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Fuel pump problem?

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steveHealey3000

steveHealey3000

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Almost made it to the car show today when my BJ8 quit on me. It acted just like it ran out of gas (caughed to a stop, then restarted a few more times until it eventually would go no further. At that point the fuel pump would click at a fast rate when the key was on). The tank is almost full, so I suspect the fuel pump. Any suggestions as to how to best diagnose the problem? I'd rather not replace the pump only to find out that wasn't it. Thanks in advance for any tips you can provide.
 
Well, there's a reason for a spare fuel pump being on all the lists of spares to carry.
 
Hi Steve,
It could be a couple different things. The pick-up in the tank could be clogged, there is a screen covering the pipe. After the car sits a while, it may start again when the debris falls off from lack of suction. Might be a leak in the fuel line before the pump that sucks air in. Then it could be a torn diaphragm in the pump. If there is an in line filter, that may be clogged.
 
If there is a filter between the tank and the fuel pump, a clogged filter could be the problem. The fuel pump would likely run on. However, if the filter is between the fuel pump and SU carbs, a clogged fuel filter would probably not have the fuel pump continue to run on as it would have suffient back pressure to shut it off.
 
I used to have a similar problem with the original fuel tank. I would resort to disconnecting the pipe to the pump, blow through it, and then reconnect everything. It could be months before the car would stop again...

I'm leaning with Greg's prognosis; might be time to get your tank boiled out.
 
Thanks for all the tips. I'm hoping for one of the easy ones. Coincidentally (or maybe not) the fuel gauge started malfunctioning a couple of weeks back. It seems like gunk in the tank could cause both problems.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to dig into this for a couple of weeks (out of the country). I'll post when I get it figured out.

Steve
 
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