Fuel Sender Issue?

quote:

I have no clue as to what I should do next.

Get out the checkbook! %^))

Wow, I was wrestling with this same problem all last week. I put the car away last fall because it ran like crap. Tried to start it when the weather turned better and it won't go. I disconnected everything, even the fuel pump which had only 5 hours on it. Still had no fuel to the carb. So I replaced the fuel pump and filter yesterday. Tried starting it up and got nothing, no fuel. I disconnected the carb supply and cranked the engine over a minute and finally gas came out of the hose. Hooked it up and ran like a champ, first time since October. As wierd as it seemed, I guess I had an "air lock" in the line and had to bleed it. Good news - it runs. Bad news - I don't know why the fuel line went dry.

I've been through this more times then...I recommend using the tank drain as your supply.

Even with an electric pump this can happen with the Pantera because of the depth of the pick-up tube.

You can't vapor lock if you supply from the bottom.

There has been many articles on this problem. The challange is trying it suck the fuel from the bottom of the tank to the top then get it to the pump (about 22 inches of rise). Mech pumps do a better job at sucking then eletrical ones. So most people with eletrical pumps remove the drain plug from the bottom of the tank and hook up the pick up there.

You should be able to remove the sender unit of newer (72-73) without pulling the tank/engine. The bolts around the top of the sender will allow you to pull it out. I would check the condition of the tank. Looking for rust, if rusty you might be stuck pulling the tank which means removing the engine. The sender/pickup has a sock on the pickup, this could gunk up with crap and cut off the fuel supply.

Also at the tech session JackD discussed pickups that were split so that when not full they would suck air. All fun things to check.

if you search the archives, you will find that a fuel sender for a carb powered fiat x-1/9 will work just fine. They are considerably cheaper too!

John