ITS ALIVE well almost

[graham]

hi
i tried getting my 55 coupe started today after 22 years. new plugs and leads, oil change, re attached pipework, filled with water (someone had removed the cylinder block drain plug toolbox full of water), new battery, set up a temporary fuel supply in engine bay (cherryade bottle) and fitted a new fuel line.
on turning the key the engine turns over ;D but wont fire im not convinced the fuel pump is doing its job any way of testing it i assume you disconnect the carb pipe and see if fuel comes out.
any way of servicing the fuel pump if its faulty or would i need a new one. also could i bypass the fuel pump by gravity feeding the fuel drip style as a tempory measure.
any advice on the fuel pump or anything else you can think of will be much appreciated.
thanks
graham

[dafdaffer]

hi graham, i find that when the dafs have sat a while the diaphragm in the pump tends to dry out, try taking it out and manually pumping it or let fuel flow to it then suck it out the other side. sounds odd but has worked for me in the past,
also, take the top of the carb off and fill the float bowl, then pump the link to the diaphragm on the carb as this will also have gone hard then refit and try starting, or take the pipe of the top of the carb and force some petrol in, if the pump wont go at all i think that i have one so i could send you one.

Paul

[graham]

chears paul i will have another go tommorow, do you know if the diaphram is dried out if it needs replacing or just soaking in petrol for a while. have you collected gladys yet

[veeruk]

Hey Graham, I had the same problem with the 1100cc DAF 66 I got. It had not been started for a while so it would not fire up. I removed the fuel pump, pumped it by hand a few times. Then refitted it and it started up straight away.

[graham]

im just about to brave the wind and rain i will let you know how i get on

[daf44]

if you are using a plastic bottle, pour two capfuls of petrol straight down the neck of the carb and try starting again. if it fires on this, check fuel and carb as suggested already.
if it does not fire on this i would suggest rechecking points, condenser and all connections on the ignition system, static time the engine again and check the spark at the points and the plugs.

let us know if this works.

paul44

[graham]

good news and bad

good points
im in from the weather
the fuel pump seems to be working now i took it off sucked through some petrol and pumped it by hand now when you turn the engine by hand you can see the petrol going to the carb. the pump is a sealed unit other than access to the filter nothing like the pic in my manual.
the car seems to have retained the fluids overnight.

bad points
battery is totaly flat and so i still havent got it started. although i did drain the battery a bit yesterday and there was a little bit left today does anyone know what might have flattened it over night everything appears off?
an unusual one that has me scratching my head is that when i turned the key the accelerator cable in the car became super heated and started smoking it didnt do this yesterday but there are some scorch marks around the cable as though this has happened before any ideas?
graham

[daf44]

sounds like the earth lead from the engine to the body is broken somewhere.
the power is then coming back through the throttle cable to earth.
make sure you have a good earth from the engine to the body BEFORE starting the car again or you could risk fire. a jump lead would do the trick just to try starting it but this problem DOES NEED REPAIRING eventually.

this could also acount for the apparent dead battery as not enough current can get through the starter motor if the earth lead is broken.
it was probably weak when you started yesterday and burned out completely when the starter was operating.
let me know if this helps.

paul44

[graham]

thanks paul
ive looked in my increasingly useless manual which mentions earthing but dosent expand on it at all. what i need to know is where abouts on the engine should the earth go and to where abouts on the body and what sort of cable will do the job ive got some household earthing cable somewhere, should there be any other earthing anywhere else.
thanks
graham

[daf44]

::)aren't workshop manuals great
they tell you everything you dont need and miss out the basics.

an earth cable could go from any bolt on the engine to any bolt on the body, or straight to the battery terminal.

if i am not sure i tend to put one from a bolt holding on the starter motor direct to the battery terminal. you can normally fix it to the bolt holding the clamp onto the battery terminal.
if you do this it would not be the end of the world if you dont even find the original as this will replace it.
a jump lead to these positions will be fine to test the car but it is only temporary.
you need a fairly flexible cable as an earth lead and i would use something about the same thickness as the main wires coming from the battery terminals. if you are not sure then it is better to use thicker wires rather than thinner ones
i would not recommend houshold cable as it is not normally heavy enough or flexible enough. a starter motor could draw up to 60 amps even on a small car like this and household cable will not normally handle the temperatures and vibration in an engine bay.
motor factors like halfords normally sell ready made earth cables in varying length and thickness for under a tenner.

keep us all informed.

paul44

[graham]

as far as manuals mine has two pages about sunroofs surely not the most important point

[howard]

Scary stuff! I had exactly the same problem with fuel delivery yesterday with my 66 coupe. I ended up doing the old "suck it and get a gob full of fuel for your trouble" routine, which worked a treat.

However, she doesn't yet run well unless the revs are high, but it's the weekend now and I'll have more than 30 minutes at the end of the day to tinker before it gets dark!

This year I'm determined to get them all done, and I've even borrowed some money *yeeks* to help me do this! No excuses this year!!!

This means there are no excuses for not paying my subs, too!!

All the best!

Howard

[dillyman]

I don't want to sound like a Dismal Willie but it can pay to be very careful when you start an engine which has been standing for a very long time. You may get away with it O.K. but sometimes all is not well - especially with lubrication, water circulation and deteriorating electric wiring. Some people have wrecked engines through failure thoroughly to check everything both before and after start up. It can also help to know why the vehicle was laid up in the first place. It is not unknown to find that it was due to a serious and unrepaired fault !

My Dilly (44) had stood for over ten years and all was well with the engine thank goodness - but I failed to check/replace the drive belts and both snapped at once when over a hundred miles from home! I think it was due to the belts rotting somewhat where they had been resting in the pulleys for so long. Think on!

Good luck - Marcus H.

[starider]

If you still haven't been able to start your 55 make sure you have a spark by removing a plug refit the plug lead get some one to crank the engine while you hold the plug against the engine [USE A SCREWDRIVER WITH INSULATED HANDLE TO DO THIS]this will tell you if there is a spark.often the engine will start if there are sparks at this point so be aware this may happen, make sure you are in neutral!!If you have not replaced the earth lead yet ,a jump lead from the negative[-]terminal to the engine will work as a temporary earth.As previously stated you MUST have a good earth from the body/battery otherwise the starter can use any cable as earth return!! Good luck - starider