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Dead fuel pump

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LYLE

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Hi - was heading out to the namgbr meet in Grapevine, tx this morning and my B died in the street a short distance from my house. I determined that the fuel pump wasn't pumping. Fuel filter is clear, no blown fuses I could find. The fuel pump was quite warm, almost hot to the touch. The car had only run for a couple of minutes. Has anyone had a similar occurence? This pump only had 600 mi. on it. It was one of the solid state ones.

Thanks for any help

Lyle
 
I don't have any experience with the solid-state units, but they are supposed to be much more reliable than the older ones. Problem is, if the unit is bad then you can't fix it, but if it was working fine immediately before, then it's unlikely that the pump itself is at fault. From what you said about the heat from the pump, I might try looking at the connections first, just in case. You may find a loose connection, but if not, check the wire-to-connector union. That may be of poor quality. Good luck, let us know how you get on.
 
I think you are right Steve. My neighbor who had helped me get it back in the garage came back over and said he wanted to check if the line was blocked. We went back out and disconnected the fuel line from the filter and turned on the ignition. The pump went to ticking and stopped as if it had pressurized. Very little fuel came out. My next plan is to go get my air tank filled and come back and see if there is a blockage in the line. Thanks for you help!!
lyle
 
Steve - here's an update. I blew out the line and also replaced the rubber sections of the line with new hose. It fired up and ran great this afternoon going to the meet. When I started to return home, It took a couple of minutes to start it up and had to choke it for an extended period of time. Then when I got onto the freeway, it wanted to run only 50-55 mph until i pulled the choke out - then it accelerated normally. I drove it this way for about 3-4 miles before closing the choke and then it ran the remaining 25 miles flawlessly. I know i had a plug in the hose and i think it was the interior surface was delaminated and closing off the opening. But i'm also wondering if perhaps i got some fuel with some water in it as well. We had 6 straight days of heavy rain in this area this past week, ending just 2 days ago. I filled up after the rain, so perhaps some rain had seeped into the service station's bulk tanks. Can you think of anything else I might be missing??

thanks

lyle
 
Lyle, you sure know how to deliver a curveball don't you? Fuel pump seems to be okay at least, which is good, those babies aren't cheap.

It would seem that the carburettor(s) may have been having problems, maybe some debris from the line? Cars here in Wisconsin occasionally have trouble with the terrible reformulated gas. After a while it goes off, and gums up the jets. You have to run it with the choke out to get it to run at all. Whatever it was, it seems to have cleared itself, so you may be okay. Had you been using the car regularly up until today, or was it sitting idle for a while? It doesn't seem as it you have water in the fuel, as it would not have run right at all. Let us know how it runs from now on, but I think that you may have cured the problem.
 
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