V8 Fuel starvation

GRTV8

Well-Known Member
Anyone throw some light on this ?
Ran low on fuel , so pulled on the reserve knob.
Engine died.
Refueled with two 20ltre drums from the local servo . Bit of a walk with 2 full drums- Im sure my arms are now longer.
Cranked her over . Would not fire. Flattened the battery.
A passing friendly motorist towed me the 1km home.
Fresh battery - still wont start.
Pulled and cleaned the filter out of the electric fuel pump [under right rear].
Fresh battery again -still wont start .
Used "Start Ya bastard"- nothing.
Pushed p6b into garage and shut the door. Take that you naughty girl !!
10 days later I hopped in the cab and she fires first crank.
Plus the radio that hasnt worked for 1 year springs into life too.
WTF
Drove around town for a test drive- beautiful .
Went a few Km further -beautiful.
So peeps -WTF ?
 

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After adding fuel did you change back from Reserve to Main Tank? If you didn't it's possibly a blockage somewhere in the Reserve line up to the changeover valve.
 
After adding fuel did you change back from Reserve to Main Tank? If you didn't it's possibly a blockage somewhere in the Reserve line up to the changeover valve.

No I didn't at the time and you could be onto something Bruce - thanks
 
Yup possibly the reserve system needs a look at. If the car was running and you pulled reserve I guess the reserve take off in the tank is blocked, the one with the filter.
Then possibly the tap did not return to main when you refuelled ?
Why 10 days later it fired up ? dunno.

I think I would drain the tank and remove the sender unit to make sure all is well, and then obtain an O ring for the tap and make sure that is free of crud.
The radio started working because you slammed the door so hard when you put it away ;)
 
Yup possibly the reserve system needs a look at. If the car was running and you pulled reserve I guess the reserve take off in the tank is blocked, the one with the filter.
Then possibly the tap did not return to main when you refuelled ?
Why 10 days later it fired up ? dunno.

I think I would drain the tank and remove the sender unit to make sure all is well, and then obtain an O ring for the tap and make sure that is free of crud.
The radio started working because you slammed the door so hard when you put it away ;)

Yeah -door slam fixed the radio . Not looking forward to draining the tank ,now that I just put 40ltr of 98 in her. I'll keep that in mind after ive exhausted all the 5min fixit options. Thanks cobraboy
 
Disconnect the main and reserve lines at the pump, stick the end in your mouth and blow as hard as you can to try to free any crud that is in the way.
You will feel it suddenly go free if it works and then go for a drive until your fuel level is low enough to drain it easily.
 
Disconnect the main and reserve lines at the pump, stick the end in your mouth and blow as hard as you can to try to free any crud that is in the way.
You will feel it suddenly go free if it works and then go for a drive until your fuel level is low enough to drain it easily.
Yay -I like that idea- thanks
 
good job that you did not get Hick-ups when clearing the fuel line :cool:
Peter
My fuel pump is up under the rear seat area above the deDion tube, so couldnt get my lips close enough to give a good blow on the inlet. I used a piece of rubber pipe as an extension and blew.
 
If you ran the car dry and didn't push the reserve tap back in after putting 40 litres into her; You would still need to wait some time for the electric pump (I'm assuming its the factory setup) to prime both the fuel bowls before cranking it over. You need to wait till the ticking just about stops. It takes awhile because there is a return line which sends most of the fuel back to the tank and you also need to fill the main fuel filter
 
If you ran the car dry and didn't push the reserve tap back in after putting 40 litres into her; You would still need to wait some time for the electric pump (I'm assuming its the factory setup) to prime both the fuel bowls before cranking it over. You need to wait till the ticking just about stops. It takes awhile because there is a return line which sends most of the fuel back to the tank and you also need to fill the main fuel filter

Good reply - probably what it needed - time to recover . Bonus is Ive got clean lines and a refreshed stereo
 
I think I'd look and try to see where the dislodged crud went. It might be inside the strainer on the fuel pick up, waiting to find it's way back into the reserve pipe so it can catch you again (probably when you're miles from home on a freezing, wet night).
 
I think I'd look and try to see where the dislodged crud went. It might be inside the strainer on the fuel pick up, waiting to find it's way back into the reserve pipe so it can catch you again (probably when you're miles from home on a freezing, wet night).
Im going to outwit the system and keep the petrol tank at least half full so the crud can stay on the bottom until such time I empty the same and remove the debris
 
The main fuel pipe in the tank is an open ended tube about three inches above the bottom. The Reserve feeds from the bottom but has fine screen on it to keep the crap out. So even if you have crud coming back through the return it is unlikely that it'll do more thean swish around the bottom of the tank. Problems can arise where the crud is of the same density as the petrol or lighter as it'll float about and go down the main pipe.
 
The main fuel pipe in the tank is an open ended tube about three inches above the bottom. The Reserve feeds from the bottom but has fine screen on it to keep the crap out. So even if you have crud coming back through the return it is unlikely that it'll do more thean swish around the bottom of the tank. Problems can arise where the crud is of the same density as the petrol or lighter as it'll float about and go down the main pipe.

thanks Mike
 
I wasn't thinking about any crud coming back into the tank via the fuel return line. As Mike says, that would only slosh around in the bottom of the tank until you get around to cleaning it out.

I was thinking more about any crud that you might have blown back down the reserve fuel line, which could have ended up trapped inside the gauze strainer. Just something else to think about?
 
Firstly, hello again all. I've just checked and I can't believe how long it is since I was last on the forum and SXE has been in storage since then! I am sad to find that we have lost Pilkie but at least his former beloved P6 lives on!

I've posted to this thread because I have a similar problem but I didn't run low on fuel. Returning from a 3 day road rally throughout which SXE ran well the engine suddenly stopped pulling as if out of fuel, reserve made no difference. Made it to parking area and the engine revved well when stationary but still no pull, classic sign of fuel starvation thought I. Whilst checking around, I noticed air bubbles in fuel filter on front of engine. I suspected faulty fuel gauge and faulty reserve tap and put 5 litres from can and bingo the engine ran well and got us to garage. When I filled tank it only took 30 litres to fill to overflowing. Got home fine and it still runs normally. I can only suspect there was a blockage in tank which was miraculously cleared by adding 5 litres of fuel - but how? Are there fuel pickups at different levels in the tank? Any ideas are welcome. David
 
Hi, Bubbles through the fuel filter is a sign of fuel vaporisation which closely resembles starvation. If you search on the forum for it there will be a plethora of opinions and remedies for you to take your pick of.

Colin
 
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