I recently moved, dragging behind the U-haul my '71 Swinger. The car had been running pretty well. Over the past six months I've replaced the fuel pump, alternator, and gave it a full tune up. After two weeks of sitting, I'm getting no start. The starter cranks, but no fire. I tried to jump it thinking the time off drained the battery, but still no luck. Carb cleaner and adjustment, no dice. I noticed the fuel filter container has very little fuel in it...again the fuel pump and filter are new. Any ideas what the problem may be? Thanks.

I changed my starter and my fuel pump decided to quit. Mine would only blow, not suck. I come from wrenching on harleys so I didn't know that car fuel pumps suck- I thought they were gravity feed then pumped up to the carb. I was wrong!

Not to talk down, but my checklist when there is a problem is compression, spark, and fuel. If you lost compression you have a bigger problem than you want, so I usually assume that if the car had good power yesterday it probably has compression today. You can turn the key to the on position and bridge the starter selanoid with a screwdriver while holding a spare sparkplug against the block with one of the plug wires hooked up to it. You should see a spark, hopefully.

If you got spark you can put a spoonful of gas down the carb and see if the engine tries to catch. If it does, then fuel is probably the problem, like you seem to think anyway.

I am not into throwing money at problems, but a new fuel pump is like twenty bucks. A piece of 5/16" brake line can easily be bent to make a new hard line up to your carb area- then soft line to the inlet. There are only two bolts holding the fuel pump on and they are pretty easy to get to. And a gasket came with the pump I bought.

Another thing- maybe cheap pumps are junk? I busted my new pump today (see social corner) and went with a universal electric pump. Hopefully I won't have more problems! Don't wanna scare ya, but that's my story...

good luck
Kevin

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madam im adam

Don't forget to check for a cracked or blocked fuel lines - the pump will then get more air than fuel. The rubber lines do go bad with age, and can crack through or come apart inside.