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XKE Fuel floats

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Marvin Gruber

Marvin Gruber

Yoda
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Weathers been decent this week. Decided to get a XKE out for a spin. Click, click click, here we go again. Just replaced two (HD8)fuel floats this fall, two more bad ones today. Guess I have to blame it on this new gas. I'm out of spares now so guess I need to buy a couple more. Anybody else having this trouble.

Marv
 
This the brass round one with the guide hole in the middle and a separate lever?
No way is gas that still burns gonna kill those.
Doesn't XK's make their own brass floats now?
 
Old floats can die from intergranular corrosion. I've seen this a number of times. Repairing these works for a while but with time, it'll happen again. When I've had problems with new floats, it's been bad solder joints - easy to fix.

Marv J
 
Brass one with guide hole. I can shake the floats and gas seeps out around the seam in the middle. Same thing with the ones that failed this fall. (4 total) Some of the floats were old ones and some were new ones. They are same floats as the HD8s in the BJ8 A/H 3000, thats the reason I had spares. New ones came from Vic Brit. May order some from XK's if they are making their own.
 
Found on their site they did.
You do know how to fix them, right?
 
First, find the hole that is factory plugged with solder.
Unsolder it.
Drain the fuel out, and I like to let them sit overnight at least to "vent".
Re-solder the hole.
Get some water to a boil, then take it off the burner so it quits bubbling.
Stick a piece of vacuum hose of appropriate OD into the centre hole, insert float into water, hold down far enough so you can see the bubbles.
Hot water makes the air inside hot, makes it want to expand and bubble out.
Pull it out, mark the area with something like a felt marker or scratch it with an X using an xacto blade.
Set aside, do the next one.
When all done, clean and solder, and since it isn't wiring, acid core works (like for plumbing).
When all done, re-test until you don't get any more bubbles.
If you see no bubbles, remove from water, remove hose, turn float over, re-insert hose into THAT side and re-test.

I've fixed Lord knows how many carb and fuel tank floats that way over the years.
 
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