1976 280Z Fuel Issues Troubleshooting

[Zed Head]

Which pump did you get?  You ID'ed the old one but not the new one.

There's no reason to start the engine to get the pump to work.  It will flow fuel all day if battery power is supplied.  You can do that by removing the yellow wire at the starter solenoid and turning the key to start, or by taking the cover off of the AFM and moving the weight off of the fuel pump contact lever with the key on.

[Paulytunes]

18 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

Which pump did you get?  You ID'ed the old one but not the new one.

There's no reason to start the engine to get the pump to work.  It will flow fuel all day if battery power is supplied.  You can do that by removing the yellow wire at the starter solenoid and turning the key to start, or by taking the cover off of the AFM and moving the weight off of the fuel pump contact lever with the key on.

The new one is an Autobest F4239 E8228.  It has a straight discharge instead of the 90-degree upwards discharge.  I probably should have looked a little closer before purchasing and trusting the "will fit your vehicle" confirmation on Amazon. 

[Paulytunes]

This was my first attempt at getting it to fit into the existing bracket.

[Zed Head]

I made a loop out of a piece of fuel hose to get my pump to fit.  It gives flexibility of orientation without kinks.

The pump will probably work fine but might be noisy.  Looks like it might be over-spec. for your needs although the specs shown are in an odd format.  Apparently it's a knockoff of the Airtex E8228.  The Airtex E8312 used to be the pump for the 280Z EFI.  But it's all weird now, hard to tell what's what.

It should spin up and pump fuel though.  Good luck.

https://www.autobestusa.com/universal_pumps.html

[Paulytunes]

So, today was a comedy of errors.  I removed the pre-filter and tried to prime the new fuel pump again.  No fuel flow came out of the discharge.  Just for shits and grins, I decided to reinstall the old pump to make sure that I wasn't screwing something up.  The old pump re-primed without issue and within a few seconds.  It seems likely that I was sent a defective fuel pump.  Around this time, my wife wants to go out to dinner, so I set the old pump on the ledge of the bucket I was using to catch the fuel from my disconnection and reconnection activities and go to wash up so that I can go to dinner with my wife and kids without reeking of gasoline.

We get to dinner, and my son says he feels dehydrated and not well.  Just as we are about to get seated, he gets as pale as a ghost, and my wife, with her mother's ESP/intuition/sixth sense, ushers him out the door, where he proceeds to vomit at the entrance of the restaurant.  Needless to say, we came home.  Upon opening the garage door, we discover this:

    

The fuel pump had fallen off the bucket ledge (probably when we closed the garage door or sometime there about), into the bucket, and proceeded to drain my tank into the bucket and then slightly overfilling on to the garage floor and scrap cardboard that I was using for minor fluid spills.  I think I can safely rule out that there is any issue within the tank.  🤞 To top it all off, when we went inside, our dog was excited and choking on something she decided to chew on while we were out.  She cleared it and was okay after a few scary seconds.  This is certainly a night I won't forget anytime soon!  🤣

After spending the better part of the evening cleaning up the garage and trying to get rid of the gasoline odors, I came to the realization that I really want a lift and I am back in the market for a fuel pump.   

[Zed Head]

The check valve might be stuck.  Maybe you can poke it free, if so.

 

On your puddle of gasoline - you got really lucky.  I hope that is a detached garage.  If not, you almost burned your house down, and killed your dog.  People should stare at that picture for a while and imagine.  It will be incentive to be cautious and think about consequences.  You dodged a disaster.

Sorry to be critical but sometimes we forget.  

 

[Yarb]

@Av8ferg actually came up with the idea and I was able to enhance the theory of installing an in line shut off valve about 6 inches away from the supply line coming off the tank itself. From there we ran about another 4” of line into the tank pre-filter.” Wix 3003” from what I’ve found is the only filter that’s still clear and IMO is a better filter. From there straight to the pump inlet. This will allow shutting the supply off while doing routine maintenance on the fuel supply system. I will attach pics of what I have installed and is duplicated on ferg’s car. I believe the hiccup he ran into was buying a less expensive/quality valve that ended up leaking and permitted all the way to the 3rd floor. The wife was not amused! Sorry John had to add that tidbit!

