Technical No fuel at pump

[Captain Torque]

Hi All,

I have what seems (to me) to be an odd problem. I took my 1970 Fiat 500L for a drive yesterday and it ran fine. It had been sitting for a while due to inclement weather, so it took a little cranking but it ran fine once it started. Today, she would not start at all. I eventually traced the problem down to a lack of fuel. There was no fuel getting to the fuel pump at all… it was dry as a bone. In the past, when I disconnected the fuel line going into the pump, fuel would flow out rapidly due to gravity. The tank is about 3/4 full, but nothing is reaching the pump. I have not had time to dig into it yet, but is there a common cause for this? I know that there is a filter of some sort in the tank, so I will check that. It just seems odd that it was running fine yesterday and now it’s bone dry.

 

[Bleeding Knuckles]

Hi Capt T, yes check the filter at the tank and if you can disconnect the fuel line before the pump and blow back to the tank or cover the tank cap area and use an air line (gently pressurise) to blow through to the pump (disconnected) in case something has been drawn into the supply pipe.
Ian.

 

[Captain Torque]

Cheers, Mr. Knuckles. I was able to get the fuel flowing again by following your advice! I’ll have to wait for better weather to try starting her, but there’s definitely gas flowing now.