Banu & I set off for Beaulieu on Friday morning in the company of several cars from Cambridge A7 Club, but didn't quite make it to the half-way stop, as the Ulster's engine kept cutting in and out, with much the same symptoms as a fault which happened last year coming home through Denmark, and again returning from Cottenham last week. I thought it to be an ignition fault as I had eliminated fuelling the first time around, though I was never quite satisfied that I'd found the real cause.
We staggered on a few miles till the engine conked out completely, and Steve from Woodcote village kindly helped push us up the hill to an abandoned petrol station where we were able to shelter from the rain and investigate further. Having changed all the main ignition parts, and established that there was an adequate spark, thoughts turned to fuelling again. I removed the lid of the float bowl and found it empty. Turning on the ignition, a feeble dribble of petrol emerged from the valve. We concluded that the SU pump had failed after 40 years of solid service, and called RH to get us home, as the light was failing and I had no expectations of repairing the pump dependably at the roadside. Dave Mayall spotted us while driving past and kept us company while we waited for the truck to arrive.
This is a good point at which to thank the team at RH who were clearly very busy, but processed our details efficiently and without any fuss. It took them a little time to locate a contractor who was able to come out to us, but I really can't fault their service at all.
Safe and sound back home in Bedford, we had a midnight supper then swapped the brand new SU pump off my RP onto the Ulster, finishing up around 2am.
10 am Saturday, we set off again - and got 5 miles... Same symptoms as before. Common sense told us to turn around and limp home, where we transferred all our camping gear into the Micra - we could at least still salvage our weekend. As I pushed the Austin the last 50 yards to the house, I noted that the SU pump kept on ticking and ticking, and didn't stop as it normally does when the float bowl is full.
We had a great night and day at the rally, and drove back Sunday evening. This morning I set about tracing the elusive fault. I detached the hose from the float bowl, switched on power to the pump, nothing came out. A loose joint to the pump was rectified, then I found the plastic fuel filter had failed, and replaced it with a new one. Went for a run up the road - and stopped again...
So - the fuel tap? I tied a rubber glove over the filler cap and undid the tap from the tank, and screwed in a temporary plug to stem the stream of petrol. Dismantled the tap on the bench, and found I could blow air through the outlet drilling, but not through the inlet. And that's where I found this:
20230703_130902.jpg (Size: 416.18 KB / Downloads: 268)
Happy to report (touch wood!) we are back up and running again!
Our heartfelt thanks to Steve, Dave Mayall, the RH breakdown team, Robert Leigh, Charis Whitcombe, Simon Lewis and several other people who offered us help and encouragement, it was much appreciated.
We staggered on a few miles till the engine conked out completely, and Steve from Woodcote village kindly helped push us up the hill to an abandoned petrol station where we were able to shelter from the rain and investigate further. Having changed all the main ignition parts, and established that there was an adequate spark, thoughts turned to fuelling again. I removed the lid of the float bowl and found it empty. Turning on the ignition, a feeble dribble of petrol emerged from the valve. We concluded that the SU pump had failed after 40 years of solid service, and called RH to get us home, as the light was failing and I had no expectations of repairing the pump dependably at the roadside. Dave Mayall spotted us while driving past and kept us company while we waited for the truck to arrive.
This is a good point at which to thank the team at RH who were clearly very busy, but processed our details efficiently and without any fuss. It took them a little time to locate a contractor who was able to come out to us, but I really can't fault their service at all.
Safe and sound back home in Bedford, we had a midnight supper then swapped the brand new SU pump off my RP onto the Ulster, finishing up around 2am.
10 am Saturday, we set off again - and got 5 miles... Same symptoms as before. Common sense told us to turn around and limp home, where we transferred all our camping gear into the Micra - we could at least still salvage our weekend. As I pushed the Austin the last 50 yards to the house, I noted that the SU pump kept on ticking and ticking, and didn't stop as it normally does when the float bowl is full.
We had a great night and day at the rally, and drove back Sunday evening. This morning I set about tracing the elusive fault. I detached the hose from the float bowl, switched on power to the pump, nothing came out. A loose joint to the pump was rectified, then I found the plastic fuel filter had failed, and replaced it with a new one. Went for a run up the road - and stopped again...
So - the fuel tap? I tied a rubber glove over the filler cap and undid the tap from the tank, and screwed in a temporary plug to stem the stream of petrol. Dismantled the tap on the bench, and found I could blow air through the outlet drilling, but not through the inlet. And that's where I found this:
20230703_130902.jpg (Size: 416.18 KB / Downloads: 268)
Happy to report (touch wood!) we are back up and running again!
Our heartfelt thanks to Steve, Dave Mayall, the RH breakdown team, Robert Leigh, Charis Whitcombe, Simon Lewis and several other people who offered us help and encouragement, it was much appreciated.