Car would not start today (kind of)

[mcditalia]

Ok, beautiful day today, so went to the beach,

On the way back, I'm on the hyway and the car starts to hesitate a little bit, like it' running out of gas. Ok, I was low about an 1/8 of a tank, pull over check the tank and there's definitelly gas in there, not too little to make me run out! Start up again and cars is running fine for 5 minutes or so, and the bucking starts again, so bad that it dies. Try to crank the car, starts and dies again. All other tries, no deal.

Pull the gas line from pump to filter to see if the filter might be clogged. Crank the car a couple of times and no gas coming out from the pump line. OK has to be the pump.

Wait for AAA (2 1/2 hours) and get the car towed back home. Just for kicks I crank the car in the garage and sure enough starts right up. Didn't wait to see if it died again, because of fumes, so let it run only for a couple of minutes. So any thoughts?

A week ago, I had the sending unit replaced in the tank because it wasn't working right. Any connetion between the problem and this recent fix that anyone might think of, or is it the pump?

 

[Tom Bryant]

I had a problem once with the flexible line on the inlet side of the pump. Even though it looked ok it was deteriorated on the inside. After driving several miles it would collapse on the inside due to the fuel pump vacuum and the engine would first stutter then eventually die. After it sat a while and the vacuum relaxed the line would relax and allow fuel to flow again.

Tom

 

[Neal]

I had a similar problem once and it turned out to be crap in the tank. I had it pulled and flushed, resolving the problem. But then, it was a Ford, so I guess that's to be expected. :L

 

[mcditalia]

Thanks for the input. I think I will change the pump, filter and all of the associated lines to be on the safe side. First time changing the pump, not sure about the pump rod placement, will try to figure out.

As a side note, as the car was being pulled up the flatbed my drivers side bumper got pushed up about a 1/4" up from underneath where the support brackets are located due to a wood plank that was placed under the front end to avoid contact with the chains. The bottom support bracket now touches the bottom of the fiberglass nose. I can run my finger in between the other side bracket and fiberglass. Trying to figureout if there is a way to fix this.

 

[Tom Bryant]

For the bumper check the mounting bolts first. It might have slid on the bolts, I hope. Otherwise you may have to replace some mounting brackets.

As for the fuel pump rod take a look at this picture. Notice that there are 2 bolt holes on the front of the block by the pump. There are also identicle ones on the other side of the block. These are left over from the passenger car front motor mounts of the '55-'57 Chevys. They were never removed from the casting and were later used for some accessory mountings.

The upper bolt hole has a bolt in it for a reason. It goes all the way through to the fuel pump push rod hole. When you have your pump off insert a long bolt in this hole. With your finger push the rod all the way up and lightly tighten this bolt to hold the rod in place. Do Not turn the engine with this bolt tightened. Install the pump and remove the bolt. Now install a shorter bolt in this hole that will not contact the rod when tightened. The reason for this is that crankcase pressure at high rpm can cause a small amount of oil to come out of this bolt hole and also dirt and water can get in.

Tom

 

[61 Silver]

Something simple, but check you fuel cap vent, my was plugged on the 65.

Ray

 

[Tom Bryant]

Something simple, but check you fuel cap vent, my was plugged on the 65.

Ray

Good point. When you checked your tank did it seem to have a vacuum when you removed the cap?

 

[mcditalia]

Nope, no unusual vacuum or pressure when the cap came off. I also tried cranking the motor with the cap off a couple of times to no avail. I ran the car yesterday a little longer 5-10 minutes and it ran fine. Does a faulty mechanical fuel pump work when it wants or fails for good?

I'm still planning on changing the filter, pump, and plumbing, but I'm wondering if I'm overlooking something. How about the carb? Could it have something to do with it? I called the shop where I had the sending unit replaced and they said it was unlikely that was the reason. The tank does have some rust, but I can't see any major debree in there that would cause it to plug. Really don't want this to happen again as the towing process is not good, especially when you experience damage like I did.

 

[mcditalia]

Got the fuel pump and othe parts yesterday. Instructions for the pump say "before removing old pump, note whether fuel section is in "up" or "down" position". ???

It also mentions about pushing and holding the push rod up while the engine is at low cam as written in the earlier posts which I'll do, but how do I know if I got low cam position before removing the old pump? I apologize about my lack of knowledge.

Side note, car fired right up today again. Planning on performing the work this weekend if I can.

 

[allcoupedup]

At TDC, the high point of the fuel pump lobe on the camshaft will be 180 degrees away from the fuel pump push rod. To get your car at TDC degrees turn your engine over until you feel pressure building in the #1 chamber and line the timing mark up with 0 on your timing tab.


IN other words, your crank turns over twice for every cam rotation. Not only do you need to line up the mark on the balancer, but you also need to make sure the #1 cylinder is in its compression stroke.

Brian

 

[ctjackster]

ok, stop right there if you are getting ready to swap out fuel pumps, and read the archives here and on the other forum. You will get some VALUABLE advice. In summary, (1) make use of the "slightly longer bolt through the otherwise useless bolt location on the front of the block near the fuel pump" trick, you snug that longer bolt in and against the actuator arm to hold it in place (trust me you want to do this); and (2) take the right front tire off, you can actually directly access the two fuel pump bolts with a few extensions on your ratchet, the alternative is horrifying, access and space is tight in there.

been there done that myself