Steve4012

Just spoken to Steve at SJ. He said he's never seen that before. Very unlikely the splines are too short but measure to make sure. I've compared the first broken bearing to the original bearing and they match in size so don't think that's the issue. He thought there was more likely a gearbox problem as the bearing tube should centre the bearing to the release plate. Does anyone know how the shaft of the release bearing locates/ centres in the gearbox? @Lotusfab is in gearbox mode?! There appears no option now but get the 🤬🤬🤬 gearbox back off!

No, new spigot bearing and Nylatron washer fitted and verified there second time round also.

I'll try and keep this brief. Recent engine out service on my '85 turbo included a new 3 piece clutch kit from SJ. After literally about 300 metres of up and down road to test I had a massive judder through clutch pedal. Gearbox back off and found clutch release bearing was somehow moving off centre to pressure plate hence the massive juddering by uneven pressure. This actually broke my new release bearing (see pic) and there was witness marks on the bearing where the clutch fork arm slipped across the bearing collar. Looked at pivot ball/ clutch fork and found a lot of play. Made a new larger split pin up to reduce this and got it pivoting with less play but it seemed to pivot off centre so that's no good. Phoned Steve at SJ who said there should be loads of play and in his words the fork should be 'floppy' so the bearing can centre itself. Ok new bearing bought, another clutch fork bought even though the original looked fine. Also looked a lot at the pedal end. Clutch always bit high with old and new clutch and the pedal was set as low as the thread on pedal would allow so I measured the throw of the slave pushrod and it was 27mm. I thought this was way too high so loads of gymnastics later got the pushrod throw down to 18mm at the slave (Steve said this should be 3/4"). It felt good and I believed I had found the problem, too much extension pushing the fork and bearing apart. Gearbox back on, correct grease in all the right places etc start car clutch jams 🤬🤬🤬🤬. Removed dust cover off fork and look inside and can't believe what I saw. Pressure plate splines are uneven, some on release bearing and some slipped off and literally jammed the clutch in place (see pic with red dots where splines are off bearing). It's the correct combination of flat splines and round bearing so not that. The fork is also off centre. I'm stumped and a bit 🤬 off! Is Steve right, should there be a lot of play? The ball on the pivot is good and the fork is definitely fine also. New clips from fork to bearing. Any opinions welcome!

Thanks very much Tim!

It's inside the n/s A pillar trim on my '81 dry sump.

From a guy with 2 daughters, I'm truly sorry to hear of your loss.

I have everything in place on the engine. Right hand squezes under carbs and holds distributor cap, left hand loosens distributor clamp with long screwdriver or a flexible extension on a socket from between the carbs from the top. Before you loosen bracket push cap towards distributor so distributor doesn't spring out. Adjust distributor rotation and retighten clamp all whilst pushing distributor cap. I always adjust with engine off. Retest and repeat if necessary. It is very doable with the engine and ancillary's all in place.

Hi Andy, I've now done exactly that and ordered one from SJ and will return the Sytec. I was concerned I hadn't actually found the problem causing the failure of the pumps but I've now exhausted all possibilities. The voltage supply is correct, the bad pumps made it look faulty. The fuel system is spotless and I've been out before work this morning to verify the fuel return is clear which it is. I'll put the sj pump on, check the fuel pressure and if that pump fails I'm screwed! 🙂

Good call, thanks. Another pump is on its way and the first thing I'll do is check the fuel pressure at the fpr. Many thanks for all the input.

The first two failures were the original pump to this car and the one off my dry sump which I replaced during its mechanical restoration with a Sytec the same as I've just bought again for this car. The Sytec pump on my dry sump has been fine so far (about 500 miles). Both the original pumps off both cars were bosch 0580464014. The ad states that the Sytec pump is a direct replacement for that Bosch unit.

Update 2: New pump tested in same way. No fuel output and pump terminals read 13.9v! Confirmed charger output is exactly 12v.🤨

Update: 11.5v into fuel pump from ignition. Battery is similar from yesterday's messing around. Put charger onto fuel pump terminals and confirmed at 12v. Pump buzzes but no fuel out and confirmed fuel available on inlet. Rigged the below pic up to test old pumps. No fuel out on either and voltage at charger crocodile clips/ pump terminals dropped to 8.5v on one pump and 7.9v on the other. I would have thought this means they are both knackered. Will remove new pump and conduct same test. The pumps themselves as @Andyww suggested are obviously the cause of the voltage drop. At present I can't see past having 3 bad pumps?!

