fueling no start issue

[julien]

Heres a video of my issueSo after a few weeks of cleaning up and tinkering with my new 2002, I finally have it almost starting. After waiting a month for magnecor wires and replacing the coil, I'm getting spark but still no fuel. The car back fires and sounds like it's about to start- then doesn't. My fuel tank reads totally empty even though the fuel send unit is getting 3+ V and everything works fine on it (I pulled it apart today) I tried sucking fuel from the line leading into the carburator, and saw fuel squirt into the filter. My filter's before my pump so I'm wondering if it might be an issue with the pump, but it looks brand new (and has very few miles on it) Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

On another note - I'm very confused by where each of the gas lines lead in this car. On my car, there are two plastic fuel lines (blue and white) running through the car and the blue one leads no where(open end). there seem to be two return lines, is this normal?

Edited July 13, 2020 by julien
video

[coloincaalpine RIP 2021]

Those 2 hoses going into the tank are crossed.  The 3rd one goes up over the shock tower and is supported by those body clips welded onto the body and plugs into the filler neck.

Also you are missing the plastic sleeve on the tank pickup tube and could be sucking air there.

IMHO

Edited July 13, 2020 by coloincaalpine

[julien]

thanks colo, i figured out the lines were crossed and switched them, forgot to take a new picture. 

 

Would a leak that small cause the fuel to read empty?

Thanks a lot

[coloincaalpine RIP 2021]

If it is sucking air, it can't pull fuel to the front.   The pickup tube on the level sensor is supposed to have about a 1" piece of plastic sleeve pressed onto it.   You can cut a piece off of the end of that blue plastic line there and use it.  

When you do get fuel to the filter, make certain the there are NO BUBBLES in the fuel filter when pumping.

Has nothing to do with the fuel reading incorrectly. That is in the sender or the gauge ground.

Edited July 13, 2020 by coloincaalpine

[julien]

I dont think That's the problem. It's not sucking air, as I just got a mouth full of fuel. what would a broken pump look like?

 

[coloincaalpine RIP 2021]

If you have fuel to the filter then, pull the hose off at the carb,stick it in a cup and turn the engine over  to see if it pumps fuel.    Always good to have a fire extinguisher near by.

[Mike Self]

And...if you have any sections of the OEM fuel line with the braided cloth cover (and it isn't brand new), toss it in the neighbor's pool and buy new rubber fuel hose from your local auto parts store. 

 

There are at least four sections of rubber fuel hose in an '02:  tank to plastic line; plastic line at the firewall to the filter; filter to fuel pump and fuel pump to carb.  Those cloth covered lines can crack and you won't notice due to the cloth covering.   And that first section, right off the fuel tank, is often overlooked and may be original.

 

A crack--even a small one will allow your mechanical pump to suck air, which it would much rather do than suck gasoline.  Also...make sure the fuel filter is installed correctly with the arrow pointing towards the carburetor.  And it's OK to have the filter upstream from the pump.  That's where it's normally located. 

 

mike 

[julien]

The carb is definitely getting fuel. Now it's just backfiring and still refusing to start. Seems to be shooting gas or some other liquid out through the carb when it backfires as well. Really not too sure why it wouldn't be starting if it's getting fuel and spark

[NYNick]

Have you tried cleaning the carb, or at least using carb cleaner? If your car sat for a long time, the gas in that carb did nasty stuff to the inside of the carb. Just because you're getting gas doesn't mean your carb is acting properly. 

 

1) Verify your pump works properly at the carb.

2) Verify it's getting air properly

3) Verify it's getting constant spark.

 

If it doesn't start and all those things are working as they should, I'm betting your carb is plugged.

[julien]

that all makes sense. how do I check those three things out? should I fully disassemble the carb, or just spray some carb cleaner though it? 

[NYNick]

You've been told how to check the pump at the carb intake. Do that.

Air is easy. Check the air cleaner path.

Spark is easy. Pull a plug and ground it while cranking. 

 

I'm betting plugged carb. There has to be a tech article on that. 

 

Have you tried started fluid in the carb?

Have you check the points and their proper adjustment?

Have you checked the timing?

 

All easy stuff. Bad timing and maladjusted or old points can cause backfiring. Spend an hour or two making sure all is right with the ignition. Hoping for the best rarely works.

['76mintgrün'02]

On 7/13/2020 at 3:12 PM, julien said:

After waiting a month for magnecor wires and replacing the coil

 

I'd double check the wire placement on the distributor cap.

1342 clockwise.  There should be a little line on the top rim of the distributor body, indicating where the number one wire goes.

 

The late cars have a resistor wire in the harness feeding original black coil, but your blue coil has 3 ohms of resistance built in; so you don't want to add the resistor wire to that.  If you have the resistor wire connected, you will want to add a new wire feeding 12V to the coil.  

 

Remember --  "Only 10% of your ignition problems are in the fuel system."  (right, Mike?)

 

Tom

[RH002AJ]

Hello

Is the distributor connection  order correct?

I pray for the solution of the problem.

[julien]

On 7/14/2020 at 8:39 PM, '76mintgrün'02 said:

 

I'd double check the wire placement on the distributor cap.

1342 clockwise.  There should be a little line on the top rim of the distributor body, indicating where the number one wire goes.

Thank you so much! I popped the distributor cap off and noticed my little line was not where I had seen it on other 02's, changed the wire order and she fired right up! She drives great and I now have a list of things to get started on. Thank you all so much for the feedback and ideas, I knew it was something simple

[coloincaalpine RIP 2021]

Yay!    Congrats Julien.  A little OJT with all of these cool instructors .

-dq