New fuel level sender... new problem

[will e]

I put in a new fuel level sender. It took me longer than it should have. I thought I had less gas in the tank than I did but, since my old sender wasn't working, I guessed wrong.

Anyways. I get the new sender in and fired the car up. Idles fine. I add the gas I took out (about 3 gallons) and head off to the gas station.

I drive maybe 200 yards and it dies. no fuel pressure (I have a gauge). So I add a couple more gallons but no bueno.

I realized I picked the wrong fuel line. A long time ago I had fuel injection and added a return line to the sending unit. When I went back to a carb I capped off one of the lines in the engine bay.

But at the sender there were still two fuel lines and somehow I picked the wrong one.

So after several tries putting fuel down the carb throat I figured out the problem, switched to the other line and fired it up. Great. Running good.

Then I drove it about 4 miles. It died again. Kind of lost power and just quit. Again, no fuel pressure. So I added a couple more gallons and put a little more down the carb and it fired up and I got it home. Barely.

I can only get about 2lbs of pressure and 'bubbles' come into the clear fuel filter.

There was a lot of oil leaking from the engine so I checked the oil level and it is very high. I just changed the oil last week.

So I think the fuel pump diaphram sprung a leak into the crank case. It would explain the lack of fuel pressure and the abnormally high oil level. I am going to check it again in the morning. If the oil level is still high I will drain the oil and replace the fuel pump.

Any thoughts?

Oh, the gauge works now.

 

[TommyK]

Does the oil smell like gas? If so then your fuel pump diaphragm diagnosis is most likely correct.

If it turns out the fuel pump isn't the issue it sounds like the fuel line may be sucking air in from someplace. Look for loose connections or cracks in the line.

Good luck.

 

[mjlan]

It does sound like your pump might be leaking. Do you have a filter on the auction side of the pump?

 

[will e]

I checked the oil again this morning and it is still high. There is not an obvious gas smell. It's fresh oil, I just changed it last week. I added 5 qts so a high readings is suspect.

I also found a splattering of oil droplets from where it was ideling. I think it might be gas/oil combination. My engine is a bit oily on the outside.

The car sits parked for months at a time with an occassional starting of the engine. The fuel pump is at least 5 or 6 years old. It's been 'weak', not able to get enough pumping from cranking if I run it out of gas or let it sit for a long time. It's a cheap and simple swap so I bought a new one. I will install it later today.

Again, the good news is my fuel level gauge 'works'. We will see how accurate it is.

This leave just the amp meter not working. I believe I will send it off to have the volt conversion done on it. I had been kicking around the idea of aftermarket gauges but am now thinking of sticking with the originals..

 

[jbojo]

Yeah, the volt meter conversion is probably a good idea.

 

[rocket366]

The tank is "vented" in some way = TRUE?

By the evap canister or a vented cap like I use because my vent line

is capped off at the firewall because I no longer have the

evap canister.

Paul

 

[will e]

I swapped out the pump. I am showing 7 plus lbs of pressure now. This is greater than the old pump ever managed. I didn't get to test drive it. It's getting dark and if the car dies again I don't want to deal with it.

But I think I have it all fixed now and a working gas gauge too!

I have a mechanical fuel pressure gauge in the engine compartmant. It is worth its weight... It's a simple addition I would encourage everyone to do.

I also have an oil pressure gauge (mechanical) in the engine compartment. You can watch the oil pressure jump right up. Another good addition.