No fuel to fuel pump!

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MB43

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After having the car sit in the garage for almost a year I finally got the engine all back together and tried to fire it up this weekend. Once I put a decent battery in, it would crank but not fire. I sprayed some starting fluid in the carb, it'd catch like it was going to start but never would.

No matter how much I pumped the pedal I never saw any gas coming out of the squirters. So I pulled off the fuel line at the carb, dry. I pulled off the line that comes from the fuel cell to the fuel pump, dry there too.

What to look for now? Clogged fuel line? I was thinking about pulling the line off of the fuel pump and fuel cell and blowing air through it. Gunked up pickup? Last year's gas was in the fuel cell (not a lot). Bad fuel pump?

Any suggestions?
 
What kind of fuel pump are ya running. I'd disconnect the line going to the pump, at the pump, and put a little pressure on the tank and see if the fuel flows. I usually use an air chuck with a rag around it at the filler neck so you can't overpressure the fuel cell or tank.

Terry
 
Sorry, left that part out. It's a mechanical fuel pump, a Carter.
 
mikelbeck said:
Sorry, left that part out. It's a mechanical fuel pump, a Carter.
Click to expand...

To check the pump just put a 3 foot long chunk of hose on the inlet of the pump and the other end in a cup or 2 container of gas and have someone run the starter and see if she sucks her out and fills the carb.

Terry
 
any gas left in the fuel cell ?
On mine you have to have gallon or more to get the fuel to the carb.
Do you have a filter in the system?
 
demon seed said:
To check the pump just put a 3 foot long chunk of hose on the inlet of the pump and the other end in a cup or 2 container of gas and have someone run the starter and she if she sucks her out and fills the carb.

Terry
Click to expand...

Ah, good idea. I'll give that a try this weekend.

If that works, I guess then I should look at the fuel line or pickup being clogged, or is there something else?
 
71produster said:
any gas left in the fuel cell ?
On mine you have to have gallon or more to get the fuel to the carb.
Do you have a filter in the system?
Click to expand...

There was about 2 gallons left from last year and I added another 3 gallons. There is a filter on the line going to the carb but not from the fuel cell going to the fuel pump.
 
Mikel, I was just thinking ( yea I know, that's dangerous) Do you have the original fuel tank that has a section of rubber hose where the line comes out of the sending unit. Wondering if something got up there and attacked the hose.
 
first thang i would look for is a cracked ruber hose if it has even a small crack it could be drawing air
 
No rubber hoses, no original tanks. There's a fuel cell with braided lines from the cell all the way up to the mechanical fuel pump. From the other side of the fuel pump is more braided hose to the lines going to the carb.
 
demon seed said:
What kind of fuel pump are ya running. I'd disconnect the line going to the pump, at the pump, and put a little pressure on the tank and see if the fuel flows. I usually use an air chuck with a rag around it at the filler neck so you can't overpressure the fuel cell or tank.

Terry
Click to expand...

Zactly! :cheers:
 
demon seed said:
To check the pump just put a 3 foot long chunk of hose on the inlet of the pump and the other end in a cup or 2 container of gas and have someone run the starter and she if she sucks her out and fills the carb.

Terry
Click to expand...

Again, right on the nose. I've heard bad things about Carters but I've never run one myself.
 
I guess it's taken longer to get to this than I thought...

But anyway. I pulled both ends of the hose off (at the fuel cell and at the fuel pump) and blew through it with my air compressor, nothing clogged up in there.

Then I disconnected the fuel cell side of the fuel pump, connected another hose to a coffee can with some gas in it and cranked the motor, nothing wound up in the carb. So I guess I'll be replacing the fuel pump. And I'm thinking that now may be a good time to go with an electric fuel pump instead of the mechanical.
 
Same cproblem happened here a couple years ago. Engine hadn't been turned for over a year. Fuel pump lever stuck in the downward position.
 
RedFish said:
Same cproblem happened here a couple years ago. Engine hadn't been turned for over a year. Fuel pump lever stuck in the downward position.
Click to expand...

Really? How did you fix that? Just take it off, move the lever and put it back on? I would think that if it got stuck like that once, it would happen again though. Isn't there a spring on it to prevent that from happening?
 
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