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MG MGB Technical - Fuel pump, no noise

1972 B with the latter fuel pump. The is no clicking from the pump.
About 2 gallons in the tank. The contacts rest closed so the circuit is complete. I have taken the pump off cleaned it, the diaphram and all gaskets are in good condition. There is power and nothing seems stuck. The points aren't pitted, and even prodding it, it won't start pumping. This is the original pump and i felt bad destroying the SU sticker to get to the points. Please help i don't want to stick some modern electrick pump under there. Thanks in advance
G.L Lodge

Read this fuel delivery troubleshooting guide by Dave DuBois. If that doesn't help send Dave an email describing your problem.
http://www.mgexperience.net/article/fuel-tsg.html

Clifton
Clifton Gordon

I have a similar/dissimilar problem. '76 MGB: It starts fine and runs fine, but I no longer hear the fuel pump ticking when I turn on the ignition. Can the engine run without the pump? The tank was recently filled. Any thoughts??
Thanks,
Bill
Bill Meyer

GL - If you car has sat idle for a long period of time, the points have probably filmed over sufficiently that the contacts are insulated from one another. To fix this will require a very aggressive sanding of the contacts with some 400 grit sand paper and a follow up cleaning with solvent such as alcohol or lacquer thinner. You will find that the contacts on the lower carrier are very difficult to get the sandpaper on since they rest below the top surface of the pedestal and above the lower surface. you will need to remove the pivot pin that hold the lower carrier to the pedestal and remove the two screws securing the pedestal to the top of the coil housing, the rotate the pedestal up so that access is gained to the lower contacts. If you go to the link that Clifton provide, there is a troubleshooting procedure to determine if power is getting to the pump and to check for a good ground.

Bill - If the engine is running, the fuel pump is running. Generally, one can't hear the fuel pump over the noise of the engine running. If you were able to hear the pump when the engine was running, the pump was directly touching the chassis of the car so that the sound was being transmitted into the passenger compartment. The pump is normally mounted in a rubber grommet to isolate it from the chassis, your pump may have been touching somewhere, but moved slightly to the point that it is no longer touching.
Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

The standard first treatment is to turn on the ignition and thrash the pump with a screwdriver handle.

Dan Robinson

Thanks everybody. I've tried hitting the pump, oh iv'e tried. The points look ok, iv'e cleaned them and gapped them as per the workshop manual. Power is getting through to a good earth and everything seems to move alright. But would it be right to say that even if the lines were disconneted and power put through that the points would still chatter. It drove out the garage alright but i suspect that was with what was in the floats.
G.L Lodge

Clifton, thanks for the link.
THE ANSWER
This weekend i was doing some work on the rear panel of the car, reversing lights, petrol cap and number plate off. Well like the link says, the petrol pump earths through the number plate ! Re connected the wires and i now have a very clean and eager to go pump. Thanks again
G.L Lodge

G.L. Glad to hear you found the problem. Dave should get credit for writing the article and making it available to British car owners. I happened to remember the article and pointed it out to you.

Clifton Gordon
Clifton Gordon

This thread was discussed between 04/09/2007 and 06/09/2007

MG MGB Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.