Club 80-90 Forums

Woke up this morning and the van was smelling of petrol and it was slowly dripping out of bottom of the dipstick, the fuel pump must be dodgy or and the float sticking on the carb ( gravity through the night ?)
It had filled the engine full of petrol so much the starter wouldnt turn it, tried bump starting it and it threw a load of oil out ( from the bottom of dipstick i think )
I thort my engine was seized got recovered home took over a gallon of petrol out of the engine ( had crimped fuel pipe erarlier so more juice didnt get in ) and it was mixed in with the oil, took no 3 + 4 spark plug out and they were soaked in petrol so much i could suck it up in a piece of pipe, iv put fresh oil in and now the engine turns - so what shall i do put engine back in and try it and what else do i need to do so this doesnt happen agen ?
thanks in advance.
paul
ps what is the best fuel pump to buy and the carbs are just over a year old , iv had the top of the side that was leaking and the float and needle valve seem ok ?

Its pretty rare but it can happen. Just fit a new pump (any) and try to forget it ever happened to be honest. It gave your engine a flush anyway

Only sure way to stop the same incident is fit an electric fuel pump but I really wouldn't go to that trouble.

Thanks , it has an electric fuel pump maybe its that thats faulty.

A salutary warning to us all with petrols, to keep an eye on these things, thanks!

So where exactly was the area that you found the leak and fixed?

petrol was coming out of the bottom of my dipstick - not fixed it yet

Nah, I mean how's it getting into sump... you don't know yet? You mentioned the float valve?

must of been the float valve sticking, how else could it get in ?

Yeah that might do it but again its pretty rare. See if you can cannibalise another carb for spares.

thanks for your help im going to put a new fuel pump on and have another look at the carb.