Robert William Daugherty wrote:
>
> I guess I will try and come forward again since this is a thread
> that currently relates to me. I am a lurker and a newbie. I tried
> writing to the list a couple of weeks ago but I have no clue if it made
> it. I am skeptical that this message will make it.
> Last week I accelerated hard around a corner. After getting off
> the accelerator my baby started running poorly. I pulled into a parking
> lot. I idled only slitly rough. When I tried to accelerate, it would
> lose power and almost stall. I was able to make it to a safe parking
> lot, that is one that I have a permit to park in. After turning off the
> car and checking everything I could think of, the beast decided to play
> finicky and not start at all. I double checked to see if I was getting
> fuel and sure enough I wasn't. So I stuck my head in the trunk and
> couldn't hear my fuel pump like I usually can. Got under the car and
> gave it a few wacks, still didn't work. It is raining and about 40
> degrees F, so I get back under and bet the f^(k out of the fuel pump,
> still nothing.
> Tomorrow I will check to see if I am getting electricity to it,
> but I don't think this is problem. I checked all the fuses and
> everything else on the car is getting power. I think it will need
> replacing. My father, the VW mechanic, suggested the Facet, square fuel
> pump. So today I call most of the big parts stores, i.e., Schucks, NAPA,
> Al's. They all try to sell me an SU fuel pump at anywhere from $80 to
> $210. They say they don't know of Facet and any universal fuel pump will
> require modifications.
> Are there modifications? If so, what? Where do I get a Facet
> fuel pump?, and soon, I need to make it to the other side of the state
> this coming up weekend. Are there any other reliable, but cheap fuel
> pumps?, after all I am a college student (no money).
> Thanks for any help you can offer me. That is if this letter
> even makes it to the list. I am part of the new generation and I still
> really don't understand these contraptions called computers, thats not to
> say I don't appreciate them.
>
> Robert Daugherty
> Bellingham, Wa.
> 1978 MGB (Same age as me)
Robert,
On the way to Indy '96 last summer, one of the members of our caravan
had a similar problem to yours with his MGB around the same vintage as
yours. The car stalled and just would not start again. It was traced to
the fuel pump not pumping. We checked that it was getting current, etc.
but still couldn't get even one tick out of it even after bashing it
with a "suitable bludgeon"(from "How to Repair Your Foreign Car" by Dick
O'Kane - great book). Finally, for some reason the owner removed the gas
cap to be greeted with a great whooshing sound as air rushed into the
gas tank. Apparently, either the vents in the gas cap had become clogged
or he had replaced the cap with a non-vented one and running all day
long just built up so much vacuum in the gas tank that the fuel pump
couldn't overcome it. Check out your gas cap. Any other late model B
owners out there ever have a similar problem?
Charlie Baldwin
'52 TD, '60 MGA, '66 MGB
Robert, i had the exact problem you had. First of all, your fuel pump has
failed. fortunatley, i was able to get mine to pump again. On top of that,
when it did pump, sometimes i got the same problem again, the car would
stall, and not restart. i found out that my thermostat was bad, and causing
the engine to run too hot. this caused the fuel bowl in the carb to get
extremely hot, causing the gas in the carb bowl to boil..hence vapor lock.
changing the thermostat solved the problem completely. Also, although i
have not has the problem, many mg owners experience problems with gas
pressure due to a bad gas cap not venting, causing a vaccume in the gas
pressure, causing your fuel pump to work extra hard, and eventually stalling.
Hope this helped, Adam. cyberman@bright.net '76 MGB
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