention cheaper to just refurbish the old mechanical pump or if it is shot in terms of cracked or warped castings (apparently that's a thing) get a good second hand one, far less faffing about with installing an electric.

I removed my mechanical pump from my P6B many years ago and fitted an electric puller pump under the bonnet as I was having fuel vaporisation issues, my findings were that the pump was mechanically noisy but it worked OK for about 3 years then it failed so I put the mechanical one back in ....oh the relief :D no more vibration and noise.

A few years later the mechanical ones diaphragm gave out, once I had a new diaphragm in hand it was only a an hour and a half to remove refurbish and refit and it was back to happy Rovermotoring again :cool: (no vaporisation issue either)

Graeme
 
....and if I might be permitted to spend 2 more cents, keep everything original regarding the Reserve Tap system and just renew the O-Ring also clean the crud out of the tank by removing it and doing the whole tank flush thing, there's a bunch of handy ways if you google it for removing rust scale and other crud or even look on this forum you will probably find a few people who have done this and documented it, well worth it in the end and you will save a life time of misery and doubt which I assure you will make you loose the will to live or worse yet make you buy a Modern reliable Japanese car.

God it's been an expensive day....4 cents already :(
 
ghce said:
....and if I might be permitted to spend 2 more cents, keep everything original regarding the Reserve Tap system and just renew the O-Ring also clean the crud out of the tank by removing it and doing the whole tank flush thing, there's a bunch of handy ways if you google it for removing rust scale and other crud or even look on this forum you will probably find a few people who have done this and documented it, well worth it in the end and you will save a life time of misery and doubt which I assure you will make you loose the will to live or worse yet make you buy a Modern reliable Japanese car.

God it's been an expensive day....4 cents already :(
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You'll be digging into your pension soon G.at that rate .
 
If needed I have a very clean v8 tank and sender for sale, plus an electric pusher pump. I also have original plastic fuel lines
Jim
 
thanks for the replies just an update. good news is we now have the car running, i sprayed fuel into the line from top of the filter to the carb and after a min she fired up and i was getting fuel through top of the filter so we filled the filter up with fuel primed the top fuel line again and she fired up. so the fuel pump seems good, and to be fair it looks fairly new! so she is running how ever she would not idle properly was cutting out and ticking over slowly so i adjusted the idle speed took it for a run thinking crap had got drawn in to the carbs and it would clear it all out a bit, at low speeds car ran fine as soon as i went to open it up on faster road it bogged out, so gave it a foot fall of revved and it's cleared a bit, car was now ticking over but the revs were up and down so played around a bit more with idle screws and it's better but still a bit un even, so the verdict is i recon the seal leaking had perhaps drawen air in and i had developed an air lock in the fuel lines, and possible dragged a load of shit through at the same time, don't really want to take the carbs of and clean them unless i really have to, so anyone got any idea what i can do ?
 
Hi, I am new to the forum and have a sc 2000 which I got about 2 weeks ago. I had quite a similar experience to yours and because my car had little use recently checked all the same things as you.
In my case it was not petrol related at all, but a failing condenser which eventually packed in completely, but the lead up symptoms seemed like petrol problems.
I could be way off the mark and if you have electronic ignition, just ignore me !!!
Bob
 
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