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Hello all,

After spending 9 months rebuilding my mini and geting to the turn key moment I find the fuel pump has not decided to play anymore. Before I spend another day on my back just thought I would ask the question.

The pump used to make the "tic tic " sound but somewhere along the rebuild it stopped and I never noticed. I have checked the fuses and all is good in the engine bay.

There has been work done previously under the car as there are a few wires cut and changed, currently going to the pump there is a positive wire (checked with voltmeter) and a negative wire. This leads me to presume it's a replacement type?

I have sucked some fuel through (I had forgotten how bad it tastes) and there seems to be coming through without being blocked.

I have tried tapping it with a small hammer, but I'm just wondering if there is a procedure I'm missing that requires re-completing to get it back working as it's been stood so long. Luckily I was given a new fuel pump when I purchased the car, but want to make sure i don't encounter the same problem if I change it?

Thanks in advance

Sully

It'll be that the points in the plastic cap end have stuck together through lack of use. Every year without fail when I first go to use one of my cars, I have to get underneath and give the pump a sharp whack with a screwdriver head. Once the pump starts ticking I never have a problem for the rest of the season.

IIRC, the fuel pump live wire is white along with a black earth wire.

Even if you fit the new pump, its pretty odds on that it won't work without a sharp tap.

Best thing is to take the pump off, take the points out and clean/stone them up, refit and all should be fine.

Sully, if the pump has two wires coming out from the same location, that would be an aftermarket pump, probably the grey colored German one. The SU pumps have a single wire on the bakelite end cap as Andrew said with a second earth/ground wire connected elsewhere to the pump body.

I have never worked on the aftermarket pumps so I cannot say how they are serviced. Since they do go "tic-tic-tic" then there is a good chance it is burned points as Andrew said. If you can figure out how to access them then perhaps service will be as simple as pulling a bit of fine grit wet/dry paper between the points to expose sound contact material. Hopefully it will not involve adjusting the toggle mechanism that operates the pump points.

Andrew1967 wrote:It'll be that the points in the plastic cap end have stuck together through lack of use. Every year without fail when I first go to use one of my cars, I have to get underneath and give the pump a sharp whack with a screwdriver head. Once the pump starts ticking I never have a problem for the rest of the season.

IIRC, the fuel pump live wire is white along with a black earth wire.

Even if you fit the new pump, its pretty odds on that it won't work without a sharp tap.

Best thing is to take the pump off, take the points out and clean/stone them up, refit and all should be fine.

Andrew,

There is a yellow and black wire coming from the rear of the pump. The yellow is live that's connected to another cable with a crimp, it looks like an introduced live. I am presuming the points are situated at the rear of the pump where the connectors are? With the fuel lines being at the front.

I shall give it a (harder tap at the rear) then I shall take it off and strip it down although it's got half a tank of fuel in it. Finger in the dam springs to mind

Sully

dklawson wrote:Sully, if the pump has two wires coming out from the same location, that would be an aftermarket pump, probably the grey colored German one. The SU pumps have a single wire on the bakelite end cap as Andrew said with a second earth/ground wire connected elsewhere to the pump body.

I have never worked on the aftermarket pumps so I cannot say how they are serviced. Since they do go "tic-tic-tic" then there is a good chance it is burned points as Andrew said. If you can figure out how to access them then perhaps service will be as simple as pulling a bit of fine grit wet/dry paper between the points to expose sound contact material. Hopefully it will not involve adjusting the toggle mechanism that operates the pump points.

Doug,

Not a bit of Bakerlite in sight. It must be an aftermarket type, when I pull it off I shall find the correct setting point, that's after the sharp tap with a blunt object solution.

Sully

Doesn't sound like an original SU pump then Sully. The originals normally have a spade terminal on top of the Bakelite cap to take the white feed wire.

I don't know a lot about the aftermarket non-standard pumps as we only use original SU points type. I would bet that the aftermarket is a solid state type and is therefore not serviceable.

Andrew1967 wrote:Doesn't sound like an original SU pump then Sully. The originals normally have a spade terminal on top of the Bakelite cap to take the white feed wire.

I don't know a lot about the aftermarket non-standard pumps as we only use original SU points type. I would bet that the aftermarket is a solid state type and is therefore not serviceable.

I just went up the garage and tried the tapping of the pump with a small hammer, the other one I was given seems to be similar, I took the back off and there are a set of points at the rear. I connected this up to a 12v car battery in the hope it would give off the familiar "tic tic" sound but nothing.

Back to the drawing board I suppose.

Cheers anyway

Sully

Maybe a photo of the pump will help identify what make/model it is and might help to resolve your issues.

Took it off and apart I now have fuel to the engine, I cleaned the points at the rear cleaned up all the terminals put it back on and it works again. Seems like it was a poor connection somewhere.

Sully

All's well that ends well Sully

Andrew1967 wrote:All's well that ends well Sully

Yes and no Andy, pump is leaking, fuel lines are in need of replacing, apart from that life is grand ha!

Sully