sos - van wont start after being idle for a few weeks

[johng]

as in the title, i can't get my van to start when idle for a long period. I can suck petrol thro the fuel pipe to the pump and the engine fires when spraying starter spray into the carbaretor . have new fuel pump and starter motor. any clues/tips of what to try next

[Ian Hulley]

Hello, welcome to the forum.

The petrol in your tank may have gone stale, top up with some fresh motion lotion and with a fully charged battery you should be fine.

Ian

[johng]

Grateful Ian - will try

[mike_gee32]

Mine did this, turned out that the pushrod which actuated the fuel pump had worn down. I've now fitted a facet pump

[Mocki]

If the petrol pump push rod is less than 100mm long you need to either replace it, or get the bakalite moulding reduced in thickness to compensate for the difference in pushrods length

That's after you have a
Made sure the fuel pipes are good and not perished or cracked

[CovKid]

Most likely cause is the lines are dry of fuel and starter not turning engine (and pump) enough to pull it through. With ignition off. dribble a small capful of fuel directly into carb intake. Try and start - may run for a few seconds. Turn off ignition and repeat sequence until it goes on its own steam. Job done.

If not, filter could be clogged or carb full of crap.

[Woody49]

I have a similar problem and can follow the good advice given, but out of interest how much vertical movement should there be on the push rod per cycle. I may not have gone the full two turns last night but I couldn't see much if any vertical lift of the rod out of the bakelite flange.


1.9 DG WBX

[Ian Hulley]

but out of interest how much vertical movement should there be on the push rod per cycle

As Steve said ...

If the petrol pump push rod is less than 100mm long you need to either replace it, or get the bakalite moulding reduced in thickness to compensate for the difference in pushrods length

the pushrod MUST be 100mm long or the bakelite housing correspondingly thinner.

Ian

[Woody49]

Thanks Ian,

So I take it there is very little movement (helps me to understand the mechanics of it). So when its 100mm long It sits flush with the surface and only pops up 1 or 2 mm above the surface on the cam is that right?

[Ian Hulley]

Thanks Ian,

So I take it there is very little movement (helps me to understand the mechanics of it). So when its 100mm long It sits flush with the surface and only pops up 1 or 2 mm above the surface on the cam is that right?

I've not seen the travel so I would be speculating at best to comment but from memory the rod is flush at the bottom of it's travel.

Ian

[mike_gee32]

If I remember correctly mine was just over 1mm short and even taking near to 1.5mm off the spacer it still wasn't pumping enough, another thing to check is the spindle that the fuel pump lever is fitted with, my pump was only about 3 years old (which is why I spent ages looking for other reasons I was getting no fuel through ) but the hole in the rocker had ovaled so the first bit of travel of the lever was just taking up slack and the movement wasn't enough to pump fuel, another reason I thought the pump was fine was that when unbolted from the engine giving the pump a push by hand sent petrol squirting into my face .

If you do fit an electronic pump take the time to fit it with some form of rubber isolation, I did mine one evening after work on the drive in minus 5 temps as I needed the van as it's a daily driver so banged it on as quickly as I could and it's just bolted straight to the chassis rail. The solid state pumps are quite noisy and without rubber mountings the noise is amplified through the van - it's only just noticeable at idle but sounds like something is trying to shake the van apart when you first turn the ignition on.

[Woody49]

Thanks, fitting electric would save me worrying about how the mechanical pump works, but I think I will continue with the masochism.

JohnG --- any progress with your van?

[Woody49]

Well its time to admit masochism hurts too much. Call me a numptie but I have now answered my own question. Someone sold me the wrong pushrod (I knew there were two versions by the way) and when it was sitting about 8mm proud I thought thats funny but didn't check its length and proceeded to push the fuel pump down to let me fit the nuts. Well it fired up nicely and got me about 50 miles before the pump packed in (ruptured diaphragm I guess).

So several lessons learned, main one is if it does't look right it won't be right. A Facet pump is going in this weekend and I only hope I have not damaged anything else.

[Ian Hulley]

http://www.germancampercompany.com/push ... p-774.html

Me and Steve were studying these at Bustypes ... don't forget to ask for your 80-90 member's discount

Ian