WB fuel problems

[SLR_dave]

Ah, no. Sorry Dave, that bit is totally wrong. I do like and second the rest of your advice though! The fuel is always picked up from the bottom of the tank by a RIGID line with a sock on the end of it. There is no hose or pick-up point attached to the sender unit float (the float is purely for the fuel level sensing unit only). Whoever told you that the fuel was picked-up at the float was having a big lend of you.

Thank you Taily, I concur completely. I am incorrect on this.

Oops! I musta started getting a bit over confident with my general knowledge. Its at least two decades since I had one of these apart, I remembered it wrong, I should have checked! No excuses, my poor advice. My apologies xale, and to all. Still, I get to use this emoticon now... ....(Embarrassed)

Some (not all and I have no idea why I've only ever seen a few of them with it) of the ute/panel van tanks had a 7/8 drain plug in them from the factory, hopefully yours is one of these and you'll be able to drain the tank easily. Suggest doing this and getting rid of the crap fuel. The other option if your does not have the drain plug is jack the car (remember, high enough enough to actually get the tank out from under the car and please use stands!), drop the tank straps/fuel sender/fill and vent loop hoses (be very careful with the three-holed rubber grommet on the inside of the rear guard as they are almost impossible to get and a fair dinkum rego inspection will cause you to fail it if it isn't in situ) and drop the tank completely out of the car. You'll need a few containers and/or a decent deep tray to drop the fuel into. Flush it out, check for internal condition (use an LED torch here just in case you drop it into the tank while you're checking it over), check the condition of the fuel pickup/sock gauze (a lot of them have by now dropped off and are rolling around in the tank - it is better to have them fitted than left off), the vent and supply hoses and most importantly the filler hose and clamps - a good idea to source new ones now and replace the old ones as they will be perished from age, my HJ ute started leaking on me between Alice Springs and Erldunda one day and I wondered why it took me almost a full tank to get that 200km until I stopped and scoped it out. A dark country road (or in my case the outback) is not the place to have these issues raise their heads....

Totally agreed. It is really true about factory hoses becoming suddenly unreliable after about 25 years, my HJ wagon main fuel rubber hose from the tank just gave up without warning on my way back from interstate one evening, fortunately passengers in a car next to me pointed it out to me as I was at the lights, (petrol leaking onto the road) it was only 40 mins drive from when I had been parked for two days, with no reason to suspect it. I pulled over, luckily there was an auto shop, ten mins to closing time, and then it bucketed down rain - got it fixed, cost me five bucks, but it would have been so much worse if I had been on the highway and run out (which would have happened around an hour and a half later I reckon).

Completely agree that LED is the standard now.

Dropping the tank is such a dang of a job, maybe there is a chemical answer these days? - I wonder.

Fuel pump diaphragms do from time to time perish and the bits will either end-up getting stuck in the pump valves or being pushed-up into the carby. If you think it looks sus then change it. This means changing the whole pump these days as they are not a serviceable item like the originals.

I went to find an HX fuel pump around a year ago, I just walked into local (reputable) auto parts shop, got told there's now only generic item all holdens to VP- the price, ridiculous, however, fortunately, this was not accurate advice.

Both the earlier glass bowl fuel pumps with serviceable parts are still available from fuel miser, and I think rare spares (etc) but, you cant get the diaphragm parts for them anyway, so its replace the whole thing again if it goes next time anyway. The next series of fuel pumps (the flatter ones with the metal plate on top ) are also still avail from similar outlets. Much cheaper than the generic all Holdens to VP ones, although still more than they used to be. If you need a fuel pump, its worth googling for a bit - definitely could save half the price from an auto shop.

Cheers again Taily for picking up my mistake!

[JDT]

I went to find an HX fuel pump around a year ago, I just walked into local (reputable) auto parts shop, got told there's now only generic item all holdens to VP- the price, ridiculous, however, fortunately, this was not accurate advice.

Both the earlier glass bowl fuel pumps with serviceable parts are still available from fuel miser, and I think rare spares (etc) but, you cant get the diaphragm parts for them anyway, so its replace the whole thing again if it goes next time anyway. The next series of fuel pumps (the flatter ones with the metal plate on top ) are also still avail from similar outlets. Much cheaper than the generic all Holdens to VP ones, although still more than they used to be. If you need a fuel pump, its worth googling for a bit - definitely could save half the price from an auto shop.

I searched for 18 months for a kit for an original AC Delco V8 fuel pump. I tried every auto store in every town I went only to be told the same thing. No longer available. I had almost given up trying. I still refused to put one of those awful Chinese fully sealed units under the bonnet of my van. I was asking at a local shop again when one of the other blokes at the counter overheard me. He said he was sure he still had one in his shed. He told me he sold his HZ in 1996 and would never use it. I gave him my number and be f$#ked he rang me the next day and said he had found it.

[JDT]

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Sitting in a shed for 18 years. I still need another 2. So if anyone knows where I can buy them please let me know.

[SLR_dave]

Sitting in a shed for 18 years. I still need another 2. So if anyone knows where I can buy them please let me know.

You could try this listing (Australian site listing - below); On a google search they have a listing that says they have fuel pump kits for HT upwards, however, whilst they have lots of pump kits for many makes I found their site difficult to negotiate, email or phone call might get you that kit.. just maybe. I had thought they were out of stock everywhere but, I reckon, if you really want one, this could be worth checking out.

http://classiccarbs.com.au/Classic-C...der=ASC&page=2

However, I reckon its still possible buy a new glass bowl pump at a reasonable price... you just have to shop around long enough, and look in the far corners. I only had a quick look this eve, and only found this one (for way way way too much money!!) on ebay (and its 6 cyl). But I was pretty sure Fuelmiser still make the glass bowl units as well. They definitely still make flatter all metal pumps for 253/308 (see below in this post).

Heres the listing for the ebay one priced for lazy shoppers at $300!!! http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/2508...=true&lpid=107

If that fails, you could also try an importer re-seller called 'Memory Lane Classic Spare Parts', real nice guy, can get all sorts of stuff, he got me castellated Selby tie rod ends, for two vehicles within a couple of weeks after I bought nylock ones from him in misunderstanding (full replacement of course) when everyone else told me I could never get em in Australia again! Maybe might, just might be worth a try mailing him. He's got an ebay store;

http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/memorylan...ic-spare-parts

(Btw JDT, you left out the quote brackets in your earlier post.)

I wasn't aware that Fuel Miser were actually still doing the V8 pumps!

I did a quick search. Currently, an outfit called EMA Australia has this style of 253/308 Fuelmiser fuel pumps for $75. Pretty fair price I thought. I suppose it may be available somewhere for less, but that's the best I found on a brief search.



http://www.enginemaster.com.au/holde...r-fpm601c.html

And another called Motospecs (listed via eziautoparts) has the same unit, but no price.

http://www.eziautoparts.com.au/fuel-...uel-pumps.html


I got a feeling Rare Spares might be worth a phone call as well (I was sure they used to have a Fuelmiser or Goss version for all engines, glass bowl and the next version, but I could be wrong, because I cant see them listed when I had a look today).

Btw there are a variety from lesser known brands on ebay atm - here's a flash looking one (chrome plated) and says its high volume for performance modified 253/308 for only $55.13....! (But I don't know much about the brand 'Speedmaster', - perhaps somebody else here does?) ... Its very pretty anyway!!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Holden-25...-/371010998532

Anyway, Xale, you may not need a new fuel pump, but if it turns out you do, its definitely worth shopping around.

[JDT]

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Part number is still visible.951 KT.