This is what it feels like. Similar to trying to start a car with a flat battery. It does something but then falls flat on its face, same as the fuel pump although now I have a constant buzz but no fuel output. The car cranks easily so certainly should run a fuel pump. Frustratingly I left my good multimeter at work over the weekend so only had an analogue one yesterday. I'll check exact voltages when I get home tonight. Thanks all for your input.

Definitely a fuel injection pump: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F153140435971

Tanks, balance pipe have been out and verified good. I've spent a lot of time under lh side of car, will check out fuel return and balance pipe other side also. All correct above Andy apart from the sound of the pump is different to my other car. Attached pic of inside of fuel tank and they are both the same. They look fine to me...

So scavenge from LH tank, pump, filter, PRV return to RH tank Correct. I've been wondering this too as both the originals seem to work now off the car whilst just a single thump when on it and nothing more. I'll try and rig something up off the car to see if they actually pump fuel. I use the Sytec OTP17 on my other car which runs perfectly so bought the same for this. They are £45 off Ebay from Matt Lewis Racing. I'll not put it on straight away though until the problem has been found. 2 wires, fuel in and out, It really should be simpler than this!

I've checked these are tight Steve but even so is it significant for fuel pump earth? I didn't mention but I added a second earth from pump to chassis which had no effect. Snowrx, couldn't agree more but it's literally ignition to inertia to fuel pump on the positive and an earth at the pump to chassis. Worryingly, both my old units started up fine during my failed test with the fuel cans and sounded perfect even with no fuel passing through. On the car both just thudded once and wouldn't buzz continuously. I'm missing something and even though I've ordered yet another pump I know this is unlikely to solve anything. Tried that Andy, the new pump is not pumping anything through. Loads of fuel in tanks and when removing inlet to pump literally pours out like a hose pipe.

Thought as much, thanks Andy.

I've just tested both old pumps off the car with a full can of fuel up high, the pump below the fuel level and an empty fuel can low to assist the gravity feed. Powered up, both buzz but neither move any fuel. Should they move fuel with this set up? The upper line is obviously not primed.

Yes 12v if disconnect it from pump and actually I have full voltage with cable connected as well, now the pump is making a noise. It was obviously seized and therefore affecting the current drawn as Andy said. No fuel flow though pump seems knackered. It's just too much of a coincidence for 3 pumps all to fail in the same way and I'm concerned I haven't found the reason they're failing. Apart from running dry and I've verified there is fuel to the inlet how can you damage a fuel pump?

Ok Andy thanks, will check that as soon as I have some fuel to measure 👍

I haven't touched the fpr Andy as it was running fine before engine out so didn't see a need to. It also ran fine prior to the fuel pump failures. This new pump was very noisy immediately it was installed and I know it had fuel as I had to use pipe clamps to change it. I've sent a message to the seller to see if they've had any bad ones but it seems a long shot. At this point I can't see any alternative than buying yet another fuel pump.

Ok, there is no fuel blockage to the inlet of the pump. I would have been astounded if there was and I am certain that the fuel pump would not have run dry at any point. The pump is now making a noise with ignition on but there is no fuel coming out the other end. If I wasn't on my 3rd fuel pump I would say the pump is bad. Can anyone be that unlucky?! 🤔

Thanks gents. Andy your first suggestion seems to be accurate which is baffling to me. I got the pump to atleast work by connecting a battery charger directly and independently to it. This obviously freed it up and it now comes on with ignition as well. The baffling bit is that it does seem to be starved of fuel. I've had the engine and 'box out for a major service, fix leaks etc and the tanks, crossover pipe and all fuel hoses out too. All now perfect condition in and out but I have no fuel being fed to the carbs even though the car has been running great since completing. I now need to find out what is blocking the fuel.

Thanks all for your input so far. It's still not working but an update: Full 12v from ignition to inertia switch when measured disconnected. When joined to white/ purple wire which goes directly (I believe) to fuel pump this then drops to 8v measured at inertia and 7v at fuel pump. So all good until it gets to inertia. I then ran a temporary wire from here to fuel pump and therefore not using white /purple wire and the voltage still drops. So when the fuel pump is part of the circuit the voltage drops, disconnect this and full voltage. See photo with terminals removed from inertia plug. Thick white cable from ignition, black is temp cable to fuel pump. Disconnected 12v, touched to positive on fuel pump immediately drops to 7v?! Maybe I need to re-examine the earth at the pump?