Triestino
Daily Driver
Hello All,
Yesterday, I ran into an interesting situation that points to a functional but inefficient electric fuel pump....perhaps. I haven't changed the pump since I purchase the Fiat three years ago. When I bought it, I drove it 75 miles on the highway to my home without a hiccup. I haven't used it much since I've had limited time and was working on suspension and other projects. I do run the car monthly. The fuel is fresh and only two months old and the tank is half full. Now that it's finished, I am having a hard time starting from cold. When it starts, it idles great but as soon as I try to give it some gas with the pedal (even a small amount) , it stubbles and eventually stalls out. I checked the carb, in-line fuel filter, one-way check valves and all seemed fine. BTW, everything is stock. I even blew out the lines to make sure no blockage. I then took a plastic bottle and placed the fuel line (feeding the carb) in it and realized the fuel flow was super slow and very little volume... seemed like a trickle. I even checked the return line just to be sure. No fuel flow, as expected. To be clear, I did these tests directly were the fuel lines come up near the passenger side strut tower and directly connecting a hose to the metal feed lines. My guess is that the universal pump under the car (near fuel tank) simply doesn't have the lift capacity (anymore ?) to feed the carb and it may have gone bad. I did an experiment and let the pump run with the ignition key 'on' for two minutes to allow the fuel to build up in the carb. Sure enough, the car instantly started and ran great at idle. As soon as I gave it gas, it stumbled. Restarted it and the idle is irratic....at best. I'm wondering if I should replace the pump? I'm thinking of getting a Facet FEP60SV Gold model. Having said all this, could the floats be off even though I never touched the carb and it past the California stringent smog test 'as is' last year? Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Yesterday, I ran into an interesting situation that points to a functional but inefficient electric fuel pump....perhaps. I haven't changed the pump since I purchase the Fiat three years ago. When I bought it, I drove it 75 miles on the highway to my home without a hiccup. I haven't used it much since I've had limited time and was working on suspension and other projects. I do run the car monthly. The fuel is fresh and only two months old and the tank is half full. Now that it's finished, I am having a hard time starting from cold. When it starts, it idles great but as soon as I try to give it some gas with the pedal (even a small amount) , it stubbles and eventually stalls out. I checked the carb, in-line fuel filter, one-way check valves and all seemed fine. BTW, everything is stock. I even blew out the lines to make sure no blockage. I then took a plastic bottle and placed the fuel line (feeding the carb) in it and realized the fuel flow was super slow and very little volume... seemed like a trickle. I even checked the return line just to be sure. No fuel flow, as expected. To be clear, I did these tests directly were the fuel lines come up near the passenger side strut tower and directly connecting a hose to the metal feed lines. My guess is that the universal pump under the car (near fuel tank) simply doesn't have the lift capacity (anymore ?) to feed the carb and it may have gone bad. I did an experiment and let the pump run with the ignition key 'on' for two minutes to allow the fuel to build up in the carb. Sure enough, the car instantly started and ran great at idle. As soon as I gave it gas, it stumbled. Restarted it and the idle is irratic....at best. I'm wondering if I should replace the pump? I'm thinking of getting a Facet FEP60SV Gold model. Having said all this, could the floats be off even though I never touched the carb and it past the California stringent smog test 'as is' last year? Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.
Thank you!
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