Fuel Pump Woes not over after all

[Jimmie]

Car quit again yesterday about 15 miles from home. I thought that the the new fuel pump plus the new electric pump would solve my vapor lock problems but not true. Car would run when I primed it, but only until that gasoline is used. I worked my way back, starting by taking the top off the carb and never foiund any gas, even in the line leading up to the inside fender next to the engine. Questioning whether that line on back to the tank had a problem, I borrowed an air tank and forced air through the line into the tank-causing lots of gurgling sounds. I then put it all back together, primed it and it started and ran fine till the car got warmed up, then it started acting like it was out of gas again. I pumped and pumped and finally got it going again and finally took country roads home on which I could go slow and made it home. When I got ready to pull it into the shop, it wouldn't start again. I think that while sitting, it vapor locked again due to the gas line heating up do to its proximity to the exhaust pipe passing near the fuel line. This morning I got under the car and looked and found what I suspected, the fuel line which I rerouted several months ago while redoing the car, long before I had the exhaust system installed, is about 2 inches above the exhaust pipe that leads to the muffler. I read that gasoline in some cases can boil at a temperature of 100 degrees. I feel sure that the reason the car will not run after it is hot is that I have a very serious vapor lock in the line leading to the electric pump. Apparently, the electric fuel pump cannot "pull" the vapor through the line. My next plan is to reinstall the electric pump near the fuel tank so it can "push," as others told me I should have done in the first place and I plan to reroute the fuel line away from the exhaust pipe and will most likely install a shield for the line in that area and another shield between the engine and the regular fuel pump.

Hoping others can avoid problems by reading about mine.

[whacker]

If this is on the 1950 Champion in your signature, do you have the sheet metal heat shield on the mechanical pump? Without that, the gas in the line between the pump and the carb will be boiled quickly. You can take one from a parts car, or you can make one, there are some plans around somewhere for it.

[StudeRich]

Post one says Jimmie is adding the fuel pump shield.

Sorry you had to go though that Jimmie, but you know what they say: "live and learn"!

I am surprised though that the fuel line was close to the muffler, it normally runs along the frame and the exhaust should be closer to the driveshaft.

[55s]

Yes, your advice is right, electric fuel pumps are meant to push fuel from the tank, not pull fuel from a location near the engine.

[Anne F. Goodman]

Well another thing about those electric fuel pumps. A friend had issues with the fuel pump he always carry s a spare. Well it went out about three weeks ago. He put on the spare which was real noisy. So he bought a carter electric three weeks ago put that on thought problem solved. Used the other one for a spare. We went to the coast this weekend in heavy traffic it decided to quit. Pushed it across heavy traffic. They thought something was wrong with the needle valve in the Carb. After messing around with different things then it works. Well it cooled down so then it started working. Drove down the coast cooler weather over there it ran fine. Then if started acting up again. We stopped for the night took off for home drove about 30 minutes and it quit again. Every 30 minutes of driving you had to let the fuel pump cool off then it would work again. It quit again in Kettleman City after a half hour it started up like nothing was wrong. We stopped in lemoore and bought a new electric fuel pump and problem solved. So sometimes its a faulty fuel pump new ones go bad pretty quick sometimes.