monkeynuts Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 I have a '87 exclusive hatch that has been stood for four years before I purchased it. After fitting a new battery I turned it over and discovered that no fuel was reaching the front end. I removed the trigger wire from the starter and turned it over again, hearing a strong noise from the tank area I decided that there was power to the pump. Now I've decided that there is air in the fuel lines between the fuel rail at the front and the half tank of petrol in the back, so I take the feed pipe off the rail and using a fairy bottle and some fuel pipe I forced petrol back down the line to the pump. I considered removing the stupid pulse thingy from the system as I have from previos vehicles but after checking it and finding out its ok i refitted it. My understanding is that the air between the pick up pipe inside the tank and the pump is causing the pump to suck nothing but air and not drawing fuel through. does this sound right? I have considered pressurizing the tank with an airline hoping that this will force petrol up the ten inches of pipe to the pump! anyone have any better ideas before I do this? can anyone think of a reason (other than safety!) not to do this? Am I being thick!!?? are the pumps supposed to draw the fuel up regardless of wether there is fuel in the pipe or not? is my pump just weak? many thanks in advance for any advice on this matter. this is the only thing stopping me from progressing to the next step and I'd love to hear the old girl fire up!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymanc Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 its normally the fuel pump relay what knackers,or the fuse....... have a read off http://forums.mantaclub.org/topic/26742-manta-hatch-wont-start/page__p__188775__fromsearch__1#entry188775 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantadoc Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 Is your rev counter working? SOund silly but humour me. That kind of pump has a fan on the spindle. It's like a turbine or fan and these cars will run on fumes. Literally The fuel fee should go to the "TEE" the return goes from the pressure regulator on the fuel rail directly to tank. If not done the obvious test is to run the pump - 2P trick or one of the other tricks and pump some fuel out into a container to save guessing if it works or not. Airlock extremely unlikely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylorblue5 Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 Have u tried bump starting it? Iv found this works in the past, Good luck, I love when a new non runner fires for the first time, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeynuts Posted October 15, 2010 Author Share Posted October 15, 2010 garymanc - the fuel pump is definately working. the relay and fuse are both ok. mantadoc - I have removed the fuel feed pipe from the 'tee' piece under the fuel rail and activated the pump with no success. I don't understand about the rev counter? taylorblue5 - I like the idea of bump starting it, that would be something I would normally try. Unfortunately, the car is far from legal so I can't take it off the drive. thanks for the help so far guys, I've got a crappy micra to fix tomorrow so probably won't have tinkering time now til sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1900SR Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Have you checked all the fuel pipes are OK. I had an 87 hatch that had been stood a few years and had the same symptoms. Turned out the rubber pipe from tank to pump had split so it was sucking air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemanta Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 had the same problems as well turned out to be the fuel supply hose from tank, After i changed it it ran for a while then stopped could hear the pump running but it was very weak and changed that and all the other pipes then it was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam.in.head Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 i replaced my fuel pump recently with one that i had not used for a fair few years. when i first fitted it & tried it it was running but sounded louder & faster than normal. after a few attempts to get it to prime (with the starter lead disconnected)it suddenly primed & began to pump ok. settling down to a `normal `sound & was ok everytime since.i summised that as it was dry it was not creating enough vacuum to self prime on its own quickly. if you are sure that the larger bore pipe from tank is ok & that fuel is definately not reaching the front fuel rail t piece then i would try to get some fuel into the pipe from tank to pump.& into the inlet side of pump. ( a spray with wd40 in it may also do the trick & shouldnt do any harm .)if you dont fancy getting fuel in there yet. !.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 These pumps will self prime, and can suck up fuel a considerable height when new, BUT, if its been stood, its possible the rollers in the pump (they are a rotor with rollers on) have stuck, in which case the pump probably needs changing, but its worth the wd40 trick mentioned above, as this sometimes frees em off, or ccreates enough vacuum to pull the fuel in which then frees em off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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