I hate mechanical fuel pumps.

[[huzeeee]]

It started a couple of weeks ago when my car died from lack of fuel. There was a good 10 litres in the tank so it wasnt that. I found out that the fuel pump was to blame. I left the car a while cos i was coming into a bit of cash which would be enough to give the mini a good sorting out and hopefully see it on the road for quite a while longer. Anyway the money never came so i left the major sorting for anonther day and decided to just get it back on the road so at least i could use it. I got a replacement fuel pump, fitted it and blew all the fuel pipes through(i found a stone in one of my fuel pipes, this was probably the cause of all my problems). All was well for about 4 hours, when it died again from what sounded like the same problem. I checked the pipes for blockages to which i found none, i also checked the valves in the fuel pump and they were fine aswell. I took the fuel pump off again to find out that the lever that goes into the engine had snapped off, taking the pivot pin and a spring with it which are now all floating around in my engine So here comes engine out and rebuild number 2 and i have only had it on the road for 2 months. Anyway before i take the engine out and rip it to pieces i wanted to see if anyone has any ideas for what else i can do to get the pieces out of my engine? Im really hoping somone does cos it will save me hours

 

[Jonny69]

To be honest those bits will probably sit in the bottom of the sump and never bother you. It can't really go anywhere because the mesh on the bottom of the pump will stop it getting sucked up and if it does go anywhere it will end up in the filter. I found a few bits and pieces in the sump of the first engine I ever rebuilt. Can't think of any other way to get them out other than whip the sump off though. If it's steel parts maybe one of those aerials with a magnet on the end things might grab it out the oil?

 

[Bill101]

Oh the joys of owning an old mini. Mine manages to wear away the cam inside the engine so even a new pump was no good, I think that in the end I put a piece of rubber tubing over the lever which would last almost a year before I had to replace it.

 

[Dogbreath]

To be honest those bits will probably sit in the bottom of the sump and never bother you.

The trouble being that the sump is entirely full of gearbox, which will complain if bits of fuel pump get wedged into the gears...

You could try putting a "magnet-on-a-stick" tool into the sump plug and down the distributor hole (after removing distributor of course) and see if you can retrieve the parts, but unfortunately the sump is divided internally by the wall that supports the large double roller bearing so you probably won't be able to reach all of it.

When you put it back together, blank off the mechanical pump hole and fit a Facet electric one in the boot or under the rear subframe, and make sure you include an in-line fuel filter.

 

[Jonny69]

Bah, forgot about that with the old Mini