Edited June 24 by Yarb
Add link

[Yarb]

Here’s the link to the valve.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KVZT7P5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Paulytunes]

On 6/24/2024 at 2:25 PM, Zed Head said:

The check valve might be stuck.  Maybe you can poke it free, if so.

 

On your puddle of gasoline - you got really lucky.  I hope that is a detached garage.  If not, you almost burned your house down, and killed your dog.  People should stare at that picture for a while and imagine.  It will be incentive to be cautious and think about consequences.  You dodged a disaster.

Sorry to be critical but sometimes we forget.  

 

I certainly had a Guardian Angel watching over me that night.   Not that it makes it any better, but there was about 5 gallons of gas in the tank at the time of the incident.   

[siteunseen]

On 6/22/2024 at 10:17 PM, Paulytunes said:

So, today was a comedy of errors.  I removed the pre-filter and tried to prime the new fuel pump again.  No fuel flow came out of the discharge.  Just for shits and grins, I decided to reinstall the old pump to make sure that I wasn't screwing something up.  The old pump re-primed without issue and within a few seconds.  It seems likely that I was sent a defective fuel pump.  Around this time, my wife wants to go out to dinner, so I set the old pump on the ledge of the bucket I was using to catch the fuel from my disconnection and reconnection activities and go to wash up so that I can go to dinner with my wife and kids without reeking of gasoline.

We get to dinner, and my son says he feels dehydrated and not well.  Just as we are about to get seated, he gets as pale as a ghost, and my wife, with her mother's ESP/intuition/sixth sense, ushers him out the door, where he proceeds to vomit at the entrance of the restaurant.  Needless to say, we came home.  Upon opening the garage door, we discover this:

    

The fuel pump had fallen off the bucket ledge (probably when we closed the garage door or sometime there about), into the bucket, and proceeded to drain my tank into the bucket and then slightly overfilling on to the garage floor and scrap cardboard that I was using for minor fluid spills.  I think I can safely rule out that there is any issue within the tank.  🤞 To top it all off, when we went inside, our dog was excited and choking on something she decided to chew on while we were out.  She cleared it and was okay after a few scary seconds.  This is certainly a night I won't forget anytime soon!  🤣

After spending the better part of the evening cleaning up the garage and trying to get rid of the gasoline odors, I came to the realization that I really want a lift and I am back in the market for a fuel pump.   

@Av8ferg you sure can relate to this. 😁

[Paulytunes]

So not the triumphant update that I was hoping to write this evening, but I did get closer to resolving my fueling issues.  I'm pretty sure I have said it before, but I do absolutely love this site and all the helpful members.  

I was able to obtain a Nissan fuel pump and damper from a fellow member here that no longer needed the setup.  This made me extremely happy, as I want to keep my 280Z as close to stock as possible, and I did discover a problem with my damper.

I installed the new-to-me fuel pump on Friday and was able to test start the car on Saturday.  It only took a few seconds to start!  After warming up, a few throttle pushes to redline, and I had no more hesitation, and fuel supply pressure was right where it was supposed to be around ~35-36 PSIG.  I think my whole neighborhood heard my shouts of jubilation.  I then went to the rear of the car to check for leaks and found a steady stream dripping from above the fuel pump and into my bucket.  I shut the car off and found my damper to be leaking.  Luckily, I had the replacement one on hand, so I had to disassemble everything and install the other damper.  I suspect my existing damper was on its way out, and the increased pressure from the factory pump (remember the aftermarket one that was installed by a PO registered around 12 PSIG less than OEM) blew a seal or something out?  Anyway, everything is back together, but I am now waiting on an appropriate fuel line clamp at the pump discharge (PO used the wrong type and all the spare correct ones I have are too small), which should be here tomorrow.          

[Patcon]

That sounds like progress.

It is a great forum!