Fellow listers:
I'm having an intermittent fuel flow problem with my 1974 TR6 and wanted
to get your thoughts on possible causes and solutions.
Three weeks ago I was driving in town and the car started to sputter and
cough under load, but if I pushed in the clutch it would rev normally.
Finally it stalled and I coasted into a parking lot. When I popped the
hood I noticed that the see-through fuel filter was only about 1/3 full.
I let the car sit for a while and started it back up; however it only
drove another half mile before it stalled again. The fuel filter was
again less than full and this time I disconnected the hose from the
outlet side of the filter--fuel flowed freely out of the filter. I put
everything back together and drove home without incident. Since it was
a hot day and the tank was near empty I thought it might have been due
to low volume so I filled the tank and forgot about it.
Today I was on the highway driving to an event in north Georgia when it
did the same thing. Same stalling, same nearly empty fuel filter, same
ability to drive home after I confirmed fuel was flowing through the
filter. When I got home the fuel filter was observed to be full.
The car was apart from February 2004 until May 2005 for a frame off
restoration. I drove it all last summer without incident, including
3,000 miles in one week. Now I am afraid of getting stranded until I
figure this out.
Mechanical fuel pump is less than a year old and is the expensive one.
The fuel tank and rigid lines are original, although I did clean them
thoroughly (at least I thought so) before reinstalling last summer.
My best guess is either a bad fuel pump or a blocked line. Anyone ever
have a fuel pump fail intermittently?
I'm going to put the old fuel pump back on (was working fine when I
replaced it) and drain some fuel out of the tank in case any crud is
blocking the outlet. Other than that I don't have a guess.
Your ideas are most appreciated.
Michael Campsmith
1974 TR6 (now BRG)
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