Fuel problems

[whpaul]

Hallo to all of You in this forum,

Last month I did it, and bought myself a 61 T-Bird. Until now I had some nice rides.Here in Germany it is a very exotic car.
I bought it because it remembers me on that good times in El Paso, where I owned a T-Bird in the early seventies.

But today the engine quiet suddenly.I found out that the engine gets no fuel, tank is filled, when the pipe from tank to the fuel pump is removed there is no fuel to detect. If you blow air through that pipe it gets through to the Tank.The fuel pump itself is brand new.
Had anybody from You a problem like this and can give me a good tip.

Thank You for replay,

whpaul
Germany

[Guest]

Paul, probably a messy fix to your problem, but relatively easy to repair. The fuel line pick up inside the tank has a filter and is most likely clogged. When you blow air thru the line into the tank the air pressure will bleed thru the crud packed on the filter. But when gravity and fuel line suction want to suck gas back the other way to the fuel pump, the crud just simply closes up the clogged filter again. Probably the only way to solve this is to drain the fuel from the tank, disconnect the fuel line at the tank, drop the tank, remove filter and clean, thoroughly rinse and clean the tank, re-install the filter, hang the tank and attach the fuel line. After all of that, you should be good to go.

Suggestions as to cleaning your tank would be; 1) it would be a great idea to do as long as you have the tank off the car, 2) rinse liberally with muratic acid, 3) feed a 20 foot length of 1/4" chain into the tank and wire the end of the chain to the outside, so the chain will not get lost in the tank. When you have the acid in the tank rattle and roll the tank around so the chain will scrape and abrade any loose, scaly rust and crud off the inside of the tank, 4) flush liberally with a Trisodiumphosphate/water mixture, and 5) thoroughly drain and let air dry the tank before you hang it back on the car.

[Guest]

Caution; use a gas mask or a chemical particulate respirator with the acid. Rubber gloves are always a good idea and maybe goggles too. We can purchase muratic acid over here in the States at any hardware store for about $3-$4 per gallon, so it's cheap stuff. I would think dumping a gallon of acid in along with the chain would be sufficient.

[YellowRose]

Fuel problems

Hi Wolfgang! Congratulations on owning a '61 Bulletbird there. I see that Jed gave you some good tips on how to check and clean the gas tank.

It is possible that your new fuel pump might have failed on you. Perhaps it might not be the right pump for that car. What you can do, is disconnect that fuel line going from the fuel pump to the gas tank to check the fuel pump. Attach a length of hose or tubing to the intake to the fuel pump. Put the other end into a large clear jar or container of some type, with gasoline in it. Try starting the car feeding it the gas from that temporary container. If the car starts up and runs, then you know your fuel pump should be okay. If it does not start and run, then that could be an indicator that the fuel pump has gone bad on you, or you have a problem with the gas line from the output of the fuel pump to the carb. Or that something has gone wrong with the carb.

[Guest]

Hey Wolfgang,
On my 1960 Thunderbird, I removed the fuel sending unit in the trunk. Took flashlight and found the pickup end of the fuel line inside the tank. I then took a wood stick I had cut to 3/4" x 3/4".
I kept working with the filter until I broke it loose from the pickup line. I then cut me another stick and used the two as chopsticks and picked up the filter and got it out of the tank. As I looked around inside the tank and it was really clean.
Then I disconnect the fuel line from the fuel pump and blowed the line out. Installed inline fuel filter close to the fuel pump. Put everything back together and have not had any problem since!!!
Richard D. Hord

[JohnG]

Two suggestions:

* put an in-line filter in between the tank and the pump. Most people put them between the pump and the carb. Some aftermarket fuel pump suppliers will not warranty a pump that did not have one on the tank side.

The mechanical fuel pump really only has three components in it of note: two check valves and a diaphram. If crap gets into a check valve, it can fail and thus your pump fails

* for about $12 you can get a fuel pressure gauge to go after the pump. I know Yellowrose has one. This takes alot of guesswork out of the situation. Summit racing has them. You want low pressure (0-15 psi). See
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G3122/ You can make or buy a little T fitting,

[whpaul]

Tank You very much

For Your helpful advices.
Yes, I disconnected the tank from the pump and gave the pump fuel out a can. I did not work. Hard to believe that new pump did not work. I tested the pipe to the tank with short suck an fuel came easily.
I removed the pump which is a carter 0-3000 item31505K11B and took it apart. Inside I found nothing wrong, and there was a nice Filter in it.Everything was brand new and clean.
After reassembling I tested it manually and it seems that it will work.
Back in the car it works great and I had a successful 25 mile test drive.
Now I am the guy who is wondering himself about the reason of that trouble.

a friendly Hello from good old Europe

whpaul

[YellowRose]

Fuel problems

Hi Wolfgang, That is really something that you did not find anything wrong with the fuel line, or fuel pump, after taking it apart. There must have been a clog somewhere along the line that broke up. The idea of putting a fuel filter inline between the tank and the fuel pump is a good one. An between the fuel pump and the carb also. I have one inline between the fuel pump and the carb, plus that fuel pressure gauge that was mentioned below. I think, the next time someone is working under the car, that I will have a fuel filter added to the line between the fuel pump and the tank. I am glad that what ever it was cleared up and you were able to drive her for a bit. Does she have a name? Any pictures of her?

[Guest]

In following this thread with the eventual outcome just posted, it all seams similar to the problem I had cured on my 58 and made a post about just several weeks ago. That lack of fuel to my carb was diagnosed and repaired by finding and snaking out a clog in the fuel line between the fuel pump and the carburetor. Keeping in mind that I have a fuel pump sediment bowl filter and an inline filter just at the carb. So the clog was in the line between the 2 filters. The repair for me was simply to snake the short piece of 3 foot fuel line from the carb to the pump, and presto, hooked her all back up and she fired right off.