Hi,
I have a question about the operation of a fuel pump on a 235. I have a rebuilt 235 in my 37 pickup; it has run perfectly for the past many years, starting immediately and running strong. Yesterday, I tried to start the truck and it wouldn't start (it had sat for about 3-4 weeks without being started). When I looked under the hood, it seemed as if it wasn't getting any gas; I checked the inline filter (which usually has some gas in it)and it was empty. I suspected that my fuel pump had somehow gone bad--it didn't seem to be pumping any gas. After checking for spark (which it had), and trying to start again with no luck, I poured about a half a cup of gas directly into the carb and tried again. It fired right up and subsequently ran perfectly. I noticed after shutting her down that there was gas again in the inline filter. Tried to start again and it fired right up.
My question is what happened during that 3-4 week period that prevented the truck from starting? Many times over the past several years, the truck has sat for several weeks at a time, but I never had this problem with the fuel--when I have tried to start it, even after being stored away all winter, it has fired right up. Can a fuel pump lose its prime? Is this what happened in this case? Does this mean that my pump is on its last legs? I know that today's fuel has wreaked havoc in lots of other ways (it basically ate up the gaskets in a NOS fuel pump that I had installed on my 40 pickup). Did the quality of the fuel have something to do with this? What should I do to prevent this from happening again?
Thanks in advance for your insights.
Best wishes,
Jim
