smnc

Okay... This might be a bit long winded, but please stay with me here...
I have an 85 GSL-SE.
She's getting a bit rusty and she'll soon have to be retired, but in the meantime she's my daily driver.
Unfortunatly, I've had little time to work on her this year due to a lot of changes at my work.

Basically my gas tank started leaking back in the fall, due to rust, but I didn't really have the time or money to replace it, so as a temporary measure I used one of those epoxy based patches to seal the tank. Worked okay for a while.

Finally, about a month ago I managed to buy a decent rust free tank of a buddy of mine. He wasn't sure of the year, just that it wasn't from an SE.

Well, we both figured it should work okay, so I took it home and began installing it.
Well, that was no easy task thanks to all the rusted bolts, etc, but I managed to get it on. As it turns out, it didn't quite fit right. There was too much space around the spare tire well. Near as I can figure, it seems to be from a 79-80 tank as they have a full sized spare and a smaller tank, as oposed to the larger tank of the series 2 and 3 cars, made possible by the 'donut' spare.

Easily enough fixed with some styrofoam to fill the gap... Nice tight fitment.

Well the only other problem I had with the tank was that the main fuel line outlet seems to be slightly smaller than on my old tank, not a problem as I just tightened down the hose a little extra. I figured it shouldn't be too much of a restriction. And remeber, this repair is temprary and only has to last until spring, when I can buy a new GSL-SE.

Now after that, the car wouldn't start. I pulled the fuel line in the engine bay and discovered that only a small trickle of fuel was getting through.

Well, I figured, it's probably that ORGINAL fuel filter with 220k+ kms on it (that's about 150k miles). No problem, so I swapped in a new fuel filter.

Well, now I'm not getting ANYTHING at all. I recheck all the lines and connections, but NOTHING...

So, maybe it's the fuel pump. I didn't trust that old POS anyways, so I pick up an OEM replacement pump.

Still nothing.

So...
Any ideas?

damon

not to be a smartass but are you sure theres enough fuel in the tank to reach the pickup tube? the different tank is going to have different cavities and whatnot.

Other then that double check that all of your hoses are not reversed and make sure the pump is actually working

peace

jeremy

iTrader: (1)

did you also make sure the tank was rust free? the return line might be to small too, meaning you could overpressurize the injectors and run rich. have you checked to see if the hardline is free flowing? chances are if there was rust in the tank that it is in the lines too.

smnc

Well, I thought of the fuel already, but it's about a quarter tank, which I would imagine is pleanty.
The pump is most definatly working. I can hear it.
I've checked the hoses multiple times already, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to check again...

The new tank is rust free for sure. And the return line is the same size as my old one. But there's no actual fuel getting to the engine. I pulled the main fuel line in the engine bay, where it connects to the rubber hose that gies to the fuel rail. Nada...
As far as I can tell there was no rust INSIDE the old tank, just the outside, but I suppose it's possible.
How would rust have gotten past the fuel filter?
The rubber lines are all clear, but I suppose it could be a blockage in the hardline. How would I check the hardline?

Wankelguy

Check out the fuel pickup tube in the tank. Try to blow back through it after loosening the cap (important if you don't want to gulp gas). My pickup tube gave me recurring problems until I swapped tanks recently. Seems the pickup tubes like to get a ball of goo stuck to their inlet as all the tank crud ends up right down in the little well where the pickup tube's opening is. I used a bass guitar string chucked in my hand drill like a little roto-rooter to clean it out. It would work for a couple of months then the problem would crop up again due to the overall rusty condition of the tank. Glad I finally got rid of that sucker! The fuel system on these RX7s seems to be their Achilles' heel, I NEVER had any such problems with my RX3 or RX4s. Good luck gettin' 'er figured out. -WG

jeremy

iTrader: (1)

lol, i had braided wire wrapped in plastic that i stripped and used in the drill the same way. didn't think of using my old bass strings.

anyway, pull the line at the pump and see if its pumping fuel out. if not chase backwards, if so, then your hardline is jammed and needs replaced. process of elimination.

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

Is the fuel filter flow going the right way?

~T.J.