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Fuel pump issues - Mk2 Cortina 1600 711M


PHLEX

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Spent some hours on google last night and Im not coming up with anything so thought I would ask here

Long post but trying to give as much info and diagnosis as possible

Car: Mk2 Cortina. 711M (mk2 escort sport) 1.6L crossflow. Weber 32/36 DGAV carb with manual choke conversion

Car used to run absolutely fine all the time on the stock glass bowl type mechanical fuel pump. Noticed a month or so ago that when going uphill to home it starts surging about halfway up and pulling over for 20 seconds and going again usually sorts it out.  Also does it on the motorway very occasionally so I have to coast for a bit and its fine again.  

Suspected the 50 year old mechanical pump was wearing out so changed to an electric Fuelflo 015 which is rated at 2.5-4PSI max 1.5L per minute. identical pump that my brother in law uses on his worked 4K with twin carbs. Only difference is he's put his in the engine bay and I put mine under the car above the diff as the instructions suggested closer to the tank was best.  Initial test drive was flawless and had no issues whatsoever. Next day I went on the motorway and was having starvation issues again and had to pull over 3 times in 3KM to let the bowl refill. I tested the flow and was getting 750ml per minute so took the pump back and got a replacement. New one flows about the same amount so wondering if its just a crap design.

Frustrated at this point I put the stock mechanical pump back on and have been using the car with the mechanical pump pulling through the electric and when it tries to surge I flick the electric on for a few moments and that's been working fine. Even at motorway speeds I have only had to flick it on a couple of times, I always turn it on going up hill tho but it seems to be getting a bit worse. 

Tank was completely emptied a couple of days back as I has to fix a small leak. Fuel looked clean and didn't have any sediment in it.  Carb was opened around 6 weeks ago to give it a good clean and free up a stuck secondary butterfly after sitting over winter. Goes significantly better now.

Last night I got half way up the hill, flicked the electric on as always and it got another 500m fine and started dying again and I had to absolutely crawl home in first gear and when I got home on the flat it was normal again. Currently have half a tank of fuel so don't think its a pickup issue

Current configuration is the 6mm tank outlet to an 8mm hose to a universal filter to an 8mm hose which steps down to a 6mm hard line straight into the factory pump and an 8mm hose out of the pump into the carb. No leaks anywhere.

Looking for advice / has anybody had issues with those fuelflo pumps, is the 6mm factory hard line causing a restriction, is it likely the factory pump is just completely shagged? Is there something I haven't checked?  Fuel coming into the glass bowl is the cleanest its ever been

Ideal scenario would be to either get the electric working properly and blank the mechanical back off OR get an uprated mechanical and remove the electric pump

 

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to replies

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I assume you have confirmed its actually the fuel bowls emptying when it dies?

Perhaps get a  fuel pressure gauge on there and see what its up to? I remember when I was putting twin carbs on my cortina everyone went on about fuel pressure and I had to get a regulator.

And for what ts worth  (not much)I had a low pressure fuelflo pump a couple of years back on my 120y running bike carbs and it worked a treat (probably irrelevant tho)

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I haven't checked the tank pickup itself as I was trying to avoid pulling it apart as I don't have a replacement seal but I guess this is probably going to have to be done. Car sat for about 3 years before I got it with very little fuel in it and again for 6 months at a time in the few years I've had it so there has been some rust in the tank ive done my best to clean out. Unsure if there's a sock on the pickup inside the tank. Im on the hunt for a replacement tank as mine has quite a large dent in it and is a bit rough.

Carb floats haven't been checked but will idle it for a few mins and check where the fuel level has ended up when I'm home. I know next to nothing about carbs but assume I can just bend them up slightly if it isn't filling up enough?

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41 minutes ago, Jusepy82 said:

Is there a breather for the tank that could be blocked or the fuel return blocked. This would certainty cause problems like the ones describes. Just thinking outside the square.

Try loosening off the fuel cap and take it for a drive.

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No return on this setup. Carb has the provision for a return but its blocked off.

Dent in the tank is hard on one side (looks like previous owner drove over something when it was super low) pickup appears to be in the middle so shouldn't be affecting it and normally I can run the fuel level to the red and its cuttently sitting on about half a tank.

I will check float level and tank pickup this evening and report back with my findings

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11 minutes ago, tortron said:

i was getting this on the minor when i had a non vented cap. listen for the woosh when you you open it (do this when it starts starving)

Actually this happens on my hiace and have been meaning to investigate......

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make sure nothing is blocked, need to blow everything out. And there is nothing in the tank that could float/move around and get picked up every so often? Next time it happens, turn the car off for a few minutes and start it again, see if it goes away for a while

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No update yet sorry guys I will drain and drop the tank and see what I can find but have been preoccupied repairing an awkward water leak in my race car for Wallaceville hillclimb in a couple of weeks 

 

will post findings when I can get some hopefully later this week 

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