• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

do improved-design fuel pump check valves exist?

Share this page

eschneider

eschneider

Jedi Warrior
Offline
On a TR4 engine:

replaced pump. Moss unit supplied with poorly cut fuel line connections. Got another. ditto.

got another aftermarket pump. pressure was 8 lbs.

rebuilt original pump with rebuilt kit. Ran great for 2 miles, check valve came apart.

check valves on these things are pretty cheesy. anyone know of a better/uprated valve for the AC style pumps? Like to find the oil seal that nobody seems to be able to supply, too......
 
Did the valve itself come apart, or did the entire valve just fall out of the body. The earlier pumps had a clamp to hold the valves in place, which could probably be retrofitted to the later 'staked' valve pumps.

Last I heard, TRF was supplying rebuild kits with the oil seal in them. I found an old brake seal in the junk bin that seemed to fit & work OK, but have no idea what it came from originally.
 
Re: do improved-design fuel pump check valves exis

Eric, have you tried NAPA for the pump or a kit? I've been surprised at their 'range' when it came to the old AC fuel pumps. Been a while but I was able to get a glass bowl replacement for one thru them for a client's car.
 
Re: do improved-design fuel pump check valves exis

Hey Doc-

A question:

Given how unreliable these mechanical fuel pumps seem
to be, are many folks installing electric pumps as backups?

After my recent nightmare with numerous failed mechanical
fuel pumps, I am not attempting to drive my car any real
distances until I have an electric pump installed as an
emergency backup. Switch over two shutoff valves and flip
a toggle switch and the electric pump takes over for the
failed mechanical pump.

Redundant? Yes of course. But I hate breaking down all the
time.

d /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wall.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wall.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wall.gif
 
Re: do improved-design fuel pump check valves exis

Dale,

Bad idea. Repeat again, bad idea.

These pumps are NOT that unreliable. I'm on my second pump in 56,000 miles and I replaced the original only because I was painting the engine.

You had contaminated fuel and that filled up a pump with sand. Was that the pumps fault? Even after that you were flushing crap out of the tank.
 
Re: do improved-design fuel pump check valves exis

DrEntropy said:
Eric, have you tried NAPA for the pump or a kit? I've been surprised at their 'range' when it came to the old AC fuel pumps.
Click to expand...

No, I haven't - and that's a fine idea. Last pump I got from NAPA was an Airtex unit - good stuff.

I'm leaning more and more towards rebuilding original parts when I can, though. Ironically it's getting harder to do as more companies are discontinuing components in favor of assemblies.

The aftermarket unit I got was from Advance or AutoZone. <insert scolding here> I'll try an airtex unit, and talk to some specialist rebuilders.
 
Re: do improved-design fuel pump check valves exis

I too have found the mechanical pumps to be fairly reliable and prefer them though I do carry an electric as a get-me-home spare. With a length of 5/16" hose on one end and 1/4" hose on the other, a spade connector for the hot side of the coil and an alligator clip for the ground it only takes a minute to hook it up.

I have never known a valve to fall apart so I would consider that an isolated incident. Have known them to fall out... might have been my fault. As Randall noted, some pumps have a little butterfly-shaped metal clamp that is held by a screw and secures the valves. I think that is a surer way of holding them in than peening or swaging or what have you.
 
Re: do improved-design fuel pump check valves exis

eschneider said:
the valve came apart.....
Click to expand...
That's strange. AFAIK, the valves in mine are the original 1959 valves (unless perhaps it's the 1956 pump that goes with the short block I was running); I've never changed them even though I've done the diaphragm numerous times. Maybe you got some defective replacements ? I hear there's a lot of that going around /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
Re: do improved-design fuel pump check valves exis

Eric said:
I'm leaning more and more towards rebuilding original parts when I can, though. Ironically it's getting harder to do as more companies are discontinuing components in favor of assemblies.
Click to expand...

Ain't that th' truth. The "dealership mentality" is beginning to affect the supply side of the industry: "REPLACE the unit! Can't make any money on rebuilding it." The other situation is that most shops/techs don't know HOW to disassemble/rebuild sub-assemblies, or the things are built to self-destruct if "opened up" once.

It's a CONSPIRACY, I tell ya'!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif
 
Back
Top