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car will not stay running.

don71mg

Freshman Member
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hi everyone my name is Don and i'm a new mg owner. I'm having a bit of a problem and hoping someone can help. got the car home got it running. all tune up proceedures and running good. gone for a couple short rides and the she died. after waiting five minutes or so started back up. next day same issue only made it 10 miles before she died, again waited five and started. got her in my garage check fuel flow, good. This has happened several times, every time i'm checking something different. i have noticed that when dead everything underhood extremly hot(alternator, ignition coil, rear carburetor and fuel pump. i have cleaned all grounds and all connectors, also replaced fuel pump and coil. i can hear and feel fuel pump click and if i let the car idle till hot pump don't click and no fuel pumping and dies turn off and wait fires right back up and then dies again. If anyone knows or can help it would be much appreciated.
 
Don, Welcome! I learned while working at a shop that its best to diagnose the problem yourself and not to listen to the owner telling you whats wrong. You normally get pulled down the wrong path. Now doing a internet repair is much harder. All we have to go on is info fed to us. I would run the car till it dies. Then pull the top off of the float bowls. See if its really a fuel issue. Once the problem is determined then we can suggest things to look for. Reading your post i wonder if the fuel pump is under the hood and am puzzled by only the rear carb being hot. I am guessing its a 71 MGB? Let us know if there is fuel in the bowls when it dies. If the coil is wired wrong it could sputter and die and then restart after it cools a bit. On a negative ground car(71 MG) the negative terminal of the coil should have the white with black tracer attached which goes to the distributor. Keep us updated and someone here will get to the bottom of the problem. Also if your car has gross jets in the carbs sometimes tend to stick shut. You will notice fuel flow from the line but nothing is getting to the float bowls. Now you get to play detective! Have fun with it! Bob
 
One silly item to double check.

Make sure the battery terminals/wires are good and clean.

I had the exact same problem with a Spitfire recently (and I'd refreshed most every part involved). I was totally baffled until I went to take the battery in for testing and saw how corroded the connection between the cable and terminal was.
 
Fuel line vapor lock? I had that on my 72. Insulated the fuel line going behind the engine and the problem disappeared.
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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]i can hear and feel fuel pump click and <span style="font-weight: bold">if i let the car idle till hot pump don't click and no fuel pumping</span> and dies turn off and wait[/QUOTE]

The item in bold is key. Are you certain about this? The clicking will slow down significantly after initial startup but it should still click occasionally. As noted by Bob, your first step should be to pull the float bowl tops to see if it really is a fuel starvation problem. Also, if you have a see-thru fuel filter (very cheap if you don't have one) you should be able to see fuel pumping through there (or not).

I was also puzzled about your comment that "underhood" the rear carb and fuel pump are "extremely hot". The fuel pump should be located in front of the RR wheel, not underhood, and the rear carb should be protected from exhaust heat by the heat shield (big flat bit of metal between the manifold and carbs. Do you have a heat shield or has someone removed it? Take a look at some of the engine compartment pix on the forum to see if things are in order. Also, how do you judge "extremely hot"? It could be that things are just at normal operating temperature.
 
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