car stalls randomly

[hammerdown7]

I have had the rubber hose between the pump and the metal fuel line going out of the tank to split from age. The pump worked fine but the fuel just kept circulating in the tank. The hose is only an inch or two long.

Dick

[monzacoupe]

Last summer I got a hole in my gas tank that was too expensive to fix, so I found a replacement and cleaned it out and installed it. My sender unit worked fine before the swap, now it doesn't work at all, gas guage reads empty even after a fill. So based on you suggestions I am going to pull the tank and check it out. My local parts stores don't carry replacement socks for the assembly so I think I'll just replace the pump while I'm at it, the pump I'm looking at comes with the sock. Anyone know how to fix the guage?

[monzajer]

I am not sure and I'm sure someone will chime in if I'm wrong, but changing the sending unit may fix the gauge. The PCB of yesteryear may have something wrong with it or there is something awry in the wire from the sending unit to the gauge. You may have to resort to an after market pod gauge.

Lots of very sharp guys here. They may have a smart fix for you.

Good luck with this. I'm pulling for ya.

cheers, jer

PS: PCB=printed circuit board

[cjbiagi]

Odds are you have a lose or disconnected wire, especially if it worked before you swapped tanks. When you pull the sender you can check the resistance on the sender, it should go from 0 - 90 0hms. Check your wiring real good and I'll bet you find something.

[monzacoupe]

I'll do that, and if that doesn't work I'll try S,U,R&R from past recommendations.

[marco_1978_spyder]

Here's a possibility if the sending unit and pump dont work, but they did before the swap, check the connector on the top of the tank, it's possible it's not making any good contact, either by corrosion or just not being on good enough... hope the fix is simple as that!

[HI WINDING MONZA]

Make sure the ground wire ( where it attaches to the tank) isnt rusted. If it is , clean up one of the metal lines on the sending unit to bare metal and reattach the wire to there with a small hose clamp.


Doug in Az

[cosvega76]

Sounds like the circuit is shorted to ground. If it were open, the gauge would read past full. Maybe you have a wire pinched somewhere.

Chuck

[73astregt]

check the gauges fuse in the fuse panel. i believe that if the gauge was reading empty when the fuse blew thats where it would stay. i just fixed the gauge in my astre by replacing this fuse, mine was stuck on 1/4 tank. hope yours is that easy!

[monzacoupe]

Removed the sender unit to install the new fuel pump and realized that the sender unit might not be what I expect. This is the unit that came from my coupe, it looks just like the sender unit that came from the salvaged tank, also an "80 coupe. There is no place to get power to the fuel pump or to attach it the way Carter tells me to(vertically). What the heck is this? And should I go back to having the pump outside of my tank the way it was?

[cjbiagi]

It's been a long time since I looked at mine but that looks like either someone modified it or it was not originally setup for an electric pump. There should be a bracket that the pump mounts to. There should also be a connector at the top of the assembly where the wire harness connects to, do you see that? I also don't recall having the pump mounted vertically, that sounds more like newer cars have it. Since the sock is connected to the pump it needs to be mounted horizontally so the sock sits on the bottom of the tank. Hopefully someone has a bit more info or can identify exactly what the stock sender looks like. Since 1980's didn't have V8's in them maybe they used a mechanical pump and different sender?

[Brian]

I have some photos of my (badly rusted and totally inoperable) pump that I took out of one of my gas tanks that can be viewed here.

There should be a short hose from the fuel pump to the gas line but it rotted away and is no longer there. This is what happens when you let a half full gas tank sit for 13+ years.

[monzacoupe]

Thanks for the picures Brian, was that pump out of a V-8 car or not? Is my set-up meant for a mechanical pump? Should I try to fabricate a mounting bracket for my pump to put it inside the tank?

Rick

[my79monza]

Thanks for the picures Brian, was that pump out of a V-8 car or not? Is my set-up meant for a mechanical pump? Should I try to fabricate a mounting bracket for my pump to put it inside the tank?

Rick

Rick, Check the wiring to the tank and I will bet you find that there are 3 wires and if I remember the colors they are dark blue, purple, and black.
Blue= sender, Purple= pump, black= ground.
That is what I found on my 79 base model 4cyl with no pump in tank.
I am using the wiring and installed a pump just in front of tank to feed my V/8 conversion.
With yours being a notch the pump/sender wiring connectors are in the trunk just in front of and below the trunk latch.
Merle

[marco_1978_spyder]

That setup is from a 4cyl iron duke which used a block mounted pump. The V6 and V8 used an electric.

So you either need an entire unit from a v6/v8 car or your back to using an external pump. I had a nice heavy duty pump one time from Carter. Got it from a reputable 'Hot rod parts' dealer vs. a run of the mill auto parts store. Maybe Summit or Jeg's would be a good source for a reliable-hassle free pump...

At least you now know that the sock is clean and there's no clogs.