fuel pump help

Hey guys. Well I got my new Qjet hooked up on the sbc 350 and the jeep was running nice idling in the driveway. I took it for a test drive and got about 2 blocks before she died and I had to tow her home. It was that time when everyone and their mom was taking a walk in the neighborhood too. It felt like she ran out of gas, but there was gas in the tank. I figured it must be the fuel pump, so I replaced it with the same mechanical fuel pump. However that didn't fix the problem. The pump is not getting gas to the carburetor. I reinstalled the fuel pump 3 times, and I made sure the rod was up when I got the pump into place. What else could it be? Thanks

 

Did ya check the fuel filter?

 

Yessir the fuel filter is in line. There is no fuel getting to the filter. Does the new fuel pump need to be primed somehow? I noticed a bit of fuel in the pump in between re-installations. I poured a bit of gas down the throat of the carb to get the engine running for a few seconds, but the fuel filter was still dry.

 

Check your fuel line all the way back to the tank. Look for cracks , pinched, or if it came off at the tank. If all that is good, you may want to blow some air through the line back toward tank. You may also need to prime the new pump.

 

How would I prime the pump?

 

Sounds like a restriction on the tank pickup to me (or a kinked/smashed line as noted above). SBC pumps are usually rather effective sucking from the tank in a flatty as the tank is above the pump-at least those in the stock location. Might try jury rigging a tube from the suction side of the pump to a can of gas and see if it does pump. May isolate the problem.

 

Ok thanks guys that helped. I fed the pump gas from a can and it fired right up. So it looks like my fuel pump is working fine. When you say it sounds like a restriction on the tank pickup, I'm guessing that means there is a clog? I'm not sure what the fuel pickup is. I have an aftermarket fuel tank that sits in the back. I don't think the line could have been pinched since it was running fine in the driveway before all this happened. Before I changed the fuel pump, the gas in the filter was orange. I put a couple gallons of fresh gas in it and it cleared back up. I was thinking that it might have been oil mixing in the gas from the fuel pump somehow (shootin from the hip there). But looking back I suppose it could have been some crud in the fuel tank. Where do you guys think I should go from here? Thanks for walking me through this!!!

 

If tank is easy to get to, pull it out and clean it. As said before , blow some air back towards the tank. Kinda sounds like tank has some rust in it. Or trash.

 

Take the line off the pump from the tank and blow some air into the tank to force the fuel thru the line. After the line starts running fuel it should keep the siphon going if the end of the line is below the tank. If the siphon won't continue then you have too much restriction in the line or the tank pickup tube or a break (leak) in the line.

 

Alright guys that did it I sprayed some air back through the line and all is well. Well I suppose that means that I'm going to have to take the tank off and give it a good cleanin. For some reason my fuel gauge quit workin though! One of these days I'm going to be able to fix something on this jeep without breaking something else. Thanks for the help!

 

Just one of the joys of owning a "classic" vehicle lol.