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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - Fuel Pump

OK, took the TD out for the first run this year and the fuel pump has apparently died (now I know why that is in the spares list). Luckily I was only 3 miles from home on the return leg. Rather embarassing sitting by the side of the road. My wife is now worried about the trip we were going to make in June. I am ordering a replacement pump, but I was wondering how others have installed the backup solid state units I have seen in the Moss catalog.

Is there any one that can help me with the installation of the backup pump? fittings, location, wiring, etc.

Thanks in advance

Rick
RG Taylor

Rick - You have e-mail
David DuBois

When the pump has been running and dies (the first couple of times) you can usually give it a little tap (slap with hand) and it will start up again. I pull off the little front cap and blow out the carbon/dirt and run a piece of cardboard matchbook between the points. Seems to last a few thousand miles.
gblawson - TD#27667

Rick, my TD has been in the family since the early 70s. It has been towed home twice- once with a broken axle, the other with a broken crankshaft. Never with a dead fuel pump. A tap on the pump or cleaning the points almost always gets them going again. Best bet- relax, have fun, make sure you have AAA and a cell phone on your summer trip. George
George Butz

RICK,
It is not uncommon for the points in the fuel pump to get a bit oxidized while in winter storage. This will cause it to quit on the first run of the season. Usually by tapping the pump it will start again. If not follow Gordons advice above,,, and it should run fine for the rest of the summer. Go on a few short trips befor the long on in June,,,

SPW
Steve Wincze

Rick,
On more thing,,, how many miles are on the points that are currently in the pump?
SPW
Steve Wincze

Thanks for all of the suggestions. The pump that failed was an alder pump converted to solid atate about a year ago. All of the lines are open and there is power to the terminals.

I have ordered a new pump (cheaper direct from SU - $168 shipped to me) and will also venture to NAPA to pick up a small backup pump.

I reinstalled the old non SU pump (looks just like it) and it will work for some short trips.

Again, thanks for all the help and suggestions

Rick
RG Taylor

When I was in college, I owned a 66 MG midget. I had a new date to a dance 100 miles from the school when the pump went out in rural Virginia. Despite my best efforts, I could not get it going again. My date and I found that by blowing into the gas tank, we could get the car to go about a mile. After about 20 miles we were as high as a kite and gave up, hitch-hiking back to college. We've now been married 22 years.
Russ Oakley

Russ, what a wonderful story...greetings, Huib
Huib Bruijstens

Rick T. Send the pump that failed to Dave DuBois
<ddubois@sinclair.net>. He will be able to figure out what failed and repair it. He runs the pumps in for 24 hours after they are repaired to make sure there are no early failures. Then you will have a SU back-up pump.
Cheers,
Bob
R. K. (Bob) Jeffers

Russ... that is the greatest story I've heard...talk about 'bonding'.
My old Mini's pump went on the way to a boat race and my passenger held the outboard motor in his lap with a fuel line running out the window and under the hood to the mini's motor....we got about 12 miles per fillup and drove 200 miles! Ahhhhhh the good old days!
gblawson - TD#27667

I remember once when we were running a rally and the MG fuel pumped failed. No amount of pounding would get it going but we noticed that it would click once when we turned the key off and on. We hooked a couple of wires to it and ran them to one of the dash switches. The navigator had to keep switching off-on-off-on-off-on . . . we retired the car after about an hour when his arm gave out.
Godspeed in Safety Fast
Jc
John Crawley

Most members of our club carry the "emergency Fuel Pump" designed by Stewart Locke. It provides an easier way to "blow into the tank" than directly by mouth.

It consists of a blood pressure bulb, a length of plastic tubing, a piece of 1/4 inch copper tube thru a No. 11 cork to fit in the tank filler. A few squeezes of the bulb can keep the tank pressureized to 2 lbs/sq.in. and the gas flowing just like the pump. We got from Savannah to Charleston without stopping every few miles as by mouth
Don Harmer

I got the electronic version of the SU from Moss. It looks and sounds like the mechanically actuated pump, but has some kind of switching circuit instead. So far no problems.

I have had SU pump failures in every British sports car I have owned, and never had one with the electronic version that I replaced them with.

I think the points in the distributor will be my next target to replace.
Larry Ayres

FYI, Stewart Locke's ingenious system is in the Technical Topoics section of the February 200 issue of TSO.
Bud Krueger

Bud February 200?????
Steve Wincze

"Bud February 200?????" Hay, what can we say, Bud's been doin this for a looooooong time ;) Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Larry,
"I think the points in the distributor will be my next target to replace."

One word (two wires) ...Pertronics!

You seem to be battling a lot of the same "demons" I fought with when I purchased my car!

IMHO, Best $$ you can spend on a "T" series auto:
Pertronics Ingition
Bumble-Bee spark wires
Lucas sports coil (painted black to look like orginial!)
Jet-Hot the exhaust manifold
New electronic fuel pump.

If someone were to tell me "I have less than $500 to spend, what should I do to have the best chance of keeping it on the road for a season" ....the above would be my recomendations for trouble free motoring.(should be enough left over for some cold brews to drink whilst you install all of that!) LOL

Cheers,
David 55 TF1500 #7427


David Sheward

This thread was discussed between 07/05/2007 and 09/05/2007

MG TD TF 1500 index

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