Thread: Goss electric pump for 186 not working

Haven't got a blockage in the system have you?

Thanks Crackers, I tried putting an intake line from a fuel can on the ground (way too low) and the pump self primed and gave good flow all the way up to the carby. I reconnected to the IIA's fuel tank, thinking everything was well primed now and might work. It fired up straight away and idled for several minutes but stalled again with no fuel at carby.

So looks like a blockage on the tank side or in the tank.

I took the fuel pickup out of the tank. It looks like a piece of steel fuel line with a fine mesh cover over the end.

Turns out my one has been bashed against the bottom of the tank sometime (Betsy has had an interesting life, the stories just keep coming!) and the pipe had cut through the mesh. There could be something floating around the bottom of the tank that gets sucked over the pickup pipe and covers the hole, will take the sender out to have a look.

Any ideas how to get muck out of old fuel tanks?


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Originally Posted by pk.hoarder

Any ideas how to get muck out of old fuel tanks?

There's a drain plug on the bottom... of my Series 1. You might have one and it might come out (careful of tearing the metal, drain plugs in fuel tanks give me the willies).

You're in the Adelaide Hills too, I could come and help you break it if you like

I probably shouldn't say this but...
Wouldn't it be funny if the problem with the mechanical pump turns out to be THIS issue, not the pump

You may now call me a barsteward

Haha, that crossed my mind too... Old one's still in place if it comes to that.

I have a drain plug too but that's a last resort for the reasons you mentioned. I have siphoned/pumped yuk out of the bottom of things before, will give that a go when I get back to it...

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Most, if not all, aftermarket electric pumps are 'pushers', not 'pullers' so you might need to mount it back near the fuel tank for it to work properly.

A while back I had to clean the tank out on my series 3. It is a home fabricated aluminum tank made by the previous owner and does not have a drain plug. I just removed the plate the fuel gauge is mounted to then used a large bore (3/4") clear plastic tube to syphon the fuel out, running the tube around the bottom of the tank like a vacuum and emptied the contents into a bucket. Then I just poured the fuel via a fine strainer back into the tank and repeated the syphoning again. I did this about half a dozen times and got all the crud out. It's best to have about ten liters of fuel in the tank when doing this.
Sounds like you may have purchased a new pump unnecessarily.


Good luck.
Cheers, Mick.

OK almost all siphoned out, got some of the gunk away. Used too small a tube so took a long time lucky there were no big bits to get out. Also straightened the bent pickup, this may have been part of the problem, would have had almost no clearance to the bottom of the tank next to the drain plug - it should sit straight over the drain plug.

I have some wire mesh to put over the pickup, wider grid than the original. Not sure how to hold it onto the pickup...I was thinking to cable tie it in place (original was soldered). Would plastic cable ties be ok in petrol? Hole in top of tank is really too small to fit a hose clamp through.

I think the 'leccy pump will be good once it's going as the old one always had hard starting if the car hadn't been run in the last hour or so.

Thanks

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