[Mini] Fueling issue

[Anne]

Although I haven't made a lot pf progress, I figured it was time for an update.

I did some testing and based on the advice, those symptoms and the
specs of the pump it does seem that moving it to the back subframe
will give the best results.

As long as there is enough fuel in the tank it has no trouble keeping
up with the fuel-happy engine;
Extended stretches cruising at 90mph, interval driving pulling from 50
to 80 in 3 seconds (or so it seems :)), nothing is a problem when
there is enough fuel.
(Ok carb freezing was a problem, but just once :))

But as soon as more than about 8l is gone from the tank it's just a
waiting game to see where it will start to stutter and stop.

The pump keeps pumping uninterrupted and even a tank cap with a good
size  hole in it didn't make any difference.
So now all that remains is to actually move the thing to the back subframe :)

And then it's on to the next problem; the knocking of the engine when
I use my foot instead of my toes to accelerate...

Anne.
--

On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 5:30 AM, Anne <anne at mibv.com> wrote:
> Hi Guys & Girls,
>
> 1st of all; happy Mini-ing again this year.
>
> Excuses for the 'spamming' to those who are on 'both lists'.
>
> The Van has been back on the road for about two months now and since then
> I've clocked about 2200 miles with it in 3 countries, loving almost every
> minute of it.
>
> The only exception is when it dies again.
>
> For some reason every now and then it seems like the petrol can't make it's
> way (fast enough?) to the carb and after some sputtering the engine will die
> alltogether.
>
> In almost every instance I added some fuel in the fueltank after which it
> would run again for at least a couple of hours, but at times also a couple
> of days.
>
> I haven't been able to pinpoint what is causing this as there isn't a really
> clear situation when it happens.
>
> The Van has the tank in the back with a fuel line running under the car,
> coming up along the bulkhead connecting to a fuel filter and then to a (new)
> facet pump mounted on the bulkhead. From there a line runs past the
> rockercover to the HIF44 carb which is mounted just behind the grill. It has
> an open air filter, with a shield in front and over it.
>
> The carb is connected with a pipe to the Supercharger.
>
> When it has stalled the facet pump is always ratteling like crazy.
> That by itself does not really say much; it can also do that while cruising.
>
> Another thing I noticed is that in all cases the fuel filter is empty.
> When it fills again the engine starts and runs no problem.
> But that also is not a tell-all; at time the egnine will run (idle) just
> fine while there does not seem to be any fuel in the filter.
>
> The first 3 times it happened while driving about 50mph on B-roads and
> stopping for about a minute seemed to help.
>
> But it also happens while driving on the highway at about 70mph.
>
> I didn't have a fuellevelmeter installed until last weekend, and initially I
> thought the problem arose when I had used about 16l (tank is/should be about
> 25l) so maybe not all the fuel in the tank was sucked up properly.
>
> But it also has occurred a couple of times where I could only add 5-8l
> before the tank was full again. Today it started to sputter on the highway
> again and when I let it roll out to a gas station (which had unmarked police
> vehicles waiting for people to speed by, so I guess my Karma is still good
> :)), I could only get about 8l in there.
>
> As I also suspected the tank creating a vacuum, I removed part of the inner
> workings of a fuelcap and drilled a (small) hole through it, which should
> make sure it always can get air in.
>
> A couple of ideas I have left to try is;
>
> 1. Hook up a small light to the facet pump to see if it maybe falls without
> power sometimes
>
> 2. See if I can find a place to install a Fuel King Filter and presure
> regulator. These seem to be quite big though.
>
> 3. Use a net-stocking instead of a fuelcap to make sure it's not a tank
> vacuum issue.
>
> 4. Disable the power to the facet fuel pump to see how long the engine keeps
> running when no new fuel is coming.
>
> 5. Transfer all the fuel out of the tank, and add it again per liter to see
> from what point onwards the fuel is picked up.
>
> The main problem is that the circumstances under which it occurs never seem
> to be the same two times in a row.
>
> I've had a similar issue before which turned out to be an air leak in an old
> fuel line. But these lines are new and most are not of the old black
> cracking, but of the flexible PVC(?) see through type.
>
> So long story short;
>
> Any one you have any ideas what (else) I can do/check in order to get rid of
> this issue?
>
> Anne
> [MIBV again :]