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MG MGA - Fuel pump

I have a problem with my fuel pump. It was working when I put the car in the garage and now is not!
I have removed it and tested it on the bench, including dismantling the electrical end.

I have established that the points are OK, and it will tick nicely when I hold it together, but when I put it back together I don't get any action.

I can tell that the points are making contact as it is drawing current.

Is it just sticky inside? If so, can I lubricate it?

or do I just need a new one?

thanks
Dan Smithers

Dan,

When you say "put the car in the garage" do you mean for the night or for the winter?
When you say "hold it together", where?
Is it where the diaphragm is clamped? If so, when you tighten it together you may not be doing it with the diaphragm in the fully stretched position.

Mick
Mick Anderson

Hi Mick,

for the winter.

hold it together means holding the diaphragm onto the moter part and pressing on the diaphragm centre.

I reassembled it according to the manual - screw diaphragm in and then unscrew until the point flip over then four more screw holes.

thanks

dan
Dan Smithers

Dan,

I had a similar problem and fixed it by unscrewing the diaphragm six holes to give a bit more throw. What I found was happening was that when the magnet pulled the diaphragm it did not always move it enough to make the points flip over and so just sat there.

Malcolm
Malcolm Asquith

Dan - A points style pump doesn't like to beleft inactive for long periods of time. The contacts on the points will film over after long periods of inactivity and insulates the points one from the other. Cleaning the points with 400 grit sand paper will usually get things back into condition. As for getting the pump to run properly after having taken it apart requires proper assembly and adjustment. If you will e-mail me, I will send you an assembly and adjustment procedure that should get you running well. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Well, there is always BMC special tool #1...
Del Rawlins

Thanks for your suggestions. I already cleaned the contacts - I may try the spare set but it only has a single contact instead of the double one.

Does BMC special tool #1 come in several sizes?

dan
Dan Smithers

Dan

Says something for keeping the car running all the year round!!

Steve

PS. I could never get my pump to work during the rebuild 10 years ago. I gave up and bought a Facet fuel pump. It's been ticking away quite happily ever since and never missed a beat.
Steve Gyles

MGA's have a (then) newer type of pump (HP) which are now reaching the end of their lives. The windings in the armature break down and they cannot be repaired. My solution in one of my MGA's has been to fit a (new) MGB pump that I happened to have and in the other I have fitted a "Fuelflo" (which I think are made in New Zealand). They are electronic and utterly reliable and much, much quieter than Facets or other electric pumps and in fact are hardly audible.
Barry Bahnisch

I also fitted an Italian made Facet about 15 years ago. It works so well I had forgotten about it!!
Barry
BM Gannon

I have had two of the currently manufactured Facet pumps go bad within one year of installation. A new SU fuel pump was installed on my BGT eight years ago and is still working fine. It replaced the original thirty year old pump.

Les
Les Bengtson

I bought a Moprod pump from a guy locally who rebuilds Wolseley 1500s and Riley 1.5s. It's an electronic pump that still has that reassuring click, works for positive and negative ground cars and is half the price of the replacement SU pump.
The only difficulty now is finding suitable connectors to connect the BSP pipe fitting on the fuel pipes to the push fit connectors on the pump. At the moment I have short lengths of flexible fuel hose wedged over the olives, but it needs to bend through 90 degrees and I'm worrying that this is constricting the pipe too much.

thanks


dan
Dan Smithers

This thread was discussed between 30/04/2007 and 08/05/2007

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.