How can I fix fuel supply problems Talbot Express 2 litre petrol (1993)?
My motorhomehas been laid up on my drive over winter and now refuses to start unless the carburettor is primed manually with petrol. Ignition system is fine, and once running the vehicle runs OK - BUT it did fail on a test drive (I stopped for five minutes and it wouldn't restart), and the nice AA man got the van going with carb cleaner in the carb. The supply from the fuel pump seemed a bit hit and miss, so I limped home and ordered a new fuel pump.
This has been duly installed with no change in the symptoms i.e. once running the pump seems to keep up a fuel supply, but once the carb and/or fuel line is empty the pump no longer works. This problem is driving me mad, because I can't trust the van to get me to a garage, so I am trying to diagnose the problem myself. The carb doesn't seem to be at fault because it does its job if supplied with fuel. Only two further ideas come to me - either the float chamber is airlocked, which I don't really believe, because of the ability to keep going for some miles once primed (the float is working properly), or the drive to the fuel pump from the camshaft(?) is faulty. I don't want to believe this because of the expense involved! Any further light on this sanity straining problem would be very welcome.
Peter Harling March 2008 |